Hydraulic clutch problems........

[grimlunacy]

Im having some issues with my clutch. All of a sudden one day it felt very stiff, a few hours later i noticed that the clutch was engaging while the pedal was closer to the floor than it usually does. now the clutch doesnt disengage after pushing it down abour 2 inches and starts engaging immediatly after releasing on the pedal. Would this be a pressure plate issue or a possability of air or water in the line? or simply adjusting the pedal on the piston?

[ricebike]

did u check if the fluid is low? then check the slave cylinder if leaking? look behind the boot...

[grimlunacy]

yeah i checked and checked again. so far nothing. i checked down the lines all the way to the clutch assembly. ive even been keeping an eye on the fluid level to see if its going down at all and nothing is leaking. could it be air or water in the line? im hoping it has nothing to do with the actual clutch itself.

[ricebike]

air: pedal would feel spongy

water: the brake fluid of the clutch hydraulic system is hygroscpoic...in time it would be saturated w/ water. u can try to bleed system & see if it improves...

search & you'll may encounter a harder job than u think...stooopid clutch damper box

another scenario... the clutch fork/pivot ball may have broke/bent/throwout bearing got dislodged/ a spring on the pressureplate/disc may have popped....ooh yah! u will haveta pull the transmission out to inspect since there's soo little room to move that clutch fork boot to view the internals.

have a $$borescope$$? then it'll be easier to see w/out dissasembly

i'm leaning towards the last one, so have a new clutch kit ready; might as well put a fresh disc/pressureplate/throwout bearing/ pilot bushing in there if u will tear things apart

GL w/ it & wait till others chime in. all this is purely theoretical.

[grimlunacy]

Yeah thats what i was affraid of. The reason i was leaning towards just bleeding was because there is a new clutch in there, maybe about a month or two old. if i pump the clutch repeatedly the pressure in the line comes up and the clutch restores to normal until it is at rest for more than 20 minutes. i was hoping it would just be that, but im doubting it since it hasnt acted like this immediatly after the installation of the new clutch.

If i have to pull the transmission im thinking i will just do the engine swap ive been wanting to do. Just out of curiousity are there any other engines besides the silvia engine that is worth swapping with in an s13? are there any 6 speed transmission's that i can throw in? as much as i love the 5 speed 6 would just do me much better. Im still new to the 240sx, ive only owned mine for just over a month, loving it besides the issues with the clutch.

[ricebike]

another thing to add to your dartboard...

my master cylinder had developed an internal leak... no visible fluid loss, but leaking past the o-rings w/in the cylinder itself...

since i was going to change out my slavecyl/ clutch hose, i might as well change the master cylinder.

cause i now see that you're pumping the clutch til the pressure returns to normal; that lead me to believe that it can be that.

heck where are the other members who had similar problems???

[cdlong]

are there any 6 speed transmission's that i can throw in? as much as i love the 5 speed 6 would just do me much better.

the S15 spec R and the 350Z are the only 6 speeds avaliable. neither would be mate up to the KA very easily, but both swaps would be pretty cool.

i second the master cylinder/slave cylinder internal leak. replace those first. if you put in a heavier prussure plate with your clutch the extra stress might have killed your old cylinders.

[grimlunacy]

thanks, ill check that out. so far that is the only thing that really makes sense to me, i couldnt see it being something internally wrong with the clutch assembly. how much do you figure a better cylender would run me?

[grimlunacy]

Im guessing it is the cylinders, i checked up on the clutch that was installed and a hevier pressure plate was installed. When i bought the car the previous owner had just installed a new clutch days before i bought it. so that would explain the issue, thanks for the help.

[cdlong]

a new stock slave cylinder should be able to handle an aftermarket pressure plate if it isn't overly heavy. if you want to upgrade, the only option that i know of is the nismo one.