Clutch Pedal On The Floor...

[silver slotege]

Yeah. Good times...

So, I was driving home when I came to a stoplight. Shifted into neutral, coasted to a stop. Light turns green, first, no issues. Then I can feel the teeth of second... Knowing how strong our transmissions are ((lol2)), I try to push the clutch in again to build more pressure in the line... Turns out the pedal stayed on the floor.

coasted to the shoulder... Checked under the hood, brake fluid everywhere. First thought, slave cylinder or the flex hose. Feel around the flex hose and, sure enough, nice little fray and fluid leaking out. Picked up the new hose today and put it on. Then, set up to bleed the clutch line. Start pumping to try and force the air out of the bleeder nipple, but nothing. The system still would not build pressure. Take a second look and the top of the reservoir cap is punched through the top of the cap, like someone waaay overtightened.

So after some research, I think I need a new clutch master cylinder because I am getting no fluid flow or resistance when pushing the clutch and a replacement cap. Nowhere sells the caps (haven't checked dealer yet, they closed at 5:30) and all of the brake master cylinders I have found come without the reservoir. So how can I buy a cap?

Anyone know where I can get a cap or replacement reservoir with cap?
Could that be why I am not getting back pressure from the clutch? I usually bleed the brakes with the cap off, so it doesn't make sense to me, but whatever....
Did I get some sort of high pressure backup or a coincidence of multiple failures at the same time....?

If it matters, 150k on the clock and still running like a dream! haha. Just not DRIVING like one...

 

[justanothermp5]

yours supposed to bleed the clutch with the pedal depressed, once its down keep it down and then bleed, close, bleed until pressure is felt
takes a while

 

[silver slotege]

The problem was, pressure was NEVER coming. Practically drained the reservoir. Now that I think about it, I was getting fluid flow when pressing the pedal... so maybe the master cylinder isn't bad? Eh, throw money at it, that always fixes it... right?

I have bled it before, so I don't think I am doing it wrong. But I will prolly just buy a vacuum bleeder and not use the buddy system...

Any ideas on the cap?

 

[Spiced MSP]

if you can't find it at a parts store. maybe a local junkyard

 

[Rix6]

The problem was, pressure was NEVER coming. Practically drained the reservoir. Now that I think about it, I was getting fluid flow when pressing the pedal... so maybe the master cylinder isn't bad? Eh, throw money at it, that always fixes it... right?

I have bled it before, so I don't think I am doing it wrong. But I will prolly just buy a vacuum bleeder and not use the buddy system...

Any ideas on the cap?

Cap is a dealer item only. Gonna have to get it from Mazda.

 

[93mx6]

try a slave cylinder, if i remember they are pretty cheap.

 

[silver slotege]

Calling the dealer this morning to see what they got. Other than that, I am gonna start with a clutch master and move to a slave.
I just hope the dealer has them and they aren't more special order parts...

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Doesn't clutch bleeding still involve putting fluid in a jar, a hose on the slave cylinder nipple submersed in the fluid in the jar with nipple loose while pumping the pedal until it blows no bubbles in the jar then tighten nipple and top off resevoir?


Well, kinda. The manual says................

1. Remove heat shield.
2. Draw the fluid from the reservoir with a suction pump.
3. Remove the bleeder cap from the clutch release cylinder and attach a vinyl hose to the bleeder plug.
4. Place the other end of the vinyl hose in a clear container.
5. Slowly pump the clutch pedal several times.
6. With the clutch pedal depressed, loosen the
bleeder screw using the SST to let the fluid
escape. Close the bleeder screw using the SST.
7. Repeat Steps 5 and 6 until only clean fluid is
seen.
8. Tighten the bleeder screw.
Tightening torque
5.9—8.8 Nm {60—90 kgfcm, 53—78 inlbf}
9. Add fluid to the MAX mark.
10. Install the splash shield.
11. Verify the correct clutch operation

 

[silver slotege]

Alright, little update, replaced hose, cap, and rebuilt the master cylinder. Now I am waiting on the new slave cylinder from Bap Geon to come in. Should be here monday.

Hope someone out there can help... Can someone get a picture of what the clutch fork position is when the car is in neutral and then another when the clutch pedal is depressed? I was looking at my slave cylinder and was really skeptical on whether the stroke length of the slave was enough to get the throwout bearing to release the flex plate. Unfortunately, I dont have a working clutch to compare this to. haha.

Appreciate any help...

 

[silver slotege]

Alright... Don't know if anyone is following this still, but thought I would update so anyone searching for this later would know the outcome... I replaced all of the clutch components, master cylinder, slave cylinder, hose, and reservoir cap. Took the car for a drive and then she wouldn't come out of 2nd. With the stick in the nuetral position, the car would move under throttle. So I limped home and did the research and found out I had a broken shifter fork as well. Spent the last week rebuilding the tranny with new 1-2 and 3-4 shifter forks and that required more work... New clutch, had the flywheel lightened, 3 of the 4 motor mounts were destroyed (internal suspension pieces were no longer connected), so I filled them with the window weld compound(very pleased with the result!), new rear main seal, and new half-shaft seal. She's all back together and running like a champ. Still have to run it more tonight to make sure all of the bugs are out, but so far everything is great. Super quick rev with the lighter flywheel and clutch grabs really well. No more clutch chatter!
Really thankful for turfburns tranny teardown instructions. Not much more to it to change the shifter forks. And the new shifter forks are much beefier than the stock ones; a noticeable weight difference. Other than that, I will see how she does on a nice long drive tomorrow.

 

[sethro_GT]

Damn nice work. Where did you find beefier shift forks?

 

[silver slotege]

From the local mazda dealer. They aren't a different design... I had the pre-november 2002 tranny (something like that). Halfway through the life of the P5, the proteges got better forks. From what I remember, people doing rebuilds wanted these trannys. Anyways, I ordered mine and did a compare. The new ones were heavier and had bigger gussets on them. I have a side by side pic somewhere, will see about posting them when I get home. Do a search, you will find what the cutoff on your VIN is to see if you have the better forks.

 

[P-Funk!]

Great post - thanks!