For the past few days shifting into first has gotten increasingly difficult. This morning I went outside. Started teh car and held the clutch down to the floor. I could not get into first. Reverse and some other gears would start a grind if I tried. The clutch is 3 weeks old.

 

How do I diagnose this? Should a new master and slave be purchased together?

 

if the clutch pedal feel still feels like normal, it isn't your master cylinder. most likely it's your clutch that's worn out

edit: whoops, didn't see the "3 weeks old" part. you can try and bleed your clutch and see if that works first.


[Modified by In7egrity, 12:12 PM 8/1/2002]

 

I beleive my clutch master cylinder is on it's way out... the pedal has been getting softer and like I have to press it down further to engauge the clutch. I replaced the fluid and bled it and it just got worse. My new master cylinder just got here today, so I should find out if that was the only problem soon... I got mine for $56 at performancemotorcars.com, but sohfast.com is selling used ones for $40. Mine's got a slight leak, so I know it's at least part of the problem.

Anyways, check your clutch fluid level and maybe try replacing the fluid and bleeding it. It's very quick and easy to replace the fluid... you just need to find a friend to push the clutch pedal when you open the bleeder valve. Took me no more than 5 minutes to bleed more than completely.

 

I took it to the mechanic. The slave was leaking a little. So he replaced it, and bled it. At first it did not work, rebled and it was fine. I am going to replace my master also eventually. My slave used to make a lot of noise for a while. Now my master makes some noise.

I barely got it to the mechanic. I had coerce it into 1st each stop. It got bad enough that I would get it into first, and hold it, and the car would stutter and start rolling forward I was losing pressure bad.