clutch problems
 

hi everyone,
i have a problem with my miata. i had changed my stock clutch to a extreme pressure plate and a stock disk from act about 1 yr ago. the thing is that recentlyu the clutch pedal got a little loose and i couldnt shift from neutral to any gear. i adjsuted the needle below the clutch pedal and worked fine but two days later it lost pressure again. so i bought a new master and slave cylinder and isntalled them. but recently slave cylinder has lost some pressure too. so i bought another slave cylinder and the same thing happened. i have a uncle who is a mechanic and told me that i may have fried the clutch. i dont think this is because if i bleed the system the clutch works fine again but now about 5 hours later the pedal gets soft and i cant shift anymore. this is driving me crazy specially cause its the only car i ahve and i have to take it to school. has it happened to anyone. what was the solution or what can the problem be. on saturday i will remove the tranny and check the clutch but if anyone knows of anyother problem that it can be then please reply.
ps ive tried bleeding the system a million times and works but then pedal becomes loose and i cant shift anymore.
thanks in advanced

if you're not losing fluid, then it's probably a bad master

the slave cylider did leak but i closed the bleeder valve really tight and there was no leak, i will check the master cylider and post back with any results
thanks

ok so you did have a leak, then i'd try bleeding again. If you're not losing any fluid and it's still going dead, i would think it would have to be master leaking in itself.

so i replaced the master cylinder, and slave cylider with a new one. but nothing. i could not shift any gears. i tried adjusting the clutch pedal by turning the screw on it but nothing. my uncles who are mechanics and i have come to the conclusion that the clutch gave out. it was a xtreme pressure plate and stock disk from act. i will take out the tranny and see what was wrong. the weird thing is that the clutch only lasted about 1 yr. should i call act and ask for their guarantees or something, thats if there is something wrong with the clutch and not the tranny.

ps does anyone agree with me or could there be something else wrong with the clutch system

The clutch certainly should have lasted longer--if you didn't abuse it. I think the prudent thing to do is to crack it open and inspect the clutch. No use in calling ACT until you're looking at it and can rule out installation error.

if you have a bad clutch itself then bleeding it shouldn't make any difference.

ive called act they told me to check the disk and it should be no more worn than 250 thousands of a new clutch and they start around 315 thousands or something like that. on sat i will take off the tranny. and check it. i have the stock clutch from the miata with 5 k miles and will use the disk if needed.
ps i never abused of the clutch, thats why i find it weird that its dead. i guess i should buy a diff disk. what do you guys think.
thanks

Sounds to me like theres a leak. Keep in mind it may not drip on the ground. I would check not only the fittings, but the lines themselves for leaks. If you bleed it and it works fine then 5 hours later it doesn't, its most likely leaking. I would still take it apart to check it out. Before you take it apart, I would get under there and clean EVERY INCH of brake line and connector. Then Park it over some clean cement and use a broom stick to press the clutch down (set the parking brake!) Come back after an hour or two and see if any lines or connectors are wet, or if there are any leaks. Has your clutch master been losing fluid at all? Hope you figure it out!

well there was a leak at the bleeder valve. but that was fixed i changed slave cylinders and master cyliders. i maybe wore out the clutch because for the last year i have not abused it but indeed reved the engine to redline each time i entered the freeway and put about 30k miles on the clutch in one year. i have not launched the vehicle while racing but just reving to redline. maybe this is why the clutch is dead. but i would think that the clutch disk would have slipped instead of not being able to shift unless i have broken something inside the tranny.
what do you guys think!

The problem you describe is more than likely hydraulic and not in the clutch itself. A worn clutch would release so that you could shift. The only thing inside the bell housing that could cause your problems would be a broken fork or bad throw-out bearing, which would not be intermittant. Check your hydraulics out completely as others have suggested.

olderguy you are smart. well everyone is. on saturday i took the tranny out of the car and checked the fork and the fork was cracked in half. so i just bought another from a vendor and installed it and it now works fine. the clutch itself was fine not much wear. now here is another problem after everything was installed i checked taht all gears work fine. first to 5th work fine but in reverse i can insert the gear but to release the gear into neutral its really hard, almost have to punch it out. my analisis ont his is that in the morning before i had to take the car in the shop and get ready to unistall it, i had to push the car in but my uncle said dont do that instead put it in reverse and start the car so i todl him no cause it may mess up a gear or something else. well he didnt listen and i told him u do it. he said yes and turned on the car while the gear in reverse and took it in the shop. this is jsut a theory but if anyone else can agree please reply cause i will charge him the tranny or he will ahve to buy me a used tranny. i will check the shift lever to see that it seated correctly and nothing is hitting when i place the shift lever in reverse. the gear does not grind or anything like taht the rear reverse lights turn on. its just that its a little hard to insert and specially to set the reverse back to neutral, but other than taht everything is a ok.
thanks

Turn the engine off with the transmission in reverse. Then try to move it out and back in and out a few times. If it moves freely, it might be that your clutch is not releasing fully when depressed. If that is the case, check the pedal adjustments.

i ahve tried putting tranny in reverse and still the same. the tranny lost a lot of fliud when isntalling it i have yet not put some more, but will tomorrow. any other ideas. i will adjust the pedal too it seems that it grabs the gear at the full release of pedal and i dont like that. but i will keep on checking any other ideas