Clutch master problem (I think)

Car: '78 99 Turbo, Manual transmission

I've got the clutch back together, but it's not working. It felt a bit odd before I pulled the engine, now it doesn't work at all.

When I bleed the clutch, I can feel, _sometimes_, that I get a good resistance to the pedal like it's pushing fluid through, and it comes out the slave cylinder end as expected. But, usually, the pedal goes right to the floor with _zero_ resistance. When that happens, the fluid gets pulled back from the slave cyl to refill the master, rather than from the reservoir as expected. I think.

Questions: does this sound like master cylinder problems as I think? If so, could it be just a gummy hose between the reservoir and the master, or is this a master cyl rebuild thing? It's odd that the clutch worked before I took out the b0rken engine, but it did feel strange so it might have been "mostly dead" at that time.

Suggestions? Comments? Ideas? I assume this master cyl. rebuild is done from inside the car, yes?

Dave Hinz

Reply to
Dave Hinz
Loading thread data ...

Very likely.

Eh? I'm confused. My 99 (1978 Combi Turbo, the only 99 I ever worked on) had an integrated reservoir built into the master. Is this not the case with yours?

Reply to
Grunff

Yes, with a "yes, but". See below:

Yes, this is a 3-door (Combi). It has vacuum-assisted brakes, and the clutch slave cylinder looks very much like the one on my Sonetts - just the cylinder lengthwise, a pipe on the top going forwards, rubber hose clamped to the forwards-going pipe, that hose goes up to the bottom of the brake fluid reservoir which sits on top of the brake M/C, which is on the front of the vacuum servo. It looks like this:

formatting link
I wonder if that hose (to the reservoir) is gummed up inside, which would restrict it from getting fluid to the M/C. Reason I think this is when I open the bleeder nipple and apply pressure at the reservoir, _nothing_ comes out. Should it at that point (I'm thinking yes)? Also, the turkey-baster method doesn't work on this car, which implies something is blocking flow in _that_ direction as well.

I took the slave cyl. out of the system, hooked my siphon hose to the end of the clutch hydraulic line, and behavior was the same (pulls back as I raise the pedal, almost always). So we're not pulling from the reservoir, either because the MC is bad, or the hose is plugged. Any guesses? The rebuild kit and the hose are about the same cost and not much different in screwing-around to get at. (can't _see_, but can reach, the hose on the m/c.)

Dave

Reply to
Dave Hinz

if you are power bleeding the system it might be that there is blockage in the line, but reading your question, you don't say if you are trying the clutch pedal at the same time as the bleed. i know from recent bitter experience that when my 9000 clutch went, it sounds very similar to the problems you are experiencing. if the 9000 system was designed from a previous version (eg a 99 system), you might want to try this first before you get hammered for an expensive repair.

see the link below & have a look near the bottom of the page, it seems to say that you need to try the clutch pedal during bleeding,

formatting link
hth

kds :-)

Reply to
king doodle squat

How odd!

Yes, fluid should come out of the nipple when you apply pressure.

I'll buy that.

Could be the line, or could be the MC. I'd strip down the MC - doesn't take that long, and at least you'll know exactly what's wrong.

Reply to
Grunff

No, the part about depressing the clutch (2nd sentence below) is in regard to extracting the clutch disk alignment tool. The bleeding is covered in the prior sentence only:

"BLEED THE SYSTEM: Bleeding is best achieved by applying a positive pressure where you put the brake fluid in while slightly opening the bleeder nipple. Now push the clutch pedal all the way down by what ever means you used previously and EXTRACT THE SPECIAL TOOL. "

-Fred W

Reply to
Fred W

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.