Hi,

I have a 1990 Nissan Stanza with a manual clutch. There's a reservoir under the hood on the driver's side and the shaft from the clutch pedal appears to go directly into the fittings it's attached to. Farther forward and in about the center there's a place to bleed the system. Pumping the pedal a few times pumps it up so it feels about normal, but after getting in gear and driving a little bit the pedal will drop half way to the floor as soon as you touch it. It can be pumped up again but will behave the same way after driving a little bit. If I stop and bleed it while the pedal will still drop when touched, a good bit of air will usually come out of the bleed valve. After doing that it will be a little better, sometimes behaving normally for a number of gear changes before the pedal starts dropping when touched and the whole thing starts over again. At first I thought it was the cap because it's pretty worn and doesn't form a seal by itself. So I put a good gasket in it and found a small C-clamp I can tighten down on it to make what's probably as good a seal as it made when new, but that doesn't seem to help much if any. Can anyone tell me what's going on, or how to figure it out? Or a better place to ask if this isn't the best forum for this sort of question?

Thanks for any help!
David

Sounds like your slave cylinder is taking a dive. Bleeding The air out will make it feel normal until you use the pedal a few times and it sucks more air back in.

It losing fluid too?

It loses fluid slowly. Is the slave cylinder the part where the bleed valve is? If so, can I tell by looking at it if that's where air's getting in?

The slave cylinder is on the transmission and actuates the clutch fork. There is a bleed point on it, yes.

Ace2cool wrote:The slave cylinder is on the transmission and actuates the clutch fork. There is a bleed point on it, yes.

Is there a way to tell for sure if that's what needs to be replaced? It looks okay, and I can't see any place around it where it looks like fluid is leaking out or air could be getting in. But it seems that it must be. I can put it in neutral while moving down the road and pump it up and pressure will build, but when I put it in gear and drive for a while the clutch falls almost to the floor the next time I touch it, even without using it again since putting it in gear.

I usually replace both the clutch master and slave cylinder at the same time.They are very inexpensive.Check this place out.http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/catalog.php

Yeah, you either have a bad master cylinder, clutch cylinder, or corroded/rotted fitting that is somehow sucking in air/bleeding out fluid.

sx moneypit wrote:I usually replace both the clutch master and slave cylinder at the same time.They are very inexpensive.Check this place out.http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/catalog.php

^This

What moneypit said.

I've never done a Stanza but it's usually a pretty easy, but a little messy job to do.