Clutch Problem... Need Help
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 263
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From: Rochester, NY
Clutch Problem... Need Help I went to the track last night and made 2 passes. After the second pass, my clutch pedal felt like crap. It now grabs very low to the floor and there is a ton of play in the pedal before pushing it down. If I pump the pedal before shifting once, it's a little better. I checked the fluid level and it's ok. I noticed this morning that the master cylinder rod where it goes through the firewall is very squeaky and so is the slave. The second pass that I made wasn't even a full quarter mile. I spun the tires through 1st and 2nd gear so bad that I gave up and just drove normal down the rest of the way. Any help would be extremely appreciated. Thanks.
Last edited by SLEEK00SS; Jun 17, 2006 at 05:22 PM.
well if you "pump the clutch" and it feels better, i would suggest bleeding it. that would be a good place to start! like W02Ramair asked, do you have headers? headers will definatly make the clutch hydraulic line get a lot hotter and "boil" you hydraulic fluid
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 263
Likes: 0
From: Rochester, NY
Yes. I do have long tube headers. I will start by bleeding the system out and put some heat shield on the line. The fluid wont be nasty cause I just upgraded the master a little over a month ago. It also has the upgraded slave which was installed a year ago. What's the best way to bleed it? Right on the slave that comes through the tranny case?
that's one way to bleed it. pump it up, then crack bleed it under the car. but it's kindof a pain in the ***. i just put my LS7 clutch in last night. and i went out yesterday to sears and bought one of those little "mity-vacs" it was $35 and works wonders. there's a great write-up in here about how to bleed with the mity-vac!
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What all the gentleman have said so far. Bleed your hydaulics and also wrap your line with a heat shield and it should get better. And as KRAB said Good luck
" If that doesn't work (but it probably will), update so we can further diagnose the problem."
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Launching!
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 263
Likes: 0
From: Rochester, NY
OK. To update on this process. I put the heat shield on and I used a method from one of the guys in the shop to bleed out the system. It's still just as bad. I did notice that when i disconnected the line from the slave that the slave port was a bit loose. I could move it around a little bit. I never noticed that before and I'm not sure if that's normal or not. My guess is no. This is really frustrating.
Last edited by SLEEK00SS; Jun 20, 2006 at 05:18 PM.
I haven't disconnected the quick disconnect line from the slave cylinder in a while, but from what I remember mine didn't move around... Could you explain to us exactly how you bled the hydraulics for air (mityvac, bleeder valve, gravity bleed, etc.)? Did you flush all the old fluid out first?
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 263
Likes: 0
From: Rochester, NY
I didn't flush out the old fluid. I was going to go out and buy the mityvac but a guy in the shop told me to try his method. So that's what I did. I had the old cap to the bottle, drilled a hole in it, put a connector through it, sealed it up, applied positive vaccum to the system and he said if there was any air in the system they would come out. That's how he bleeds power steering systems all the time and it's supposed to work.
That method seems like it would have the same effect as using a mityvac... I'd still flush out the old fluid though and re-bleed after that. The symptoms you're describing are one of two things: air in the system/dirty fluid or a bad slave cylinder. Before dropping the tranny to inspect the slave, I'd do the easiest thing and flush/bleed the fluid. If the problem persists, I'd go on to check the slave cylinder.
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 263
Likes: 0
From: Rochester, NY
Well, to update further on this whole process. I had New Era Performance replace the slave cylinder. I'm picking the car up sometime friday morning or afternoon. So right now, I don't know if the problem is gone yet. They did tell me that the slave cylinder was a stock 98-00 slave. Looks like someone gave me the wrong part number last year. I asked for the updated GM part number and I got the part and replaced it when I did the clutch and flywheel last year. That sucks! Well now I'll have the Ram high flow in there. I'll update tomorrow and let you know how it went.
