norcal98

iTrader: (3)

Did a search, but didnt find someone with this exact problem. It will be a little long, but I want to put all info I have.

1993 Toyota 4runner 3vze

Clutch master was leaking this January so I replaced it with an aftermarket one and everything has been fine these past 7 months.

Yesterday the pedal started giving me problems so I tried to isolate what it was doing specifically today.

This morning I drove the vehicle, in town with stop lights, on the freeway, everything was fine. Approximately 60 miles of driving, between going to the airport, parking for two hours and back home. Everything was fine even after parked. Went through all the gears, clutch pedal returned normally after each time depressed.

Later went to my buddys auto body shop, parked the 4runner for about two hours at about noon (so its getting hot, may or may not have anything to do it). Prior to parking, the pedal was fine and in its normal position, good pressure etc. Two hours later (2:00 pm) I go to leave, open the door and see the pedal has fallen to the floor almost all the way all by its self. Almost like its lost pressure?

I reached down and pulled it up by hand to the return position. Pushed the pedal once after its was returned to the correct spot and i have good pressure, good natural return and no need to pump the pedal.

Start the 4runner, put it in gear a few times to make sure its still functioning and everything seems normal. Start to drive to the end of the street in 1st gear to do a U-turn, pedal is all the way out, returned naturally to its normal returned position and just idle speed . Without touching the pedal, it starts to fall to the floor all by its self while I was driving in 1st gear mid way down the street.

Reach down with my hand to return it to normal while cruising at idle speed. After that everything was fine again, drove an additional 20 miles, with stop signs, lights, freeway etc. Good pressure, return etc. At that point I realized the same thing had happened yesterday with the pedal.

So..........what could it be?

Since I had replaced the master 7 months ago, seems odd that it would go out that quick? The times when my master had gone out before, the pedal usually stayed up and would only fall to the floor and stay there when I pushed on it trying to change gears. Making me have to pump it to get it back. That doesn't seem to be the problem this time.

I have no major visible leaks at the master, slave or the rubber line that goes between the two (Ive had that leak before and be a problem when sucking air).

Fluid level in the master is good and doesn't seem to be any lower then after I installed it 7 months ago and bled it. It was gravity bled and also done with a mighty vac. I don't think its an air or bleeding problem because I never have to pump the pedal to get pressure back and doesnt feel squishy.

Just for what ever reason, seems to lose pressure after its been parked and or while driving down the road even though it wasn't being pushed by my foot to change gears.

I know there is gotta be someone smart here that knows whats going on.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read the novel. Maybe it will help someone else some day if it gets figured out.

mct75

My brake master cylinder went out and would alternate between dropping to the floor and holding pressure. Like the seal was selectively blowing out. Still, it had enough spring pressure to return. I've ran my clutch dry before and it seemed to return on it's own as well. Not sure if it has a spring or not.

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

You didn't replace slave cyl at the same time? Both MC and Slave should be replaced in tandem technically. Anyways, aftermarket parts don't compare to OEM quality obviously and my guess is the seals inside your new part are failing. I would replace both with new parts.

Do you know how to drive stick without using a clutch? You might want to look it up just in case you need to use it to get home. It's not hard to do, just feels unnatural.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

Did your clutch return spring break or come unhooked ??

Is the pedal bracket broken or have the bolts vibrated loose

Just how close is the pedal to the floor ??

On the floor or a few inches away

osv

i tried that with my 22re, the master failed in short order, once i got genuine toyota parts, it was fine.

norcal98

iTrader: (3)

As a quick reply to everyone. Yeah it seems like it will be more then likely the new clutch master I just put in.

I probably should have done the slave as well, but it went out in the dead of winter. Where I live now is pretty rural and the high temp during the day at that time was 27 degrees and I wasn't particularly motivated to lay in the snow to change the slave. Changing the master was plenty of fun for me with my hands freezing.

Anyway, because of how rural it is, most everything has to be ordered so I bought one on ebay as that was the quickest. I bought the master from the ebay seller uaintl-2008 and it was made by some company called sachs. Apparently the sachs clutch masters must only be good for 6 months because thats all I got out of it.

As a side note, the same day and just after my initial post, I went back outside and checked the brackets, springs etc. There are all there, no cracks, breaks, missing parts etc and everything on that side is still good. That day I was also able to do a funky little test where if I push the clutch in with my hand as fast and hard as I can, it works each time. If I slowly depress it with my hand, almost tapping it back and forth 1/4 inch in at a time, it will work itself down losing pressure without being able to return. Not sure if that makes sense.

So long and short, basically it seems to be like one of posters above saying it just "selectively" goes out when it feels like it.

Those masters must just have crap seals I guess and it will probably be fine once I replace it. Lesson learned.