Anyone ever had this happen? I pressed my clutch pedal down to the floor and it stuck! The pedal stays all the way down and as I pushed my car back into it's stall , I saw my brake fluid all over the ground...


Need advice, has anybody had this happen to them?
I knew it must be brake fluid because I am using ATE Super Blue Brake Fluid, and it's the only blue fluid in the car...

 

Lift the front up, look on the drivers side of the tranny. Your clutch slave cylinder is there. Try and see where it is leaking from.

 

I was just thinking the other day: Where is Mr. Mahtab?

Sounds like either the clutch master or slave is leaking. If you found fluid on the ground it's probably the slave. Crawl under as zyon says and check the slave cylinder on the driver's side of the tranny.

 

Its one of 3 things, master cylinder, slave cylinder or the line connecting them. Most likely its the slave cylinder. its pretty easy to replace.good luck. Try not to get the brake fluid on your paint.

 

Don't use autozone rebuild kits either... its probably your master... there is a flat peice of plastic that probably got twisted in there.

 

well, since mazda was "smart" enough to use a shared reservoir for the clutch and brake system, it could be lots of things! but the obivous thing is you have a leak of the hydraulic system... not necessarily just in the clutch/slave cylinders or the line between them. could be in your brakes too.

as far as advice, did you take note of where the leak was in relation to the car? that's the first place to start.

stick a big clean sheet or cardboard under your car. put some fluid in the resevoir, and see if you can see where it leaks out. if it doesn't leak out, leave the cap to the resevoir off, pump the clutch pedal a bunch of times, and the pedal should start to come back up. put the cap back on the resevoir and let it sit for a while. something should leak onto the cardboard, and you'll be able to see it clearly and have a good idea where it's coming from.

you probably don't want drive the car, even if there's no obvious leak and the clutch stays up (due to that pesky shared cylinder thing- no clutch ~= no brakes; on my miata, they have 2 seperate cylinders; my slave currently has a realllllly slow leak (like weeks-months to empty), and i just keep the master cylinder topped off, and i'm good to go).

 

FYI: The master cylinder reservoir actually has two separate chambers, so that if you have a leak in your clutch system, you won't lose brakes, and vise versa.

 

...and even if all the fluid did leak from the reservoir the clutch would still operate as the master and slave would still be full of fluid. For all the fluid to leak out AND the pedal to be stuck to the floor you have a cylinder or (much less likely) a line problem. Check the master, the slave and the line between them. In order to leave a puddle the source of your leak should be obvious.

 

Not if the seals in the master or slave are leaking...

 

A slave cylinder or master cylinder will usually go out gradually, not all at once. It should be easy to find the problem by filling the resevoir, having someone pump the pedal, and watching to see the leak.

 

Its the MASTER im willing to bet money, but change the SLAVE first since they usually start going around the same time.

Also your MASTER change leak internally and you wont see a leak, or much of one. It will crossover.

The slave doesnt exactly have to leave fluid on the ground either, it can be SUCKING vise leaking, just depends on the wound.

 

Frik! Ruptured Clutch fluid line just a little south of the fire wall mount tab, I have been had by mother nature!
Well this can't be! I shall have braided steel line courtesy of Rotary Performance forthwith!

I was running ATE Dot 4 Super Blue Brake fluid, would or could that make too much pressure? I'm not really up on how it would be a better fluid or not, it was suggested by my mechanic...maybe it was just shitty line, I did spend a summer in Phoenix Arizona, whatever was not made of metal on my car suffered there!

 

OMG that is exactly my problem too! I posted the same problem lol.

 

dude, unless you track your car all the time, you need to stick to cheaper fluid. . . well, you dont NEED to, but its a lot cheaper. i use valvoline synthetic. its got a very competitive temp rating. . . though, i cant remember what it is. its good stuff as my car is a street car. . . and likes to sit on jackstands way too much.

paul

 

I seem to have only lost 1/3 of whats in the resovoir, so me thinks change the line myself, besides that tow to the shop is "real far"
Braided lines are $$$ too...I thinking it should be an easy fix?

So if I change the line do you think the trapped air in the line will just bleed up to the Master, with pumping the clutch? I'm not sure which direction the air pocket would travel...any thoughts?

 

Theres a bleeder valve on the slave cyl. Bleed it just like the brakes.

 

depends on where the leak is.... =) i had a crack in my reservoir several years back, and it was bone dry... i still have no idea how it cracked like it did. still a bad idea in general i think. must have saved mazda, 2, 3 cents to do it that way... =)