OT Mechanics help!!

masraum · 03-03-2003, 06:29 AM

Hi, Sorry for the OT post, but I didn't know where else to turn. The clutch in my wifes car, '97 Pontiac Grand Am, is slipping. My first thought is, of course, worn clutch disk, but the fluid in the clutch master cyl was a little low, and really nasty looking with a lot of suspended matter (metal?) in it. The rubber boot on the back of the master cyl was damp and sticky, but not drippy. Could a bad master cyl cause a slipping clutch?

Thanks tons, now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Minimal Porsche Content. The 911 is running great. Went for a ride this weekend, and about 5 minutes into the ride my wife said, "going for a ride is so relaxing, I hadn't realized how stressed I was until we got in the car." The power of the Porsche!!

RickM · RickM's Garage

My guess is that you wouldn't be able to disengage the clutch at all if the MC (or slave cylinder) went bad. Sounds like you can engage and disengage the clutch. Is there and way to adjust the clutch at the slave cylinder?

How many miles on the clutch?

masraum · 03-03-2003, 07:59 AM

That was my thinking as well, but someone told me the other was possible. The clutch pedal releases when it is all the way at the bottom. The car has only 60K miles, but it was driven exclusively by my son for awhile. There is no adjustment, the slave cylinder is integrated with the thow out bearing, weirdest thing I've ever seen.

masraum · 03-03-2003, 09:12 AM

anyone else, confirm?

Superman · 03-03-2003, 11:17 AM

I once replaced a clutch in a Nissan Pathfinder (not an easy job) unnecessarily. It was slipping because there was not enough freeplay in the clutch pedal. There was some, and it seemed like enough, but it was not enough. When cold, the clutch did not slip. but apparently heat expanded the fluid and, since the MC pistons were not able to retract fully, the pressure built up in the fluid system and cause the clutch to slip. Apparently, pressure is released in the system when the MC pistons retract fully, allowing fluid in the system to bleed back into the MC reservoir.

masraum · 03-03-2003, 11:29 AM

Thx, more info is always a good thing.

Brad_H · 03-03-2003, 11:57 AM

I replaced the clutch on my Jeep Wrangler a few months ago, and it has the same type of integrated TO bearing/slave cylinder. On Jeeps, at least, the slave cylinder tends to blow a seal and leak the fluid out into the bellhousing area. Maybe your clutch has been saturated with fluid leaking from the inconveniently located slave cylinder?

gregk1 · 03-03-2003, 12:56 PM

Exclusively driven by Son is not allways a good thing

masraum · 03-03-2003, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Exclusively driven by Son is not allways a good thing

I know, I was one of those sons once.