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soft clutch

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kawana View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote kawana Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: soft clutch
    Posted: 30 November 2008 at 10:28am
for months now, ive had a soft clutch pedal. And being the lazy guy i am, i just keep topping up the brake fluid to get a firm pedal back.  I figure its about time i actually try to fix the problem, instead of just temp. fixing it.  Where could the fluid be coming out?
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CFoss View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote CFoss Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 December 2008 at 2:32pm

Only two spots:

 

The seals on the master cylinder, or the seals on the slave.

 

The place to look is inside the 'boot' (Rubber accordian like piece) which covers the pushrod on the master cylinder, and the pushrod on the slave. One or the other has failed, or if you're luck like me, both!

I've found that the Fiero store replacements are the best when you get around to that, and look around the web for a procedure to double the seal in the slave while you're at it (Stock is a single seal). Many failures are due to corosioin in the bore of the slave cylinder. Sometimes this can be honed out satisfactorily, but many times not.

Good luck, this is the worst system on a Fiero IMHO.

When (if) you replace one of these items, do the following bleed procedure. It is critical to bleed properly to assessing the system after a change.

 

I've found a combination of gravity and 'vice grip' bleeding works the best. What you do is park on a hill so the nose is up in the air. Crack the slave bleeder an let 'er run until no bubbles come out, for 5 minutes or so (2-3 fills of the master cylinder). Top up the master so as to not allow any air in the system. There should be positive flow coming out of the bleeder for the next part: Grab the slave pushrod (Eye protection!) with some vicegrips and pull it into the slave until it bottoms. Fluid will squirt out of the bleeder!!! Let the pushrod out SLOWLY, while watching the fluid in the top of the bleeder. Balance the pushrod movement with the incoming fluid so that the fluid level doesn't go down into the bleeder, but the fluid doesn't come out anymore.

 

By doing this, you overcome the tendancy for an air pocket to be trapped in the slave due to poor bleeder placement.

 

 

Chay

 

86 SE 3.4
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Patrick View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Patrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 December 2008 at 2:36pm
Originally posted by CFoss CFoss wrote:

...and look around the web for a procedure to double the seal in the slave while you're at it (Stock is a single seal).

Have a look at my post in Dave's recent thread.

 

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