what the eff clutch, help!
 

The past few days my clutch pedal has been real sticky, hesitating to pop back out when compressed. Today I am slowly pulling out of the bank and I give the clutch one good kick and bam my clutch is no more. There is zero resistance and obviously no clutch engagement. The clutch is a 6 puck which felt like it had a lot of life left. Could it be the throw out bearing, clutch, clutch booster?

You can have someone press the pedal and look at the slave cylinder to see if it's still doing it's thing.

There's a big pool of fluid on the ground coming from the passenger side, probably clutch fluid. It looks like possibly a line broke, ill post pics when I get home

Slave and/or master. Rebuild or replace both. Search for info. There's a step by step in the M.net garage section.

Passenger side indicates slave.

I appreciate it, shouldn't be too bad to fix

I have a perfect condition master cyl if you end up needing one

here is the pic I managed to snap, thinking this is the slave?

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1343959471

did u take the bolts off? I dont see any bolts holding it in place..

FYI...I just bought a clutch slave from
949 racing today for 14.99. Looks like you'll need 1.

the previous owner probably did, let's just say he didn't do the most pristine work.

Replace it anyway. Then you rebuild that one, and keep it as a spare.

I rebuilt mine in the parking lot of work ($7), when it failed like that on the way to one morning.

I didn't even remove it, just loosened the two bolts IIRC.

I bought a replacement slave afterwards and it's been sitting in a box for three years now.

If it is missing bolts, then the piston just popped out. One bolt goes missing, slave pivots, pistone moves too much.
Overtorqued bolts could strip and slip out of the aluminum trans over time.

Might have to drill and retap the bolt holes if so.

There are two bolts that hold the slave on. Your top bolt is missing. It worked a bit for a few shifts and then the whole slave spun out of position on the lower bolt. Put the piston back in the cylinder and replace the missing bolt. Check for leaking or fatigued hydraulic lines that might have been bent or damaged.

Yes, but the boot is torn. Imminent failure, even if you bolt it back in correctly.

Bad boot will let crap into the bore, where it can score the bore or seal and it will fail. Probably at the worst possible time. Best to rebuild or replace and have a spare.

I would still replace it, but he might need to re-thread the bolts if he doesn't want it to happen again.

From your picture it looks like the top bolt is gone.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344084590
how to here -> Miata Clutch Slave Cylinder Replacement
buy here -> Miata MX5 clutch slave cylinder
Or local if you need it asap.

Aluminum is super easy to strip. ( learned from experience )
But from the looks of that slave cylinder ( old ) it looks like the bolt could have just loosened over time, if so buy another bolt ( match to the one left ) and it should be fairly straight forward.

What an excellent opportunity to install a SS clutch line !

Say I need to buy a new bolt. Does that mean that it is 1.5mm thread and the 2.3 would be length of the bolt?

you guys are so very helpful, I appreciate it

No. Those are torque values.

A 1.5mm bolt size would be tiny.

aren't the threads on NA miatas lug nuts 1.5mm?

Searching google reveals that the bolt is M8 x 1.25 which uses a 12mm wrench. Length is somewhere around 25mm.

That's the pitch. Bolts are designated by size (diameter), pitch (coarse or fine threads) and length.

Best way to get the right bolt is to either:

A: buy it from a dealer ( expensive, takes time )

B: Pull the bolt that is still there, ( check the other hole's threads while you are there ) then take that bolt to your local hardware store and buy a matching bolt.
Just make sure to get a suitable grade of bolt.

Then put in a new slave cylinder, bolt no with your new bolts, bleed the clutch and then have fun.

you guys are the best, thanks

https://www.miataturbo.net/suspensio...ve-help-30133/

here is the previous owner being an idiot, he probably just neglected to install the top bolt that he was having trouble with. I'm guessing I will run into the same problem of not having enough room to install it correctly :/

Well, if the distance between the slave and the fork is now correct and the slave isn't completely compressed to fit, then it would seem he just forgot to put the top bolt in. This would obviouslky bind up and fail. It's a bit of a trick to get the slave compressed while installing, but it can be done...I've done it a few times. If you have the time/money, I'd highly recommend getting a "race" stainless steel clutch line while you're in there. It goes between the slave and the upper hard line and makes installing everything much easier.

Can you elaborate on compressing the slave while installing? I'll give you a handful of my negative props if you share one of the tricks

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...p-dscf0662-jpg

it looks like there might already be a stainless line

Well, if it currently looks that compressed, the transmission will need to come out as it's not supposed to look like that.

If all is well, like this...
http://www.sofa-king.org/20050201-clutchsc/KIF_0841.JPG

...then it's using two hands and a few words in anger to get it all lined up. It's a matter of getting the rod nipple seated into the fork and getting the bolt holes lined up. It's not really that bad if you are flexable.

is there any way to bend transmission piece that the slave rod bumps into? Or, will that mess up the tranny?

The angle of your picture shows you should have more then enough room to get a socket and extension to tighten the bolt.

Jack up the passenger side and take the tire off, YOU NEED THAT TOP BOLT....

TheDriver, you need to figure out what's going on with the clutch. If that pic you posted from the P.O. is what it currently looks like, it's not right. Dopps' pic is how it should look.

No real trick to installing the slave, it's just kinda a pain in the a$$.

how is this not fixed already?

lol, the new slave just arrived in the mail yesterday and there was a chit storm brewing outside with rain...I don't have a garage to work out of

sorry, it is kind of confusing.

The picture of the broken rubber seal is what it currently looks like. The other picture with the top bolt missing and stainless line was pulled from the previous owners thread which I provided a link to