"burning a clutch"

[palinix]

Is this something that happens normally when your on the clutch repeatly for about 15min in traffic or was something wrong?

Do you know when the clutch lines were last bled? Little pockets of air in the lines can cause loss of pedal pressure, especially when you are using it a lot over a short period of time.

Have the system completely bled... if the problems persists after that, you may have to replace either your clutch master or slave cylinders, or both.

[jay78]

I have yet another question...
Today while I was driving, my clutch lost pressure, I hooked it with my foot and pulled it back up and then it was fine again. This was while I was driving for about 45 min where the last 15mins were in traffic. After that and for the rest of the day it was fine. Is this something that happens normally when your on the clutch repeatly for about 15min in traffic or was something wrong?

Other than that I have been doing well, the car no longer jerks when Im changing gears, everything seems to be going smoothly.

it never lost pedal pressure when i owned it but i did top it off bout a year ago and the fluid looked clean.
did you smell anything odd?

[NAiL05]

1. Bleed it.
2. Find your leak
3. Make sure you have fluid in the CMC reservoir.

[sin2k5]

I have yet another question...
Today while I was driving, my clutch lost pressure, I hooked it with my foot and pulled it back up and then it was fine again. This was while I was driving for about 45 min where the last 15mins were in traffic. After that and for the rest of the day it was fine. Is this something that happens normally when your on the clutch repeatly for about 15min in traffic or was something wrong?

Other than that I have been doing well, the car no longer jerks when Im changing gears, everything seems to be going smoothly.

i stronggggly recommend that you or someone check out your clutch reservoir to make sure that your clutch line isnt leaking or taking in air (under the car/firewall/under the distributor). and it just takes two people to bleed the slave cylinder to flush the clutch line (im sure there's a diy somewhere on here).

could be worse:
One day my clutch felt like it was 'sticking' too and i had to kick it up a bit -- drove fine for a few days until one day i just had no clutch. i came to a stop sign and i realize i had no clutch. so i let myself roll in neutral and ran the stop sign over to the shoulder lane, cuz i knew that once i stopped --- i was gonna StoP. the problem turned out to be more than air deposits in the line (making it feel 'spongy' and kicking it up), but instead my clutch hose (a 12inch rubber hose right under the distributor) had a pineedle-sized hole in it. everytime the clutch had pressure, i could see a stream shooting out like a watergun -- so look for any brake fluid-coated areas under the hood or any leaks. once somethin like that happens -- youll probably have to replace the master cylinder and slave cylinder (if not hose also), cuz theyll bprobably fail well once it dries and lacks lubrication. i also recommend keeping the bay clean, that way itll be easier to see things that like goin on under the hood

[T3aM 83rD]

it never lost pedal pressure when i owned it but i did top it off bout a year ago and the fluid looked clean.
did you smell anything odd?

When I checked the fluid on Monday everything looked clean and full. I didn't get a chance to check it yesterday but this afternoon when I get home I'll look at it again.

I don't smell anything odd, and like I said after that one time is was fine for the rest of the day.

This morning while driving to work it happened again. (I was on a hill it was raining and I was at a stop light, dont know if that has anything to do with it) It didnt loose complete pressure, it was like half-way dead. But once I pulled it up, it was good to go again.

One more thing, once this morning it wouldnt go into any gear, I was in nuetral and then tried to put it into first and it would go in. I tried to put it into the other gears and it didnt go into any, I played with it for a couple of seconds and then it went right it. Normally its kinda stiff but I got use to it and it slides right in. The previous owner had put on a yeaman (sp?) short shifter, dont know if that has anything to do with it. Anyone?

[NAiL05]

Check your slave cylinder around the boot to see if its wet.

[EJ7]

Hills are a bitch... Even after 6 years of driving stick, I still get nervous when some douche gets too close to me on a hill. You WILL roll back a little normally... You just have to be quick with your feet to keep it to a minimum. The e-brake thing you did isn't a bad idea when someone is too close.

I've had a few instances where I totally burned out at a hill because I was afraid to roll back into the guy behind me.

haha mike, thats funny that you mention this, when im on a hill (even a slight hill) and someones too close i roll back on purpose comming within inches of them that way at the nixt light they wont get so close and if they do it again at the nest light i either get closer or slightly nudge them when i roll back, just enough so that they dont have any damage but do know that i mean business haha; un fortunately all my stick cars are gone right now and all i have left is my auto grand am wit a blown angine and my auto mercedes oh and THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH thread starter for starting this thread, now im jelous and miss my stick cars!!

but any who, good luck with your learnin to drive stick its fun and after a while you wont wanna drve an automatic car at all cause you will find it boring

[jay78]

One more thing, once this morning it wouldnt go into any gear

on cold starts sometimes ive had older cars do this....

if it struggles from neutral, then release the clutch, push back in and try putting into gear again.

[T3aM 83rD]

OK so...
Last night while driving, I jumped on the highway and everything seemed normal except the clutch would loose a little pressure everytime I shifted, I just hooked it with my foot and pulled it back up.
When getting off the highway I put it into Neutral and when I went to put in into 3rd gear the clutch was completely dead. It wouldnt go into any gear, so I slowly rolled off to the corner.

I popped the hood and checked the clutch master cylinder and there was no fluid, so I made a couple of calls and discovered that you use brake fluid in there, fine, I get my uncle to bring me some brake fluid. I poured it in, pump the clutch still no pressure. Called Alvin (Bruno4787) and he said that I have to bleed the system to get pressure, so he describes exactly what to do, I couldnt see the bleeder valve because it was dark out and I had no light, all I had in the car was 2 screwdrivers and a little pliers.

So he takes a drive out to where I am and we try to get it going, he told me that the slave cylinder is shot. He saw fluid coming out somewhere it wasnt suppose to when I was pumping the clutch.

I found the DIY on changing the slave cylinder, it seems pretty easy. But my question is should I change the clutch master cylinder while Im at it?

[sin2k5]

So he takes a drive out to where I am and we try to get it going, he told me that the slave cylinder is shot. He saw fluid coming out somewhere it wasnt suppose to when I was pumping the clutch.

I found the DIY on changing the slave cylinder, it seems pretty easy. But my question is should I change the clutch master cylinder while Im at it?

damn....lol i u hit the scenario i told u about! i had a feeling!

yea, you should change both the master cylinder and slave cylinder, because usually when one is shot, the other isnt far along, because the rubber seals in em eventually fail when theres lack of lubrication by the brake fluid. and im tellin u...check ur hoses in the cluch system too, just in case brake fluid is leakin out else where before you 'think' its fixed and stops again later on. itll probably put you out about 100buxx both m.c.+s.c (hose...20-30). and expect removing the the master cylinder to be a bitch but nothin major. then its a two-man job to bleed the system, which is a specific 1,2,3,4,5 kinda process (done repeatedly until system is fully bled of air) -- one guy at the valve, one at the pedal.

if youre not sure, do a search for the specific order of the steps to bleed -- i forget the order of the steps in terms of releasing valve, pedal down, then pedal up, then tighten or w/e (cuz doin them in the wrong order wont do anything --- ull probably just suck in more air) -- if not luck, i can ask a friend of mine...he helped me out w/mine.

**after youre done -- MAKE SURE you properly re-adjust and tighten ur pedal or else your transmission may 'feel' like it slips while driving -- which is basically when your car revs up when you add gas but does nothing/accels very slowly when your in gear.

lemme know how that goes.

[T3aM 83rD]

I replaced the slave cylinder, it was a easy job, it cost $28 for the new cylinder.

Next week or whenever I get some time I'll look into changing the clutch master cylinder. People said to look by the clutch pedal where it goes into the firewall and see if there is a leak there, I checked it out and it looked clean.

It's alot smoother going into gears now. The only thing is that before the clutch had pressure all the way on top, now it goes down about 1 inch before you start to feel the pressure. Dont know if thats a problem or not.
It drives great though.

[NAiL05]

Bleed it more.

[sin2k5]

I replaced the slave cylinder, it was a easy job, it cost $28 for the new cylinder.

Next week or whenever I get some time I'll look into changing the clutch master cylinder. People said to look by the clutch pedal where it goes into the firewall and see if there is a leak there, I checked it out and it looked clean.

It's alot smoother going into gears now. The only thing is that before the clutch had pressure all the way on top, now it goes down about 1 inch before you start to feel the pressure. Dont know if thats a problem or not.
It drives great though.

just make sure to properly adjust the pedal if you deal with the master cylinder -- cuz my tranny was slipping really badly one day on the highway, the my clutch would only disengage when the pedal was further and further down to the point that i had only about 1.5inch clearance and i had to get off the road and stop. (i thought it was due for a new clutch, but it was just because my pedal was to tight or loose or too high or low or soemthin IDK, but i took care of its and its fine now lol...make sure u dont cut corners when workin on your car lol (like my friend and i)