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Well, maybe I'm a risk taker or just nuts but I put my car back together after installing the new clutch hose and drove from Savannah to Tampa and back again over the last two days (800 miles). It was a great drive with no problems and very satisfying after fixing the car myself. It looks like I have finally fixed the clutch hydraulic system problem. Here's my follow-up and analysis.
The real problem, which I misdiagnosed twice, was a tiny hole in the clutch hose, underneath the battery. The first symptom, almost a year ago, was that the clutch pedal would not come back up and, of course, I could not drive the car. However, this was at first intermittent and I could still drive the car a short distance.
How did I diagnose this? At first, I was dismayed to find that it could be the slave cylinder (even though the clutch system was rebuilt 77,000 miles ago). But, I decided to change the Master Cylinder. I did this,bled the system, and all was fine. I assumed I has solved the problem and diagnosed it as a faulty master cylinder. But, what I had actually done was remove the small amount of air that had entered the system through the tiny hole in the clutch hose. I never suspected the clutch hose because it wasn't leaking enough fluid to be noticeable.
I knew this later because 8 months later, the clutch pedal stayed down again. I assumed then that it was a faulty master cylinder and replaced it. By then, the hole in the hose had become large enough to expel a large quantity of fluid so I knew it was the hose all along. I replaced the hose and all is well.
This was a tough but interesting job for these reasons:
1. I took off and put back the clutch master cylinder three times. This really strained my back and I had some pain a few days afterwards each time.
2. The fitting on the clutch hose line was real hard to get apart. I had to stand back and think about it and get advice from Burt on the BB and then go to Sears to get flare nut wrenches and then get my propane torch going.
3. The diagnosis was tough because the bleeding itself got the system working for a while so it was hard to learn that I had been replacing a good part and leaving on a faulty one.
I am still wondering, "How would a real mechanic have trouble-shot this problem." There was hardly any fluid loss at first and the hose did not feel moist.
posted by 69.254.6...
, Mon, 3 Dec 2007 09:15:00
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