91 240sx : Please--big time clutch problems, need to bleed more? clueless

[240stuff]

I had a mechanic replace the slave cylinder, master cylinder, and clutch plate on my 91 240 (Chatt Tn) It was hard to shift, lasted 7 miles, and smoke coming from clutch area--fried the plate. Another mechanic took off the transmission , replaced the plate, bled it including all he could get out of damper box. &0 miles later shifting problem again and am worried, afraid to drive it. What could the problem be. Does it meed to be especially pressure bled with a speciial tool? Is it bad to bypass the box. Please help--Thanks--

[Scott McLellan]

Umm, just gonna throw out some ideas. The master cylinder probly needs to be bench bled. Also, did they replace the ball stud that screws into the transmission inside the bellhousing? If they didn't then maybe the slave cylinder can't push out far enough to fully disengage the clutch although it would really have to be worn... Did they put the clutch disk on backwards? Did you check the transmission fluid level? It's a bolt type of thing with a square drive (1/2 in) on the side of the transmission.

[Scott McLellan]

Just thought of this but when I did mine, when putting the pivot arm thing (that has the throwout bearing on it) back onto the ball stud, I noticed that the wire spring clip thing that holds the pivot arm to the ball stud was kinda tricky to put back on right. I actually got the pivot arm to stay on with that clip not on there right. Use a small mirror to check the backside to make sure part of the clip isn't under the pivot point. This is far fetched but clutches are very basic actually and I can't think of what it could be.

[Scott McLellan]

sorry to make a 3rd post....(i'm just kinda forgetful i guess) but thought of yet another idea. Could they have pressed on the throwout bearing backwards? I really doubt this but you never know. Also, make sure the throughout bearing is correctly installed on the pivot arm. Okay this is really unlikely, but could the pivot arm be bent? Also, is there anything leaking oil (rear main seal) in that area or any fluid for that matter. What's the pedal free play like on the inside of your car? Like how far do you have to press in the clutch pedal before the piston of the master cylinder starts moving (look at under dash)? They did use regular brake fluid right? Is the rubber hose portion of the hydralic lines in good condition? Does it swell when you press on the pedal?

[s13sr20chris]

i would try removing the damper box.

[Shaefer Thomas]

Someone PLEASE GOD IN HEAVEN help me!!! I recently replaced my stock clutch with a spec stage 3, and a spec flywheel. It worked fine for about a week, then while I was driving, it crapped out on me and the clutch wouldnt disengage. I bled it in the parking lot. No luck. Towed it back home, next day replaced the Slave cylinder AND the master cylinder. Didnt work until the next day.... Then after that, seemingly in complete RANDOM intervals, the clutch would or would not disengage. I noticed it WOULD disengage late in the afternoon, after it had been out in the Texas heat all day which I thought was wierd to me. I hopped on the boards and noticed that people say to remove that actuator box and I did that today with NO LUCK!! Ive bled this thing like 98734873 times, running almost one of those HUGE bottles of brake fluid through it. I never let the fluid go past the bottom of the master cylinder, and I had someone pump it 3 or 4 times before I would open and close it. There is no air coming out of the line, but yet the pedal is still mushy and the clutch disengages at the VERY BOTTOM of the pedal. One night I took it out for a drive, before I removed the actuator, and while I was in line at a fast food restaurant, the pedal got nice and firm, and the clutch engaged/disengaged about halfway through the travel of the pedal, like its SUPPOSED to. It only was like that for one night, then the next day it wouldnt shift again. I didnt even touch anything between those 2 times, and it just flaked out. Could someone PLEASE shed some light on this problem, Im going to just take it to a dealership soon and have them mess with it, but I want to fix it myself. ANY help please is appreciated

[574-240sx]

Hows the clutch fork, not bent or broke. Have you tried adjusting the clutch its a 10mm nut above the petal on the threaded rod.

[Shaefer Thomas]

Yes, tried adjusting the threaded rod on the master. I think that got me to the point today where I can actually shift. I hope to GOD its not a bent fork, and I really doubt that it is. The wierdest thing man, when Im sitting there idling for a small amount of time to where the engine warms up, or when the car is sitting in the sun all day, it firms right up. We all know the basic laws of matter. You heat it up, it expands. Im thinking the temperature change heats it up just enough to get the right amount of pressure in there and make it nice. I dunno why it wouldnt bleed out the air, if there is any in there though. How important is it to follow the bleeding instructions in the FSM though? The whole clear tube going into the clear bottle full of brake fluid dealio? Just wonderin
Modified by Shaefer Thomas at 11:27 AM 9/2/2005

[180fan]

Sounds like you still got air in your lines from the intermittent behavior of your clutch system. Bleed it proper and it'll probably get back to working properly.

[Shaefer Thomas]

But like I stated already, Ive bled it MULTIPLE times, almost using a hole HUGE bottle of brake fluid...

[TurboTuli]

I'm having the same problem. When the car is cold there is no pressure and the clutch will not disengage...but once it gets warmed up it is perfectly fine. I, however, haven't done anything about it yet. I'm going to bleed it today. Hopefully that's all it is. Did you fix your problem?

[Touchdown038]

Make sure when you bleed it you bleed through both the dampener box and the slave cylinder.

[hondacivicsipower]

remove the dampnerthat makes bleeding the slave much much easier

[Touchdown038]

It sure does... it's kind of a dangerous thing to do though, because you have to bend the line to fit it into the slave cyl.... really easy to kink it doing that. But it does make it a TON easier to bleed.

[smokey91]

iam having same problem when could shifts good after driveing for awhile grinds going into second like half way disingagued, and if you push clutch in all the way in neutral or any gear and reve it up it makes grinding sound, i replaced master, and slave custom ground flywheel an 6 puck cluth and pressure plate and bleed many time still have problem