Fresh out of ideas

812 Views 11 Replies 5 Participants Last post by whooosh, Jun 10, 2008

Saad123

Discussion Starter · Jun 8, 2008

- 2000 Eclipse GT Spec 2 clutch and fidanza flywheel put in around early October and VERY properly broken in.

The problem? Gear shifter WILL NOT go into ANY gear when the car is turned on.
Found that the clutch fluid reservoir was empty. Car goes through all gears when turned off as smooth as butter.

What I did to try to fix the problem?

Bought a new slave cylinder (took out the old one and found a hole in the boot where fluid leaked out from). Filled with brake fluid (Valvoline Synthetic Dot3/4). Installed it with no leaks now. Bled any air out the line over and over and over again. Adjusted the clutch pedal. The outcome? It looks like the fork is being pushed a lot further immediately after bleeding but after the 1st time the clutch is pushed there's less pressure so again the car won't go into gear. The time spent bleeding has been at most 5 minutes each time it was bled which has been around 7 or 8 times now. The master cylinder is leak free.

So. What now?

Save

1 - 12 of 12 Posts

BuckyBoy

· #2 · Jun 8, 2008

I worked on an older car one day and had a similar problem. The clutch reservoir was empty, so we filled it up and got all of the air out of the lines. The car went into all gears fine when the car was off, but wouldn't when the car was running. After bleeding the lines tons of times just to be sure there was no air in the lines, we still had the problem. We ended up starting the car in first gear and when the vehicle was moving, the clutch started working. I believe it was the boot in the slave cylinder that kept getting hung up or something.
I don't know, but it fixed the problem for us. The method is not something I would really recommend, but we were working on an old car so it didn't really matter.

Save

Saad123

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 8, 2008 (Edited)

I tried that too but, the car just stalled out and then had to be ripped out of gear while the car is off back into neutral using a lot of muscle.

Save

us11csalyer

· #4 · Jun 8, 2008

Save

cfeyhris

· #5 · Jun 8, 2008

correct me if im wrong but isnt there some kind of pump or what ever under the dash?

Save

Saad123

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 8, 2008 (Edited)

To me it kind of sounds like a master cylinder problem. Is there any leak around your new slave? Did you get a new copper washer with the slave? If so did you torque the bolt down to "form" the new copper washer?

I have a new master cylinder sitting in my garage I'm just waiting to put it in until I'm completely and entirely sure it isn't the slave since my carpet isn't went and there were no leaks around the master cylinder. When I bought the the new slave cylinder it already came assembled all I had to do was push in the push rod so the 2 copper washers were already there on the bottom. As for the leak. At first there were 2 leaks around the new slave cylinder but it was because the bottom bolt wasn't tight enough so that got tightened and the hydraulic line wasn't inserted all the way either so that was fixed and after spraying brake clean all over the slave cylinder and line and letting it sit overnight the slave cylinder is still dry, the level of fluid in the reservoir is still the same, and the boot isn't wet so no more leaks. I never torqued down the bottom bolt though only the bleeder screw after bleeding to 4nm and the bottom bolt I just tightened until there were no more leaks. So I'll try to find how much to torque the bottom bolt and do it tomorrow and see if that works.

Underneath the dash I'm not so sure of a pump. I know our clutch pedal connects right to the master cylinder though.

See less See more

Save

us11csalyer

· #7 · Jun 8, 2008

When you bleed the slave is it just leaking out or is it spraying out? It should be spraying out with no hiss sound. A hiss sound means there is still air in the system.

Save

Saad123

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jun 8, 2008 (Edited)

Fluid just quietly goes up into the vacuum tube. No bubbles and no hissing after it was bled the 3rd or 4th time around

I'm wondering what would happen if the bleeder screw were overtightened?

Save

us11csalyer

· #9 · Jun 8, 2008

If you can get into gear when the car is off but even witth the clutch pressed in and the car bucks, jerks, or dies when you start it then I would put my money on the master.

Save

Saad123

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jun 8, 2008

Hmmmmm that's what I'm thinking by now too. I'll torque everything down to specs tomorrow, bleed like it's the end of the world, and if it still won't go into gear I'll replace the master which should hopefully fix this annoying little problem. If not I'll give up and get it towed to a shop Monday morning :bigthumb:

Save

Saad123

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jun 10, 2008

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I had it looked at by a friend who says the only other thing it can be is a broken pressure plate which is weird since I got a brand new spec2 clutch in October. F-U-C-K

Save

whooosh

· #12 · Jun 10, 2008

SPEC has had TONS of problems with the stuff they have produced, especially the carbon/kevlar units. I would not put anything past them. I try to stick with ACT for import cars.

Save

1 - 12 of 12 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month