So I'm writing this from the side of 495 now. I was in stop and go traffic for a while and crawling along in 1st. Then, while I had the clutch parially engaged I heard a loud clunk from down by the pedal and the cltcuhstopped working. Now the pedal goes to the floor with no problem with no resistance but that of the pedal spring. I have an act extreme pp and organic disx and I think that the clutch itself is aok but some other connecting part died. Any ideas? I hope this is a quick and ez fix since my tripple a membership just lapsed in august. Argh

 

check your slave. time to roll/kick/jump start it and try to sync your way home.

 

I have heard a few cases of ACT Extreme PPs breaking the clutch fork inside the tranny. Should be able to see whether it's broken by looking at the connection at the slave.

edit: Put the car in 1st, clutch down, crank the starter. Drive down the shoulder until you're off the highway, then call AAA or just drive it home, depending on how far it is. AAA tows from the highway shoulder are astronomically expensive.

 

Great. I hope its the slave but too bad because my garage is 30 miles away. I actually have a spar slave cylinder too I think. Unfortunately, rolling start and syncshift is hard when ur facing uphill and surrouded by stop n go traffic.

 

Pretty much you are screwed... you will need to get a tow home or try to wait out traffic and then drive it home without the clutch. If you can afford the tow, then you should go that route.

I also heard that Pep-Boys offers $40 towing to one of their stores... last resort is you have it towed there and have them tell you that it's broke. At least that way you have a cheap way to get her off the highway. Call your local pepboys and see what the deal is for the towing and with any luck you live close to a location and can limp it home from their place.

If I weren't in North Carolina right now I'd offer to help since I ride the damn beltway home every day!!! Good luck and cheers!
Matt

 

Sounds like what my slave did on the way to rharris's shop a few Saturdays back.

I had to leave every light with the starter and do a damn fine job rev-matching.

Luckily he had a few extras (Miatas I mean), so we pulled a slave off. It took forever to bleed that bitch though. That stupid slave cylinder was the main reason the v-band setup didn't show up for BEGi dyno tuning with even a street tune on it.

You never know when they're going to go...and when they do it's invariably a real pain in the ***.

 

Yeah so it is the slave. I checked the master resivour and it was empty. Moist but empty. :( I found my spare so now I know what I'm doing Saturday.

 

is 15 minute job + bleeding time.

 

Been having a problem with my slave as well, slow pressure leak. Is there any particular reason that the slave is more particular to failure than the master? This will be my 3rd slave on the miata in 50,000 miles.

 

One other question-- should I change the master at the same time as the slave? I have a new master as well.

Also, I think that clunk sound was just the pressure going out of the pedal and it slamming into the bumpstop.

 

New pieces are better than old FWIW

 

Pretty simple to comprehend really.

Old slave cyl seals+increased clutch pressure+thinner clutch fluid from turbo heat=failure

With my first Miata back in 2002 I ended up having to replace the master cyl about 2 weeks after replacing the slave cyl, as the now new seals in the slave were the stronger point and overpowered the seals in the master cyl.

 

So today I replaced the master and slave. The job wasn't too bad. I had to take the master cylinder off after the 1st install attempt though because no fluid was coming through. The plunger in the master cylinder bore was stuck and I had to lube it up. Then, after reinstalling, I primed it by pumping the clutch until the clutch juice came out the line hole. Did the slave, no problemo mostly but then when I started to bleed the ******, I noticed that a shitload of fluid was dripping down onto the curly-q. WTF and from looking at it from the top, I saw that my stupid soft line had ruptured. I guess this was the original problem. Back before I ever started haplessly wrenching, I had my clutch installed at a NAPA. They were supposed to install a SS clutch line too but when I came to pick up my car, they were like uh we forgot to do it.

So, I lost the SS line but am reordering one tomorrow. Part of the line seems to go behind the motor.

Any tips for installing a SS braided line and taking the old one off? It looks horribly tight back there and I can't see anything. I -think- I could feel the bracket for the soft-hard hose connector but it feels very sharp. ugh

 

order it from these guys Advanced Autosports Spec Miata Air Intakes, Plugs, Wires, Clutch Line, Oil Line, Fuel Ports

 

Since you recommended it, what's the difference between the line at that site and the one FM sells for $20 less?

Flyin' Miata 1 800 FLY MX5s

I'm guessing the Advanced Autosports line eliminates the curlyq while the FM one doesn't?

 

It's as easy as reading it:

FM's, "This part replaces the rubber hose ONLY, not the hard lines, which don`t expand."

Advanced's, "The Clutch Line replaces the rubber flex hose and the Steel "Curly Q" Line. It eliminates the need for the factory mounting brackets, that interfere with transmission and starter removal."

 

Any other places anyone can recommend? Advanced Autosports' phone number is disconnected :(

 

Giving the benefit of the doubt here, maybe you just dialed the number wrong? I just got off the phone with Ann and confirmed they have the line in stock. Advanced Autosports CONTACT US

 

I fucked up. blah. i fatfingered the number.

I ordered it, thanks for the help mr zoomin.

 

OK so I got the line and the inside of the fitting that is supposed to connect to the hard line is smooth, not threaded. Is this supposed to be this way? I can't screw the hard line into it. This is the "big nut" end. WTF? Any ideas anyone? Am I doing something wrong? I don't want to be out of a car for another week :(