frozenwave

OK, here goes. Might as well intro myself, as i'm new. From Arizona. 1991 Toyota Pickup short bed, 4wd, 33in tires, 3.0 3VZE Rebuilt, 6 inch susp lift/1 inch body lift.

I've seen a couple of other posts similar to this, but haven't heard of anyone's success stories in fixing this. Here's my problem with my 5 speed manual:

Drove fine since i got it. No slips or anything like that at all...

Then one day I began to notice that when I pop it in reverse, it'd grind, but not really have any problem getting into gear. One day later, it became a MAJOR FIGHT to get it into reverse, 1st, and 2nd gear, but would still drive fine, but it would creep slowly in 1st, even with the clutch mashed to the floor.

Now, I cant get it into any gear at all. I can shift fine when the engine is off, but when turn it over, it of course crawls with the turning of the starter.

I've bled the slave cylinder some, to no avail. I think is has something to do with the hydraulic system, but im not sure. My clutch didnt go bad, did it?
Im not a tranny pro, but it seems these symptoms dont match up with a bad clutch, right? Any info greatly appreciated! HELP! I miss my trucky!

Just Learning

does the engine rev, and your going no where, if so clutch, also the slave cylinder could have also taken a dump on you , mine did, clutch and slave cyl. now just for the heck of it have you checked the gear oil? just my penny worths

frozenwave

hmm, actually, i noticed the rear differential dripping gear oil the other day, but only like a drop or two per day. truck still moves fine though, just wont go into gear when it's on. i'll likely replace the master/slave.com

mrmatson

Check the lines too, maybe there's a hole and you're just leaking, from the sudden onset of these symptoms it seems likely to me.

UKMyers

Sounds to me like your clutch is not disengaging. On the right side of the trannny is the slave cylinder and actuator. Have someone crawl under your truck and then push in the clutch and see if the actuator is moving or not. If it's moving back and forth then something is going on inside. It could be a number of things. Have you checked the fluid level in the clutch reservoir?

gennro

Just replace the master and slave cylinders. I have had this happen before on a few of my toyotas. It really sucks when your slave cylinder goes when you are out and about. Its about 40 bucks for both of them from the parts store. Should only take and hour or so to do.

When you do the bleed stick a rubber hose onto the bleeder valve of the slave cylinder and stick it in a bottle with about half full of brake fluid. Open the bleeder up and pump the clutch a few times. Then close the bleeder and check your fluid level in the master cylinder and make sure it stays full as you are doing this. Then pump the clutch a few times with the bleeder closed. Then just repeat this process a few times till the clutch is nice and firm. All you are doing is pushing the air out and sucking brake fluid back in when you let the clutch out. This works for bleeding brakes also.

mmcpeck

Take a look at the clutch pedal bracket, they tend to break and you won't feel it when you push the pedal in, but it prevents the clutch from being pushed far enough in to disengage the clutch.

Do a search on here for broken clutch bracket, there are a lot of pics of what a broken bracket will look like. Sometimes you can't see the break at first, look at it carefully, they are not the strongest of brackets.

TNRabbit

START HERE FIRST! It's free and may well be your problem.

If that's not it, I'd start looking at the slave cylinder as the next likely culprit, then the clutch master last.

frozenwave

ok, i may ha ve found the problem. clutch pedal brackets are fine, master cylinder seems ok. when i bleed the slave, i get a LOT of air bubbles coming out. sounds like i should replace the salve?

gennro

YUP! Replace the master also, its only like 20 bucks for it.

frozenwave

I bled the slave through SEVERAL pumps of the vacuum gun. The air coming out doesnt consist of 'uniform' bubbles either. It's rather gurgly and foamy, leading me to believe that the seals are bad and are letting small amount of air pass into the cylinder.

frozenwave

sweet. autozone, here i come!

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Yes, replace the slave and the master cyl together.

Bench bleed the mc and then bleed the whole system after installing the slave.

Aftermarket master/slave cylinders are sometimes hit/miss, so get some good ones.

frozenwave

what is bench bleed?

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

It is in your factory service manual or try a

Plenty of info online about it.

frozenwave

ok, slave cyl is installed. now im in a rut. does anyone have any advice as to how to mount the pedal back onto the master cylinder plunger? the connector with the nut and the big piece of metal with a pin+cotter pin is giving me so much hell. if i disconnect the pedal, i can hook it up fine TO THE PEDAL, but then i cant get the pedal back on. if i disconnect the plunger from the pedal, i can hook the pedal up but not the plunger. if i unmount the master cylinder from the firewall, i can hook up everything else, but then i cant mount the damn cylinder back to the firewall! AGGGHHHH. makes me quite angry. any ideas?

frozenwave

everything's done and hooked up. slave cylinder is working fine.. still have the same problem. grind in reverse, cant get it into gear. i dunno....anyone?

TNRabbit

I'm still betting on clutch pedal bracket. Did you check it for cracks while the clutch is depressed? That's the only way you can see it sometimes....

drew303

Master/Slaves ... best to get OEM ... I've been through one Aftermarket and after hearing everyone else's issues with aftermarket clutch hydraulic parts I went OEM. Funny I told my friend to get OEM, its only a few bucks more and now his stuff squeaks and doesn operate smoothly.

ANYWAY

you can push the the plunger in with a bar (leverage) and see if it doesn't make the clutch disengage.

You obviously had issues installing the MC, which makes me believe you probably havent adjusted the plunger correctly, so the pedal isn't pushing the plunger in far enough to move the clutch fork enough to depress the pressure plate from the clutch disc.

You can't adjust these clutches but you can adjust the hydraulics. You're issue is not your clutch it is a matter of depressing the pressure plate enough to fully release the friction on the clutch disc.

You should be able to turn the fork on the MC plunger (that attaches to the pedal, the pedal arm kind of fits into it like a hand)... without removing the MC from the firewall. Pull the springs off the pedal, pull it as far forward as you can, move the plunger down or to the side to clear the pedal and turn it out further. This makes the slaver plunger push further on the clutch fork which pushes the throwout bearing further into the pressure plate fingers... resulting in the pressure plate separating from the clutch disc.

If your pedal bracket is 'bending' and not yet cracking, no matter how far out you adjust the plunger to the pedal, you wont be applying enough travel to actuate enough leverage on the clutch fork. Might see if it's bending, a common thing. Requires a bit of welding to fix.

frozenwave

Ok. When i first heard about the clutch pedal bracket possibly being broken or bent, i inspected mine, and i thought it looked fine. The problem was, I was looking at the heavy steel arm, and not that thin ass metal, that toyota decided would be stong enough for heavy use. It was bent down!

So I took some 20 guage galv tie wire and wrapped it up reallly good by a strong piece of metal up under the pedal area. It's very temporary but the truck goes into gear and shifts fine now. Thnaks for the help guys, I really appreciate it.

Gonna fix it properly here soon.