98 Legacy GT clutch problem

Hey, everyone. I posted here with some questions this spring before we purchased a Legacy GT for our 16 year old son. Love the car, but it needs a repair to the clutch. It has ~100k miles on it.

 

The kid is easy on the clutch (at least when Mom is in the car )--he learned to drive on a manual Honda w/178k miles and an original clutch. I don't think he did anything to mess this one up.

 

The clutch works fine when the car starts, but after a few miles the clutch sticks about halfway up from the floor after shifting. If he keeps driving, it sticks closer and closer to the floor, then it sticks all the way to the floor. You can pull it up with your hand, but it doesn't pop up. It is really hard to put it in first gear when this happens.

 

Our mechanic can't decide if it is the master cylinder ($350) or the clutch itself ($800). Does this sound like a problem anyone else has had? We love our mechanic-he is very honest and straightforward, but I'm thinking of getting a second opinion.

Wow that is way too expensive for a master cylinder. I has this exact same problem after I put my excedy clutch in and it had me all worried, so I dropped about 80 bucks at Autozone for both a master and slave and installed them both myself in like 15 min. Bled it and it has worked fine since. I can get you a step-by-step if you want, you save a lot doing it yourself and it's easy.

Found out today that the slave has a product bulletin out on it. The upgrade kit is $85. The guy who sold it to me is going to put the kit on for me-said it takes about 15 minutes. He said he doesn't see masters go bad very often on these cars.

 

Hope this works! More money for beer.

@The Dark Mistress

Be sure to let us know the outcome!

 

@KnifeyMcShanker

A step-by-step, if it isn't too much trouble to create, would probably help a lot of people. You should post it anyway.

Heh alright when I'm off work I'll try to remember to write one up.

Beauty!

Aww, forgot. I hate how I can only remember things on breaks at work where all I have is my phone. When I get a chance I'll run out to my car and take some pictures and work on that tonight.

Not a problem. No rush. Just figured it would be a nice little sticky or something.

Okay, done. Here it is: http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2479270#post2479270

Found out today that the slave has a product bulletin out on it. The upgrade kit is $85. The guy who sold it to me is going to put the kit on for me-said it takes about 15 minutes. He said he doesn't see masters go bad very often on these cars.

 

Hope this works! More money for beer.

 

Wow, a lady who actually drinks beer! We don't have very many of those around here!

 

Anyway, about the master cylinder..... $350 is a lot. I realize you got the car fixed already, but I just priced out a master cylinder anyway just to see what it really goes for, and the going price online seems to be $90-100... $350 is just unheard of. Was your mechanic talking about $350 for the whole job, or just the parts? Even still, $350 for the whole job seems a bit steep....At $80/hr that wouls mean he spent 3 hours replacing the master cylinder, +$110 for the part (A small markup to put something in his pocket can be expected when getting parts through a repair shop). All in all, that's not a 3 hour job. That could easily be done in under an hour, which would still cost you an hour's worth of labor... Which would put you up to a little under $200...... I'd post here before you have him do any major repairs, just to see if he's making bank off fixing your cars...

Okay, done. Here it is: http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2479270#post2479270

 

Nice!

The slave cylinder replacement worked!

 

The $350 quote was for master, slave, and labor. Good to know it was high--I may do some comparison shopping next time.

 

Re: beer--what's not to love?

 

Cheers, and thanx for the replies.

Re: beer--what's not to love?

 

Great to hear it's all working! So, did you go with the $350 and replace the master and slave or did you simply replace the slave only? How much did you end up paying total?

Replaced the slave cylinder only, it cost $85.

 

I'm 45 years old and I have never even changed the oil in my own car, but I may try to repair my own next time if it is a repair as simple as Knifey makes it sound. I'm good at assembling things that come in pieces--why couldn't I do car work? I'm actually kind of excited about trying it.

 

I'll be back for more good advice. Thanks, guys.

45 years old isn't bad and it's never too late to start playing with cars. Good luck with your future attempts!

Well there's plenty of help here if you decide to start doing your own work

guys, i could use some hand holding here...

 

last week, i was heading home from work (real hot day), and i had issues shifting into any gear. as the drive continued, the clutch pedal became more and more sloppy, to the point where it didn't come back up all the way after depressing. symptoms inline with a faulty slave cylinder.

 

i've since purchased a new slave cylinder, and tried to bleed the system. initially, after having my wife pump the pedal a few times, have her keep it depressed, and then loosening the bleeder, there would be a few bubbles and spurts of brake fluid. after tightening the bleeder, and having repeating the initial steps, no more fluid would spurt out. the reservoir is completely full of fluid in anticipation of a full bleed, but at this point my clutch immediately drops with no pressure, and no more brake fluid will come out of the bleeder. think there's something wrong with the master cylinder?

 

i noticed the clutch hose from the master to the cylinder has a bolt with a hole and opening. i've positioned and torqued down that 14mm bolt so that the hole is inline with the opening from the clutch hose, allowing fluid to get into the slave cylinder.

 

any tips on how to proceed next? i've even taken a speed bleeder that i had lying around (thread pattern doesn't fit the slave cylinder), attached it to a clean fuel line on one end, and then to the bleeder on the slave. no go on the bleeding here either. may try the reverse bleed with an oil can by pumping brake fluid from the can, through the bleeder, into the slave cylinder, clutch hose, and then into the master cylinder/reservoir.

Sounds like it could be a failed master cylinder. Like the pedal is dropping but the rod is not pushing any fluid out of the master.

+1.

 

If I were you I'd buy the master and the slave then install one at a time. If the master fixes the problem reinstall the old slave and bring the new slave back for a refund or vice versa. It sounds like a master, but I'm 10 beers deep so what do I know...

 

Just make sure you clean any components you intend to return to avoid any troubles at the Auto Parts store.

 

Just me 2 cents.....

I replaced my master and slave cylinder for about $100 in a parking lot with a very limited number of tools. Then to find out that the rubber clutch line had a leak that would slowly leak out all my fluid and make the car undriveable. Replacing it with a stainless line for less than $30. Lesson Learned: Check for leaks before replacing more expensive parts.

 

ps-glad you got it fixed