Today I get into my car to leave and i feel that the pedal is very limp and just falls to the floor. I get the car started and i have to pump the clutch a couple of times to get it into gear. I check the fluid level, none. There is fluid leaking all around the firewall where my clutch pedal comes in. Is this a faulty clutch master cylinder? The same thing happened to my friend's camry, it was the master cylinder. If it is, is this hard to replace and expensive?

 

Look closely at the clutch line in that area, have someone pump it while you observe. Make sure it isn't the actual master cylinder before you go and replace it, might just be a bad line or clamp.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by H22A_NeThing &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Look closely at the clutch line in that area, have someone pump it while you observe. Make sure it isn't the actual master cylinder before you go and replace it, might just be a bad line or clamp.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Check this as well. Also, look where the clutch pedal goes through the firewall both inside and outside the cabin. You sound like you can see fluid all over the place, so it sounds like a bad clutch master cylinder, but check the lines just to verfiy there are no breaks/kinks. It's not hard to replace and not too expensive.

 

its a bad master cylinder, pretty simple to replace, make sure you bench bleed it when you put it back together

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PrettyLude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its a bad master cylinder, pretty simple to replace, make sure you bench bleed it when you put it back together</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

what do u mean by bench bleed it?

 

That happened in my old Eclipse, just buy a re-build kit at Autozone and install it.

 

I didn't think there was any bench bleeding needed for a CLUTH master cylinder?

You def have to bench bleed the BRAKE master cylinder though.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EE_Chris &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I didn't think there was any bench bleeding needed for a CLUTH master cylinder?

You def have to bench bleed the BRAKE master cylinder though.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have to do this on my wife's car soon. I was reading in my Chilton's that you do have to bleed the system after replacing the clutch master cylinder, but can someone tell me where the bleeder valve is??

Also, is the Haynes better than Chilton's? Chilton's seems rather.... cryptic.

 

Bench bleeding and bleeding the system are two different things.

With bench bleeding, the brake master cylinder is out of the car and you loop some hose from the ports back into the resovoir.

You of course have to bleed any hydraulic system to purge the air out.

The bleeder valve is located on the slave cylinder.

Haynes and Chiltons both such *** - buy a Helms (link in sig).

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EE_Chris &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
The bleeder valve is located on the slave cylinder.

Haynes and Chiltons both such *** - buy a Helms (link in sig).</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for the clarification and thanks for the link! I've got a Bentley manual for my VW and it sounds much like the Helms.

 

Helm for Honda is pretty comparable to Bentley for VW. In each case it's better than the Haynes/Chilton books.

I think you bench-bleed the clutch MC too. Especially if you use a pressure bleeder; 'cause then you don't pump the piston. If you bleed by pumping the pedal (either clutch or brake), then you can get away without benchbleeding. It just takes forever (& lots of fluid) to get all the bubbles out.