clutch pedal falls to the floor

[WOODY]

while driving this weekend the clutch "stuck" in the depressed position a few times and needed to be popped back up with my toe. After several more episodes of this the pedal wentr to the floor and stayed there. The fluid reservoir is empty and there is fluid leaking from somewhere on the drivers side of the engine. Is this where the slave and or master cylinder are? I have noted that failure of these components is fairly common. Difficult /expensive to fix? Anyone have this done at a dealership and know what a reasonable cost would be? Also I would apreciate opinions on whether The master and slave should both be changed evenn if only one has failed.
thanks
woody

 

[bjmills]

What a coincidence. This just happened to me. I fixed it just this past Sunday! http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52917

What you have is almost certainly a slave cylinder failure and you'll need to replace it. They are less than $100 ($79 I believe at Dali). I did the job myself. There's nothing really hard about the job if you have some modest wrenching experience. e.g. if you change your own oil you can probably handle this too. D'Ecosse did an *excellent* writeup here: http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/show...&threadid=20258

Good luck!

 

[D'Ecosse]

Thanks for acknowledgment - I believe your link is broken however
Here is where it is located.
I think the slave appears to be the primary problem here, but I've seen enough posts of master failures too that it might be worthwhile doing both.
The Master is also pretty straight forward, just awkward from accessibility - quite do-able though.

 

[bjmills]

Oops, my mistake. The "..." was a copy/paste error I reckon, 'cuz the thread id is correct. BTW D'Ecosse, getting those cotter pins out was a real hassle. One of them pretty much disintegrated and I had to dremel it out (shudder).

 

[D'Ecosse]

.... getting those cotter pins out was a real hassle. One of them pretty much disintegrated and I had to dremel it out ....

Yes, you had mentioned that - very odd! Maybe they were corroded? I didn't have any problems there - those have been off a couple of times in my case - for headers, A/C compressor change & the slave cylinder.
I hope yours was the exception rather than the rule.

 

[WOODY]

thanks for the links/input the manual is quite useless with the remove and replace info. If it is indeed the slave, the fluid would be dripping near the rear left tire correct? I didnt have a jack to raise the car and look underneath.

 

[nis350]

thanks for the links/input the manual is quite useless with the remove and replace info. If it is indeed the slave, the fluid would be dripping near the rear left tire correct? I didnt have a jack to raise the car and look underneath.

I was under the impression that most of the leaks from either master or slaver would be gradual. They don't just pour out, right?

So a monthly check on the fluid level would prevent this?

 

[bjmills]

If it is indeed the slave, the fluid would be dripping near the rear left tire correct?

Yes, that general area anyway. The slave is bolted to the transmission case. You don't have the jack that came with the car? ;-) I use it every time I jack the car up, because my floor jack is too tall to fit. So I use the factory jack to lift the car a few inches and then use the bigger floor jack to go the rest of the way.

 

[bjmills]

I was under the impression that most of the leaks from either master or slaver would be gradual. They don't just pour out, right?

So a monthly check on the fluid level would prevent this?

When mine went, it went all at once. I got in the car after a wedding at the pedal fell about half way. 20km later, it was done. There's a seal on the slave that I imagine can go all at once.

 

[nis350]

When mine went, it went all at once. I got in the car after a wedding at the pedal fell about half way. 20km later, it was done. There's a seal on the slave that I imagine can go all at once.

OK. So if you check the fluid level periodically, then you would notice the leaks and have time to change them.

I suppose it would work temporarily as long as there is fluid in the system.

 

[bjmills]

OK. So if you check the fluid level periodically, then you would notice the leaks and have time to change them.

I suppose it would work temporarily as long as there is fluid in the system.

That's probably correct, fair enough. I should add it to the list of things to periodically check...

 

[WOODY]

mine failed completely with no forewarning in less than 20 minutes. I tried to fill the reservoir and pump the pedal to get enough fluid in there to limp home but what ever is leaking is bad enough that the pedal motion does not even draw in fluid when you pump it.

 

[nis350]

mine failed completely with no forewarning in less than 20 minutes. I tried to fill the reservoir and pump the pedal to get enough fluid in there to limp home but what ever is leaking is bad enough that the pedal motion does not even draw in fluid when you pump it.

It would be too late if the reservoir is already empty. :frown:

 

[WOODY]

i am having niello overnight the slave for ~100 bucks. what else do I need ? some sort of bleeder hose? can I do it without a helper with a speed bleeder? do they have have universal couplers? I suppose somewhere like pepboys has this.
thanks
woody

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Speedbleeder will allow you to do it alone. Remember you will get a max of 5 pumps on the clutch before it runs dry. DO NOT let that happen, check the reservoir often. In this case you will need to press and pull the clutch back up, as opposed to the Brake pedal which will return each time.

Good Luck,
HTH,
LarryB

 

[bjmills]

i am having niello overnight the slave for ~100 bucks. what else do I need ? some sort of bleeder hose? can I do it without a helper with a speed bleeder? do they have have universal couplers? I suppose somewhere like pepboys has this.
thanks
woody

Just read the detailed description D'Ecosse wrote. The link is just a few posts above. It says everything you need to know.

 

[WOODY]

sorry if this sounds ignorant. in this picture does one of these couplers lead to the clutch slave or are both transmission linkages? also where is the "top" cover(behind which is the slave) relative to the one covering the actuators....just follow one of those couplers?

 

[bjmills]

Both couplers lead to the front of the car, both to the shifter I suppose. Neither lead to the slave. There is a hose that connects to the slave, and that comes from the master up front.

The cotter pins are indeed on the top of the levers. Remove the pins from both levers. Pull the couplers off. Remove the plate holding the cables and swing the whole thing aside.

The top plate hiding the slave is a plastic piece. You can see it in the photo, it's on the RHS. You can easily remove it once the linkages are out of the way. Then you'll have access to the slave. It's bolted to the transmission case directly above the piece you just removed. You should now see the clutch hose coming in too.

 

[WOODY]

so we are talking a 6 beer project ? :biggrin:

 

[D'Ecosse]

... Remember you will get a max of 5 pumps on the clutch before it runs dry. DO NOT let that happen, check the reservoir often. ...

This is a critical piece of advice - just want to stress Larry's good words.
It is all too easy to go too low, the reservoir is not very big - starting from a "dry" situation (i.e. no fluid in the line) it is impossible to bleed in one go with a single reservoir fill. Err on the side of caution as you'll waste a lot of time & fluid if you let it go too low between refills.

 

[WOODY]

even though the reservoir was empty, all I need to do is replace the slave, fill the reservoir, pump up and down on the pedal 3 or 4 times, refill reservoir, then pump a few more times and fluid should squirt out the other end at the bleeder. i do not need to prime the system in any way since it was dry and there is air in the lines now?

 

[bjmills]

... i do not need to prime the system in any way since it was dry and there is air in the lines now?

No, you just need to make sure you get all the air out, i.e. no bubbles in the drain hose. The SpeedBleeder will make it really easy to do.