Clutch problemo- Too mucho free play!

[cruizer]

Hey all,

Recently the clutch pedal had too much freeplay. So I adjusted the pushrod under the dash, was fine for a week.

Few days ago i pushed the clutch pedal to the floor and their was no resistnace. The pedal stayed all the way down and did not come back up. Obviously gears couldnt be selcted.

So I tried re-adjusting the pushrod, no luck.
Inspected the lines and master cylinder, no leaks.
Tried bleeding the system.

None of those actions worked. I figure that for some reason their is no pressure in the line. I think i have to overhaul the cylinder, pushrods etc.
Can anyone suggest anything that it could possibly be because I'm getting really frustrated. I fix one think, another breaks 

[xxxx]

clutches, slave/master cylinder/lines, gearboxes absolutely suck arse in KA's in the 1.5 years ive had my car its the ONLY problems ive ever had and lots of them. (10+)



youres sounds like its just the master cylinder, its the only thing i can think of that would let youre clutch hit the floor. slave cyls usually just casue a soft clutch

[chr1S]

no.

gearboxes are good in the ka's.

have you thought if your car has been in an accident and has been repaired by a sk so shit is slightly out of alignment ? i don't think so.

[cruizer]

So was there any constructive comments people had in order to help me?

[ffourc]

So was there any constructive comments people had in order to help me?

youres sounds like its just the master cylinder

that sounds constructive to me,

but basically when you push pedal, (need 2nd person)

1/ If slave push rod doesn't move = hydraulic/cylinder probs

2/ if it all seems to work visually, then likely problemlo in cluch with your 'release' fork or something.

hydraulics would be easiest to fix

when you bled system did fluid come out with high pressure?

[cruizer]

The first time yes, other times, no. I'm ordering the stuff to do the master cylinder today.

[Febrile]

I realise this is an old thread, but I was having the exact same problem in my new TRX and I solved it, and thought the info would be worth adding to the general forums information.

When I got the car, the clutch had too much free play - the pedal would have to hit the floor to engage and would sometimes not come up.  I first serviced the slave since that's a piece of piss and costs like $10, but this did not fix the problem.  I was certain that there was not enough pressure in the system.  To rectify this, I took out the master and added about 2cm of length to the rod by using an overlarge nut to attach more thread (which I cut from a matching size bolt).  The problem then was that the clutch was not moving back quite far enough for the piston in the master cylinder to pass the hole from the reservoir so that it could suck more fluid in.  I fixed this by screwing out the clutch pedal stopper screw about one centimetre.

This did not quite solve the problem, however.  By this stage I was convinced the movement of the master cylinder pushrod was perfect, but there was still not enough pressure in the system to disengage the clutch.  So i figured, if there's not enough pressure, maybe that means there's not enough fluid in the system.  The clutch fork pushes back on the slave cylinder when you release the clutch, and in so doing it pushes the piston in the slave back a little.  This means that there's less room for new fluid to enter the system.

So, to solve this I got an assistant to pump the clutch pedal while I used the end of a wooden handle of a hammer to push against the clutch fork in the same direction the slave cylinder does.  It is not possible (or at least is very hard) to push the fork anywhere yourself, but the force I was applying was enough to stop the slave piston being pushed back so far into the bore, and as a result more fluid was able to enter the system. 

After doing this a few times, the clutch now works beautifully (I actually think it wasn't quite disengaging properly when I got the car) and it engages about 5-7cm from the floor now, instead of at the floor.  Yay!