navila17

Hello!

I'm trying to diagnose my friend's 2007 Fit.

I went to drive it the other day, and it was a little hard to shift, progressing to being almost impossible to shift (with the engine on) in about 10 minutes of driving.

With the engine on, I am almost scared to apply the amount of force that is required to get it into first, other gears are not quite as bad but still very hard to shift into. With the engine off, the gears feel perfectly fine.

Also worth noting that when I am in gear, with the clutch pedal fully pressed, it feels like the car does want to move.

So, I can assume the clutch is not disengaging all the way.


What I have already tried:

Bleeding the hydraulic system. I bled through about 10 reservoirs worth, and had a ton of air bleeding out the bottom sporadically. No matter what I did, air still came out with the fluid in seemingly random bursts. See video:

https://goo.gl/photos/EootNrfqfQG6DHXH7

Now that is so much air, I can't imagine where it is coming from. Does anyone have any idea about that?

Worst case scenario, if that air is just coming through the threads of the bleeder valve somehow and not the hydraulic system, then my next guess is I'm putting in a new clutch. But I want to rule out the hydraulics first.

Thanks!

claymore

Try looking for a slight leak in the system somewhere before replacing the clutch. Or a bad clutch master cylinder.

navila17

Thanks for the reply!

I never saw any leaks, and the reservoir was full when I first looked.

We replaced the slave cylinder just now; and it looks like the bubbles have stopped. Right away they weren't nearly as bad at the video above, but it did take almost a pint of brake fluid to get tiny bubbles to stop showing up. Always hard to tell how much bleeding is enough.

It is still hard to shift though. I think we will try replacing the master cylinder tomorrow, and if that doesn't help then I can't think of anything else but putting in a new clutch kit.

Let me know if anyone can think of anything else.

claymore

That clutch travel free play is adjustable. Look at the top of the pedal up in the dash area there should be a screw adjuster. Adjust it so the clutch is released more.

claymore

Here is the page on adjusting free play. Illustrations will NOT work in firefox but work fine using Internet Explorer.

Click the little grey box on the left in section #1 to see the photos.

Clutch Pedal and Clutch Pedal Adjusting Bolt Adjustment (5MT)

spAdam

iTrader: (1)

Free play shouldn't need to be adjusted unless the mc has already been replaced. Occasionally the jam nut will work its way loose, but that's still not likely if it's the original factory parts in there.

OP, look up under the dash, around where the pushrod comes through to connect to the pedal, and check for any wetness. That's normally where a leaking master cylinder shows up.

In my experience, the failed slave is usually a result of the crap in the lines from the failed master working its way downhill. Master typically fails first, but I'll go ahead and change the slave at that point as well since it usually isn't too far behind.

There's a decent chance that the clutch has been damaged from not being able to fully disengage, but that's one of those things that you should take one step at a time. Fix anything with the hydraulics first.

claymore

Guessing you don't own and drive a GD ^^^. It is very common to have not enough clutch free play in a stock one with no other problems including a master cylinder that is just fine. All it takes is the adjustment and they are fine.

spAdam

iTrader: (1)

Nope, just a GE race car. Therefore, not nearly as many miles get racked up.