Clutch slave cylinder, FWD car

[Vios-GT_07]

hi there

okay situation is... clutch slave cylinder has just failed. i am confused if it is an installation fault or a faulty product. Background is that the clutch master and slave cylinder has been replaced when i did the clutch. This was done July 2010, and car has done roughly 10,000 kms since then. Clutch is heavy duty exedy. Car has thermal wrapped headers, which keeps areas around the headers cooler than the factory heat shield etc.. as the headers don't have a heat shield and i was worried about cooking hoses and the slave cylinder etc..

few days ago, started losing pedal feel. Have to really hold down the clutch to change gears. today the slave cylinder pissed fluid and lost all pressure and fluid, very suddenly.

i'd like to know your thoughts if the product is faulty or there's something that could've been done wrongly during installation? is the clutch to blame? heat from headers? car was working perfectly fine up to this point, long drives, running all day in the city, etc etc.. past 2 months car has been hardly used but it has been over 35 degrees and last week was driven every morning..

the only thing i can think of was when i changed the clutch, it wouldn't disengage properly i.e. hard to select gears, so i changed master and slave cylinders.. helped but not 100% so i wound out the adjuster fork at the pedal itself, which solved all the problems. it is not wound completely out but factory stuff was halfway out, new clutch means it sits 3/4 way out.

any help, thoughts etc is much appreciated.

[paulioq]

had same problem but with out the lost fluid issue might have over preasurized it and instead of pussing the clutch in just pushed the fluid out. i had a throw out bearing desintergrate and throw all the balls in to the diaphram binding it up on a clutch press and same hold to keep pedel held in and change gears and thought it was eavery thing but that exedy clutch is ok but if your in bris or want to get one posted to whear you are i highly recomend a nicks performance clutc aka npc as is only thing i found to clamp up and hold on my car which is turbo fwd celica

[pandaah]

sounds like a faulty part if it hasnt even lasted that long.. when you replaced it was it exactly the same as the previous one?.. sometimes i get them at work and the bore and pin size is slightly different which effects how they work..

[Vios-GT_07]

thanks for the replies..

yes i replaced it exactly the same as previous one, was a genuine part and previously was factory part.

is it possible the slave cylinder is affected by heat? there is a chance it is a faulty part and my luck is just that bad, but i'd just like to be sure because the car has headers and heavy duty clutch. the initial adjustment at pedal to get clutch to work is a bit of concern for me.

[Vios-GT_07]

okay replacement GENUINE slave cylinder shat itself while bleeding up... piston popped out..

this arvo i will replace the third unit now...

any reason for the slave cylinder failing like that? does the pedal adjustment cause the slave cylinder to shit itself?

[Cuzzo]

Back off the pedal adjustment and clutch slave rod length (shouldnt be adjustable anyway - just reuse the old factory one)

Then bleed it.

The piston in the master might be at the end of the travel which would give you not enough travel on the slave. If the pedal doesnt return fully when bleeding..pull it back towards yourself to make sure its fully disengaged.

[allencr]

piston popped out.. any reason for the slave cylinder failing like that? does the pedal adjustment cause the slave cylinder to shit itself?

Only if it's the wrong slave and/or pushrod, the fork has broken or has jumped off of its pivot.
No.

[Vios-GT_07]

okay i am at the end of my rope now

so far i know that

1. piston in slave cylinder popped out because i would the pedal adjustment out too far. unlike a honda, the slave cylinder does not have a circlip to prevent this from happening.

2. if i do not wind the pedal adjustment out far enough, the piston in slave cylinder does not move far enough to disengage the clutch

so basically there is a problem with the clutch.. the slave cylinder needs to push the fork thing in beyond its capability to disengage the gears.. hence when adjusting the pedal, it pushes the piston out further to the point it pops out.. even just before it pops out, the gears do not disengage..

my guess is that the pressure plate is not pushing the clutch far enough in.. that or the clutch fork has magically bent in thus not having enough pressure to disengage gears. it is now becoming a warranty nightmare as i have claimed the slave cylinder twice from the dealer thinking it was faulty.. now it seems like there is a problem with the clutch and i don't want to pay the money to replace the clutch so car will be towed back to the clutch place to have a look at it... clutch place says if it is an installation fault.. they will charge me for replacing whatever is broken... however if the clutch has failed in some way (pressure plate etc) they will replace it under warranty.

i doubt it is an installation fault as the clutch was perfect since june 2010.. albeit just needed to be pushed in further to disengage, but hasn't become a problem until now.. i hope clutch pressure plate or something has lost tension as it suddenly requires a lot more effort, beyond the capacity of the slave cylinder, to disengage gears.