Emergency clutch question.

[UglyFJ60]

how do you tell if it is a bad slave or a bad master? my brand new clutch quit disengaging so I figured it just needed to be adjusted. I crawled under it and the rod had 2" of play so I adjusted that out to 1/2". I could get it in and out of gear but it was trying to move. I took all the play out and put the spring back on and now it goes in and out of gear but the clutch slips when you romp on the gas pedal and it quits going in and out of gear after driving a bit. If I pump the clutch pedal a few times (like when your brakes have air in them) then it shifts fine. If I double clutch it shifts alright but not good. the lever does not move very far (about 1/2" - 3/4")

I went to bleed the system and there does not appear to be any air in it and does not appear to have any leaks around the slave or the master but it must be getting air somewhere.

the only 4 things I can think of:
1) bad slave
2) bad master
3) bad line/hose
4) the rod is too short

common sense tells me to replace all but my wallet tells me I need to trouble shoot.

any ideas on anything I am missing or how to tell which one is bad?

 

[Cruiserdrew]

No leaking you say? Look inside the firewall and see if the master is leaking internally. Mine did that and took a while to figure out because of the carpet and stuff in the way.

The slave is pretty cheap, you could replace it and see if that's your issue. If not, then put a kit in the master which takes 15 minutes working slow. You are correct, that it's best to replace master, slave and soft line all at the same time.

The fact that your clutch is slipping suggests you have adjusted the push rod too far, or you have much bigger problems. There needs to be a tiny bit of slack in the push rod at rest-you can actually look in the inspection cover at where the throw out rides, and make sure it is coming off the fingers of the pressure plate completely at rest

Did the clutch friction disc get put in backwards? That causes all sorts of weird problems and is easy to do.

Good luck and post the solution.

 

[UglyFJ60]

I have no reason to suspect the disc is in backwards, but it could be. I was recovering from surgery and had to take it to a shop. the guy I took it to has been in the same location since 1976. fluid level is at the full mark and I had no air in the slave but it feels like air is in it. I was looking at the hose and it is very swollen. My suburban had swollen brake lines and they were permeating air but no signs of leaks. changed the hoses and they bled out fine. I think I am going to bite the bullet and spend the $150 or so for the parts and do it right instead of guessing, just spent $560 on clutch parts and $538 on labor so why not right........... thanks for your reply

 

[brian]

I was looking at the hose and it is very swollen.

well that's your problem spot.
if you can see it's swollen at rest, imagine what happens when you step on the pedal.

 

[Coyote808]

My clutch went out, and the cylinders were fine, but the line had burst open, so I'm in the process of changing it sometime soon here. I had a similar problem right before the line burst, so it looks like you caught it before it broke on you, like mine did on me while I was parking the truck.

 

[jvazquez53]

No leaking you say? Look inside the firewall and see if the master is leaking internally. Mine did that and took a while to figure out because of the carpet and stuff in the way.

The slave is pretty cheap, you could replace it and see if that's your issue. If not, then put a kit in the master which takes 15 minutes working slow. You are correct, that it's best to replace master, slave and soft line all at the same time.

The fact that your clutch is slipping suggests you have adjusted the push rod too far, or you have much bigger problems. There needs to be a tiny bit of slack in the push rod at rest-you can actually look in the inspection cover at where the throw out rides, and make sure it is coming off the fingers of the pressure plate completely at rest

Did the clutch friction disc get put in backwards? That causes all sorts of weird problems and is easy to do.

Good luck and post the solution.

Mine had no leaks. The Master Cylinder was bad. I went ahead and replaced the Master and the slave cylinder, that took care of my problem.