brandontrek

This morning i went out to my truck which had been sitting in 10-20 degree weather all night. When i went ot start it up there was no pressure in the clutch pedal until it was on the floor. I drove the 20 miles to work like this without the clutch slipping or anything strange happening. The pedal will eventually come back out the entire way if i don't help it. What could be causing this problem? Just the cold? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

eric-the-red

Did you check the fluid, if it's OK then it's probably a leaking seal in either the master or salve cylinder. On a 93 I would just replace both, assuming they are still original. Neither part is very expensive and chances are if you replace the leaking one now the other one will go soon.

brandontrek

Now...a really stupid question. Where is the fluid reservoir, master and slave cylinders? The only car I have ever really "torn down" was a 1996 jetta 2.0. and the funny thing is it just started today...the coldest day of the year

eric-the-red

The master cylinder is next to the brake one, directly in front of the clutch pedal on the firewall. It looks like a smaller brake master, with just one fluid line coming out. Reservoir is on top of that. Slave cylinder is on the bell housing, passenger side, near the starter. If the fliud is low it uses DOT3 brake fluid.

Re & re clutch cylinders is real easy, one fluid line on each and 2 bolts holding them on the truck. If you're replacing them you should bench bleed the master first, the new one should come with instructions on how to do that. Then you'll have to bleed the system after installing. That's just like bleeding brakes.

brandontrek

thank you soo much for the info. i knew where the slave was but i was just making sure. i am going to check the fluid when i go out to my truck round 2:30.

brandontrek

wow...my fluid level was below the giant black "E". when it gets warmer i will roll under and chech ther slave cyl.....

UPDATE>>>>>

well i filled the fluid...just sitting in the parking lot i had a small amount of pressure but nothing to write home about. any other ideas? will it fix itself once i take it out for a drive?

celica

you might have air in the system and need to bleed it. You bleed it like you do for brakes.

you are going to want to watch & see why you were losing fluid. you may have a hole in your hose.

PAhydrohead

The clutch pedal on my 4Runner started acting similar to yours a few years back. I had a tiny hole in the hose like Celica said. Look under the hood for a big oily mess somewhere around the hose that comes from the (edit)passenger side firewall.

eric-the-red

The other place you might find a leak is the short piece of flexible hose on the passenger side of the engine. Goes from the hard line on the firewall down to a connector on the rear end of the head/manifold area.

Like Matt said you might have air in the system, especially if the fluid was low. Check for any leaks before you bleed it.

PAhydrohead

Yep, that's the hose where I had a leak.

brandontrek

thanks for the help guys...i drove it home without any problems...the pedal will follow my foot after i depress it but i can rest my shoe on it and it will go 3/4 down. now instead of the "grab" being about 2 inches it feels like my dads of rav4 5 speed with about [-----] of a "grab then nothingness...

brandontrek

problem fixed....it was the fluid...i am gonna keep an eye on it to see if there is a leak but i do remeber removing the lid to the master cyl a while back and wondering "WTF is that for" and seein that there was very little to no fluid....