In article <Pine.LNX.4.10.10107300556070.10008-100000@black.vrk11.com>,
Johnnie Blaze <johnblaze@vrk11.com> writes
>Semi-Short story: I left for Nebraska to do some camping this weekend and
>parked my spit in a friends garage, she had been running fine all day and
>showed no signs of trasmission problems. When we arrived back yeterday I
>fired her up only to find I had a terrible time getting her into reverse.
>Not really realizing what the problem was, i pulled her out, and attempted
>to shift to first when I noticed I had zero pressure, or response from the
>clutch, it just went straight to the floor. So I raised the bonnet and
>much to my chagrin, discoverd that the reservoir was severly depleated.
>--Also after a later check - there were no clear deposits of tranny fluid
>on his garage floor.
This happened to me about ten days ago.
>
>
>I managed to scoot it over to checker where in my ignorance I purchased
>some 80w 90 gear oil to fill the master back up.
Ohmigawd! Time for a complete strip, clean and rebuild of the Master
and slave cylinders, and the pipe that connects them. :-(
>
>
>I should note at this point when I took off the cap to fill up the level,
>I cleaned out some very dark, medium viscosity, gunk from the inside of
>the cylinder. This stuff look like very very dirty oil deposits.
...and is a nice mixture of clutch (brake) fluid and perished rubber.
Your seals had gone, allowing air into the system. You needed to strip
down the slave or master cylinder (or both) and replace the seals
anyway, so don't feel too bad about the gear oil. When doing so, check
the bores of the cylinders very carefully - if they are not perfectly
smooth and shiny, throw them away and get complete new cylinders. I
had to replace my slave cylinder (GBP50) but managed to avoid buying a
new master cylinder (GBP90).
>
>Then I filled up the chamber, and drove very delicately off. Of course
>with all the air in the system it wasnt the lightest task but I managed to
>get her home ... so my questions to the group are..
>
>First off, what would cause such a severe depleation of the tranny oil??
Duff seals.
>With no clear leaks in the line, and no puddles of lube - Im
>baffled.
A clutch will work quite happily for ages with a depleted reservoir of
fluid, but when it finally goes, all the topping up and bleeding in the
world doesn't seem to be able to fix the problem. When did you last
check your clutch fluid? I'm betting that it has been low for a long
time.
> Also what type of gunk was I pulling out of the cylinder?
Dot4 with rubber particles in suspension.
>
>Also what type/brand of transmission oil should I be using?
YOU SHOULDN'T!! Dot4 Brake and Clutch Fluid is the recommended medium.
>
>Now based on what I know (very little at that :) I am assuming I need to
>bleed the system, reading from the manual, I need to access the slave
>cylinder from inside the car, under the transmission tunnel.
I didn't realise you could do that - I bled mine from underneath.
> Logic would
>say do this on level ground. Am I just to hook up a tube to the bleeder
>screw and proceed as a normal brake bleed from there??
Pretty much, yes. Do strip and clean the two cylinders and the pipe,
and replace all seals and so on before worrying about bleeding...
>
>After I got her home I check the fluid level again and it seems to be
>right back where it belongs, but it is very very dark in color now after
>being run through the system...
I'm not surprised - you've got gear oil in there as well as clutch fluid
and decayed bits of rubber seals. I'm amazed it hasn't started
bubbling and frothing like something off the set of a Frankenstein film.
<g>
> when I bleed these lines out is there some
>sort of cleaner I can run through it??
The best fluid for this job is clutch fluid. I'd rinse the things
through with kerosene or something like that to shift the muck, then
wash everything out with Dot4.
>
>Again thank you all for your support, I hope to have her back and running
>as soon as possible.
Best of luck. This isn't a terribly onerous task, but it will take a
bit of time.
ATB
--
Mike
Michael Hargreave Mawson, author of "Eyewitness in the Crimea"
http://www.greenhillbooks.com/booksheets/eyewitness_in_the_crimea.html
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