clutch not holding pressure

[shirleymac]

Over the winter I removed the clutch/brake assembly to replace some worn out parts. After reinstalling I had no problems bleeding the brakes. But when I trying to bleed the clutch the peddle starts out feeling firm but after pumping it a couple of time it goes soft. I've bleed the clutch around 5-6 times now and I'm not seeing any bubbles in the fluid. It does not seem to be holding any pressure or disengage the clutch. Any thoughts on where to look for the problem.

[Veefan]

Check for leaks, if none exit. It could be a bad slave cylinder. I had a similar problem when my clutch slave cylinder went bad a few years back. Fluid was leaking past the seal and would build up back pressure. In the attached picture, unscrew the shaft on the non boot side of the slave, if you find fluid, it's leaking past the seal. An old trick is to drill a small weep hole on that side to prevent back pressure, but it's only a "track side" quick fix. Eventually the seal will totally fail.

If that's not the issue, remove the slave from the transaxle, bleed the system and see how it operates. If it works fine, without the slave installed you might have a clutch/transaxle issue. See if the clutch release is working and not binding, a long pipe over the arm will help to operate it by hand.

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[BLS]

When you depress the clutch, how much does the slave cylinder move (the stroke)?

Another question for someone is how much should it move? I just flushed mine yesterday and only have about an inch or so of stroke.

[shirleymac]

After further inspection I may have found my problem. A real small crack in the hose leading from the reservoir to the master cylinder. It was small enough that it did not leak but may have been big enough to suck air into the system.