For some reason my clutch slowly leaks fluid. It ran out for the second time in about a year and a half. Well today I put some fluid in it, kind of in a hurry, and I may have put too much in. Most of my drive home is on the highway, so theres not much shifting. When I got off the highway I had trouble shifting and the clutch pedal wouldn't come up, so I started pumping it and smoke came out from under the hood. So I put it in one gear and left it there all the way home. And at stops I'd have to turn off the car and put it in first. By the time I get home the car is almost undriveable. I pop the hood and there is clutch fluid all over by where the clutch line ends. And there was little or no fluid left in the line. Should I just tighten it up maybe? Or did I do some major damage?

Oh, yeah, and when I put in the fluid and the floater thing floated up, a bunch of really dirty fluid came out from under it.

 

The hydraulic line has a leak, or is loose, or the slave cylinder has a leaking seal. Find out where the leak is by filling the resivoir back up and watch while someone else pumps the clutch. Watch your eyes, you don't want brake fluid in them! It is common for the master cylinder to go bad at the same time as the slave cylinder, probably due to getting contamination from one into the other.

 

you may have a puncture in the line somewhere or the fittings are loose.

first step is to find out exactly where its lekaing then go from there.

 

Ok, I've figured out where its coming from. Its coming at the end of the metal line by the tranny. Where the rubber boot goes into the tranny, you have a nut which I assume bleeds it, and one thats around the metal line. Its coming out of there. There are some visible threads under it like its not tightened all the way. I don't know if its supposed to or what. Should I tighten it down or is it not supposed to be all the way down? I don't want to mess it up more.

And is there something you can put in there that will stop leaks?

 

if its comming from the end of the metal line see how tight it is.

there may be some threads left so don't overtighten it thinking you have to make all the threads go in.

make sure all of the clutch fittings are tight while you are at it.

 

The fluid sprays out from the bolt that I'm talking about. I tried to tighten it but I feel like I'm going to break it. And it didn't seem to help. I can try tightening it more, if it breaks, it won't be worse than it already is.

 

take it off and try some teflon tape to see if that will seal it.

If not, you'll need a new slave cylinder and line as the threads are prolly jacked.

 

No teflon tape. Neither one of those things seal at the threads.

The fitting with the steel tube is supposed to push the end of the tube into the slave cylinder. The end of the tube is flared out, and the flared end seals against a cone-shaped thing inside the hole on the slave. The inside of the flared tube & the cone-shaped thing both have to be smooth so they don't leak.

The inside end of the bleeder screw is like a point. That fits into a hole down in the slave. The seal happens where the point fits into the narrower part of that hole.

Instead of teflon tape, you might have better luck taking the fitting OUT & cleaning it up real good before you tighten it. Any scratches or pieces of dirt that get between the parts that actually seal, is why it leaks.

 

Dammit! I took the metal tube out of there to wipe it off and put it back in. I tightened it as far as it would go and now I have NO pressure at all. Push on the clutch and it goes straight to the floor. It doesn't even spray out any more. And the fluid is steadily leaking. Like theres a hole in something. I'm just about to take a bat to my car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Lazydsm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... And the fluid is steadily leaking. Like theres a hole in something. I'm just about to take a bat to my car. </TD></TR></TABLE>First, find the hole. If you're lucky it's in the tubing. The joint between the steel tube & the rubber hose is several inches away, so I don't suppose it's leaking there.

I don't think you can rebuild the slave cylinder, you just buy a new one. Then you'll have to bleed the clutch.

 

does air in the line cause the pedal to do this? I don't have anyone here to help me bleed the clutch, so I tried to bleed the clutch by myself. I don't know if I'm getting all the air out. Tell me if this is right:

I put a plastic tube over the nipple on the thingy that is on the front of the tranny, right behind the radiator (please excuse my terminoligy, I haven't had an automotive class yet that covers clutches)
I put the tube in a container and filled it with a little brake fluid. Then I loosened the bolt with the nipple on it. Then pumped the clutch (which has no resistance, and won't pop back up) about 20 times, went and refilled the resevior. And repeated about 3 times. There was lots of tiny air bubbles in the fluid in the container, but I don't know yet if I got it all out. So I just tightened it back up and filled it again, and the clutch still won't pop back up. I'll wait till my girlfriend comes home to help me. But is this the right way to do it?

I need to at least get this thing running well enough to get to a mechanic. At first it was spraying fluid out of the clutch fluid line fitting. At the end of the metal tube. While it was like this if it had fluid in the resevior it would at least drive until the fluid all sprayed out. Now it won't even do that since I started messing with the fitting and the bleeder. I don't think the fitting will tighten any more because its starting to strip.

 

That thing behind the radiator fan IS the clutch slave cylinder. The bleed valve is the thing with the nipple.

By now you've got lots of air in there, that's why the pedal doesn't come back up. So if it doesn't actually leak any more(?) you just have to bleed it. Best with 2 people, so get your girlfriend to help.

Tie a string around the clutch pedal so she can pull it back up from the floor. Fill the reservoir, put the rubber tube on the bleed valve. Open the valve by turning it only about 1/8 turn while she puts the pedal down. You close the valve, then she pulls up the pedal. Do several strokes & check the reservoir. DON'T let it go empty! Keep doing this until there aren't any more bubbles. You'll have to push maybe a pint thru it?

 

Ah, ok, I see now. I'll give that a try.

 

Is there some place that I can get the metal tube that goes to the slave cylinder besides a dealership?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Lazydsm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is there some place that I can get the metal tube that goes to the slave cylinder besides a dealership?</TD></TR></TABLE>There's mailorder places like http://www.manhonda.com or http://www.ahmotor.com