Weekend Update

[1991mick]

Trying to breathe more life into this website.

Had a bad experience over the weekend that turned out OK. Went down to southern Indiana on Thursday (it was beyond my 4 hour drive limit, but I made an exception). Drove around on Friday, and had difficulty getting into 4th gear. When I started out Saturday, I could barely get it into any gear. When I was able to get it into gear, I tried to make it to the nearest town. Got to the first light in town, and I was dead in the water. Luckily, there was a boat shop on the corner (hey, a boat motor repair shop is better than nothing) and I went in. While waiting to talk to the mechanic, a customer comes in wearing a work shirt with a name tag that said "Transmission Expert". (Was someone from above looking over my shoulder or what?)

He looked under the hood and found the clutch master cylinder was dry. He took me up to a NAPA store and bought some brake fluid. Filled the cylinder, slowly pumped the clutch a hundred times (at least it seemed like it), and I had a working car. Offerd the fellow money, and he wouldn't take it.

I was about 50 miles from the Interstate. I stopped every so often getting to the Interstate to check the fluid level. Once I got on the Interstate, I made it home without stopping.

Took it to the mechanic today. I'm waiting for a price to replace clutch master and slave cylinders.

Bad story with a good ending. It sure beats last years story where I ended up in southern Michigan with a blown radiator. That one cost me over $700, plus towing and hotel.

[hobie237]

FYI, you can rebuild the master and slave yourself for less than $30. Most likely the problem is only with the slave, and the rebuild kit for that is about $7. If you were closer, I'd tell you to just stop by with the parts, I could have the slave done in about 20 minutes.

[1991mick]

Hobie, Mechanic said it was the slave cylinder. I've been told that if I replace the slave, might as well do the master at the same time. Mechanic's price was $275, so I decided to try it myself. Ordered the parts through Advance Auto for $90, and I'll install Thursday evening. My big question is bleeding the system. Researched some threads at the Forum, one thread said it's as easy as filling the master, pump it, open / close the bleeder, and it should work. Another thread said to bench bleed it, and provided some info on how to do it. The directions are a little ambiguous. Any comments? If you opt for bench bleeding, maybe you could shed a little light on it? Tanx!

[hobie237]

It won't hurt anything to do the master as well, it's just that slaves tend to fail more often, most likely because they are the low point in the system. On my red Miata, I rebuilt both, but much of that was because I just wanted something to do. I did find that I had to bench bleed the master to get it to work after I did everything. A variety of methods are listed here: http://my.att.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=16&groupid=224302&ck= - not to mention better instructions for the replacement than I could ever give you.

I personally did the bench bleeding with my thumb strategically placed to seal the hole where the fitting goes so that air couldn't get back into the master. I worked the piston back and fourth with my other thumb until it was flowing.

[1991mick]

Got it all fixed. Had some hiccups. Bought master and slave from Advanced Auto for $90. Put it all together, bled it, and it worked for a short while. When I checked for the leak, I was losing fluid from the master. It was leaking between the reservoir and the metal body. I could shake the reservoir and see that it was a loose fit. Compared it to the original, and the original fit was very tight. Had Advance order another one. Second one was as bad as the first. A third wouldn't be available until Monday. So, I took the reservoir grommet from the original and put it on the third. Re-installed and presto. Working fine! Mazda wanted $125 for a new one. I can only wonder if I bought a Mazda for $75 more, would I only have had to install it once?

[hobie237]

Glad it's fixed. Can't comment on the Mazda vs. aftermarket fitment of reservoirs, (I tend to rebuild, rather than replace) although it's an interesting piece of data to have for the future. I wouldn't think twice about reusing the grommet, as everybody who rebuilds the cylinders does, and I've not heard of much in the way of failures there. In fact the only time in my personal experience that one of those grommets/seals has failed was on my buddy's '88 Audi 80 brake master cylinder reservoir.

Anyhoo, glad to hear that it's all fixed up and working for you. Sorry to hear about the hiccups, but hey, you still saved $185! ;)