Ok, heres the deal. I have a 1995 Accord EX. The car has about 135k miles. About a year and a half ago I replaced the master and slave cylinders after having small leaks in both. I haven't had any problems since then. About a week ago we experienced some of the coldest weather that we've had in a while here in NC (low 20s for a few nights). I got in my car for the first time after a few days of this and the clutch was acting like it did when i had the fluid leak (hardly any pressure, had to jam it to the floor to get it into gear). As the day warmed up it started to feel pretty normal. Last weekend on Sunday it behaved the same way but never improved. Today i got in my car for the first time since then (it was 60 today) and couldn't even get the car out of first with the clutch slammed to the floor. I searched around and saw some stuff about bleeding out the brake fluid. Would this fix my problem or is my clutch shot? Any thing else that could be wrong, i checked my brake fluid level and it was fine. Thanks.

 

You had fluid bleeding out of the slave cylinder? If so replace that. Unless you beat the **** out of that clutch it should still be good.

I just had my clutch replaced like 3,000 miles ago. Which was like 183,000. Pressure plate was still clamping, sort of, but the clutch disc was shot. I got a XTD clutch. Should have gotten a new flywheel, but oh well. I plan on swapping next summer so everything will be out and able to swap easy.

 

before you start throwing part$ at it, OPEN THE HOOD and have someone step on the clutch while you watch the slave and see the clutch arm move 3/4". That might help you come up with a correct and accurate diagnose. The clutch master could be bypassing internally and not making the slave move enough.

 

While you're looking there, you can also try this...
Have your helper hold the clutch pedal down to the floor for a couple minutes. The throw-out fork (lever that goes into tranny) should NOT move back towards the slave while the pedal is held on the floor.

You could try bleeding your clutch, like you said, to get fresh fluid in there. Normally I'd expect your clutch fluid to last more than a year & 1/2, but who knows?? Low 20s for a couple nights is certainly not cold enough to cause problems, unless you've managed to get moisture into the fluid.

Moisture in the clutch fluid? Do you wash your engine compartment? Do you wrap the brake & clutch reservoirs to keep them dry? You know there's a little air vent hole in each of those caps...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JimBlake &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Moisture in the clutch fluid? Do you wash your engine compartment? Do you wrap the brake & clutch reservoirs to keep them dry? You know there's a little air vent hole in each of those caps...</TD></TR></TABLE>

I haven't washed my engine compartment in a looooong time so i don't think that that could be it. After i finish my calc exam today ill head out there and do what you guys were saying and report back. I'm supposed to go home for break tommorow so hopefully i can get this figrued out soon. Thanks everyone.