I recently purchased a 1980 Datsun 720 Pickup with the knowledge that the clutch doesn't engage AT ALL. I was planing on towing home and bringing it to a shop to get it fixed but the towing fees are just ridiculous. I'm starting to think its just the master cylinder needing fluid and it should engage. The way he described it was that it would start to not fully engage, then it wore slowly until it didn't engage anymore. This sounds to me like it leaked fluid somehow. I'm thinking I might be able to just fill the clutch cylinder with fluid and it will get me home. It will probably leak and lose fluid again but then I can at least get it home without towing and it'll also help me find the leak so I can fix it.

so my question is, does this sound logical? Also what else COULD cause a clutch to slowly go out until it doesn't engage at all?

-570

When you say the clutch won't engage, you mean you can't get it into gear? Or do you mean you get it into first gear but the car won't move?

If it won't go into gear without grinding then it's probably the clutch and pressure plate that needs replacing. There's a slave cylinder on the greabox with a 8mm rod that pushes a lever that engages and disengages the clutch, you can sometimes get away with fitting a longer rod to give you more travel on the lever.