Ok-- I'll keep it short. My '83ZX had some wierd clutch problems, but I thought I had fixed them. I replaced the master and the slave cylinders, but I'm still losing fluid. There doesn't seem to be any leakage of fluid under the car (when it's parked for awhile), but ..... somehow I'm losing clutch fluid somewhere. What do I need to check?

 

Check the connection points. The rubber line by the slave cylinder. Check both ends for the oily look. I know if you spilled fluid while you did the install its hard to clean that stuff off. Maybe use a degreaser first and clean it up. Check the screw-in connection under the master cylinder. See if there is any sign of leaking onto the inner fender. Clean that up too. Check the hydralic line inbetween the two cylinders. Maybe theres a middle connection that is leaking.

 

Yeah...thought of all that. Pretty sure that everything is nice and tight. I've got to wait 'till it stops raining brfore I can get under the hood/car...no covered parking.

Could I have not tightened the bleed screw enough? Maybe just to the point that it'll squirt fluid when I press the pedal... doesn't seem to be sucking any air....everything feels fine 'till the resivior gets empty.

I know...trace the line and find out, right? :cheers:

 

Ya, trace the line, open your eyes. You'll figure it out!

If you turn the bleed screw in gently till it just barely stops then it won't leak. You have to unscrew it about half a turn or more before the little hole can squirt out fluid. (but do snug it up a bit, you don't want it to unscrew) It will be much harder to figure out in a parking lot or the side of the street in the rain. I feel for you! I was there once...

 

Just alittle something to try. Use the aerosol brake cleaner to spray everything down, (ie..clutch hose,slave and master cyc) then wait a few minutes. It should leave everything really dry. Then pump the clutch about 5 times and checky for leaks. If you don't see any then pump another 5 times or so and check again. Eventually you should start to see seapage from where it is coming from. But hopefully it is just the bleeder like you said.

 

Yeah..today was a nice enough day so I went at it under the hood. I just saw what green posted....but thought of it before I came online. Still nothing. Hell, I don't think you pump the clutch as much as I did during a rally course!

No leaky showing. Could it be an internal thing? My reasoning says, "No", but the fluid has to be going somewhere!!

BTW--- The fluid level was still at the "full" mark when I tested it today.

 

DuckyZ,
I'm getting ready to do the same operation. Can you give me any pointers??

Also, may have to change out my ignition on the column. Anyone know anything about these "self shearing screws"? Do I need to get new ones, or do I really need them at all??

Thanks....

 

Well...do some stretching. The "under dash aerobics" pretty much suck. Just make sure that you do a through bleeding of the line. The pedal will have a different feel than it had before the new install. You can adjust that by messing with the pin that connects to the clutch pedal itself. The cool part about that is...it's threaded!

 

You can adjust that after its installed by turning the rod, correct??

And thanks!! :bow: