D's Hawk

iTrader: (4)

I have been searching through the forums and the info I have found is all spotty. I was driving home from HEB last night and my clutch pedal went straight to the floor when I was shifting. I pulled over turned the car off and then back on, was able to get it in gear and get home. I have lost my hydraulics in my clutch. I tried adding fluid last night and pumping the clutch to see if there was any air in the system, there was not a lot of debris in the resevoir, didn't help. I read I should try and bleed the system first, what is the best way to go about this? If that doesn't work, I would like to replace my existing cylinders w/LS7 parts. My clutch is fine and don't really have the cash to replace everything w/LS7 parts. I would like to know if which cylinder to replace or both and what type of job I am looking at. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Famous556

iTrader: (1)

This problem has happened to me several times. Most times after harder driving but also sometimes after normal driving.

You should replace the factory dot3 fluid with a higher quality fluid. I used motol dot4 in mine. It doesn't take much. A quart will give you more than enough to bleed the old fluid out and get all new fluid in there.

Without a speed bleeder installed it's a two man process. One of you needs to be in the car to work the clutch. And the other needs to be under the car. Just above where the hydraulic line goes into the bellhousing there is a 10mm (I think) bleeder that is just at the edge of the hole in the bellhousing. I attached some plastic tubing to the end of the bleeder so I could see the air and fluid that was expelled. Don't turn the bleeder more than say half a turn because it can fall off and get stuck in the bellhousing.

One guy pushes and holds the clutch to the floor, while the other cracks the bleeder valve and then closes it. Same procedure as bleeding brakes. You'd be surprised the nasty fluid that you'll get out of there.

Once you've bled it, you can occasionally draw most of the fluid out of the reservoir and replace it with new every few weeks or month. There is a YouTube video about it. Search "ranger clutch fluid" and that should get you there. It's a video featuring mostly corvettes.

tmonttt

iTrader: (10)

I'm having a similar issue, but don't think that my slave is the culprit. I haven't been able to find much info on V clutch masters, but I'm not losing any fluid and even after some new fluid and bled, it'll slowly start going to the floor after a couple days.

I might of just made myself believe that it's the clutch master because even as big of a pain in the *** the master is, I really, really don't want to pull my trans for the slave.

Famous556

iTrader: (1)

Our cars, as well as a number of late model gm cars, are notorious for these types of problems. 4th gen f-bodys, c5 corvettes, etc. Be sure to try bleeding with a quality fluid before going about replacing hydraulic components. Solved the problem for me once I got new higher temp fluid in there. From what I understand a large amount of clutch dust and debris works it's way in through the seals in the slave and causes the fluid to become highly contaminated, which lowers it's boiling point significantly and once the fluid boils air is now in the system and needs to be purged by bleeding. Higher quality fluid and occasional bleeding have worked quite successfully for me. It's a lot easier and cheaper than replacing components.



ETA:

Didn't read above that you've tried bleeding in my first read through. Advice to the OP still stands but I wonder what your issue is? Also hoping you don't have to go after the slave.

luigiandme

iTrader: (2)

It's the Slave Cylinder. That's as clear of an answer as it'll get.

D's Hawk

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for all the input guys. Bleeding and adding fluid did not do the trick. I just ordered a LS7 clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, slave, throw out bearing, and a speed bleeder. I will get the parts on Thursday and my local shop will do the work on Friday. I want to make this a one and done. I'll post some updates when I get the V back this weekend.

AAIIIC

iTrader: (19)

I was making the not-quite 500mi drive from CT to VA yesterday, and 60mi from home the clutch died. Pedal went to the floor and wouldn't come back up. Reservoir was almost dry, tried adding fluid, but it was coming out the bottom of the bellhousing. Awesome.

So, is it more likely to be the slave, or the line from the slave to the master, or the remote bleeder line? And I'm guessing there's no way of knowing the answer without pulling the trans back to get a look at everything right?

I need to go back and look at my maintenance records and see what slave is in there - I can't remember if I had it replaced when I had Lindsay install a clutch and flywheel a few years ago.

D's Hawk

iTrader: (4)

I picked my car up yesterday after having stock clutch/flywheel/slave replaced w/LS7 parts. Clutch has a stock feel to it. I will be taking it easy for 500mi before I really start getting on it. That should give me time to gain confidence in my clutch again. Every time I press the pedal to the floor I feel like it's not going to come back, lol, just need to get it in my head that the problem is fixed. I'll update more info once I feel comfortable w/agressive acceleration, I still feel like I am going to break something. After having to replace the diff, clutch, and slave in the past 7 months, I am sure y'all can understand where I'm coming from. My Firehawk and Z06 didn't even cost me this much combined!