This is my first post. Hey everyone. Thanks in advance for any help.

I have a 2001 Prelude SH that used to work perfectly. Now I am 2 months stumped on this one.

Once upon a time I had a master cylinder that blew up all over the place and left me forcing my car home. I knew that because it was all wet on the inside of the firewall. It should have been a routine clutch job. SIMPLE.

Then, came the real problem. I replaced it and the slave at the same time. I used every method possible to bleed it (speedbleeder, looping back to the resv. and pumping, old fashioned 2 people way, gravity-bleed, oilcan pump from nipple back to master) and at best got it to a real soft working clutch. Drove it around the block and lost it. Then, I did it again. Same deal- use it 10 times and lose it.

I couldn't find any leaks, but since the only thing that changed was the slave/ master, I replaced them again. I am used to getting suspect parts from auto-zone that don't work out of the box, so I thought that would fix my issue. Did the same thing with the same result.

Once that didn't work, I decided that it might be the line, so I replaced it with a braided steel hose as to bypass ALL of the lines and the damper. Same thing.

It is hard to get pressure in it at all but once I do, it is MOSTLY working. I'd definitely say it's softer than I'd like with too much play at the top. 10-20 pumps in, it loses just enough pressure to not engage all the way. It doesn't lose any more than that, though. I can get it to that baseline, then it drops right below it and stays at that point.

I'm not losing any fluid. I know that there HAS to be air sucked back in, but what's really left at this point? Nothing is wet. The fittings are tight and not OVER-tightened. I have been through just about everything I can think of.

Is there some way to do a leak-down or pressure test of some sort? Find the leak? Am I missing something that is obvious? I don't think I'm an idiot, but would LOVE to be proven dumb so that my car can move again and I don't have to waste my time on the bus, footing it, or pushing pedals.

Sorry for the length, but I wanted to give enough info to get the idea across. Also, I am cross-posting this on a few forums so sorry if you see it somewhere else. I don't want to be a dick I just need an answer and my car that bad.

 

Also, if you want to talk DO use AIM to chat me up. I'm almost always at my computer or coming back to it soon. THANKS!

 

Wow!

LOL, I had a few ideas, but you pretty much tried them already...

Odd situation, especially seeing you eliminated pretty much the whole clutchline assembly.

Is the clutch in your car new? Faulty pressure plate maybe?

 

If its not leaking fluid and its not keeping pressure, you've got air.

Vacuum bleed?

 

Actually, that is the closest I've gotten it with some chinese knock-off mityvac. Vacuum bleeding can get it close.

When I bleed it with a clear hose on the nipple I just keep seeing more bubbles. It's endless and miserable. It is totally air still. I wish I knew where it is coming from.

to spoolin: nothing in the clutch has changed and it was working until the MC failed. I can drive it by forcing gears if I have to, but I don't.

 

When using a vacuum bleeder, always teflon tape the threads of the bleeder, or air will be sucked in that way.

I am actually having a similar problem, I have good pedal feel, but when holding the clutch pedal for more than 30 seconds, the engagement point will be right off of the floor. I have replaced everything, master, slave, and also went with a stainless line. There are no leaks, and as far as I can tell, no air either.

 

i bought three slave cylinders from autozone and they all turned out bad... i bought a 4th from advance and it worked fine haha..

Also i found out that if you have the car jacked up, air stays in the line and its like impossible to bleed all the way. (4th gen)

Sometimes the slave can let air in the line by the threaded part but not leak fluid ive had that happen too

 

Thanks everyone, so far.

It was BAD AUTOZONE PARTS. I got the 4th set and it worked!

Now, the bad news.... It still has mechanical clutch problems that I didn't know about because it didn't go into gear for so ****ing long. I think it's the throw-out bearing, but I'll get inside and find out for myself.

 

o reilly has brake best that has lifetime warranty. my advance auto parts one went out after a couple of years.

 

Before you go and do that, make sure that the master cylinder part, on the inside of the car that connects to the clutch pedal is correct. If it is not adjusted right, it will not engage the clutch enough to shift into gear. The first time i replaced mine i had that issue, my friend got under there and in 2 seconds fixed the problem and it went right in gear.

 

Oh and its a pain to get under there lol... as im sure u know

 

need help my 91 accord clutch pedal will not come off the floor iv replaced the slav an master an bleed for 4 hours [seriously] no leaks so im just lost

 

here something so simple that you would believe it cause i had something similar happen to me. take the bleeder plug of slave cylinder put some pipe tape on it put it back on and see what happens. It was leaking from there for me haven't had an issue ever since