Near electrical fire causes clutch problems.

[the_red_pooch]

I had a crazy weird problem yesterday with my gst. I had been driving for about 20 mins and then after dropping off a friend I left his driveway and when I shifted into second I noticed a slight studder in the car and then noticed my clutch pedal not coming back from the floor. I pulled over right away and as I popped the hood I was greated with smoke from some electrical shorting near the firewall below the battery. And as I looked over I noticed the cap for my clutch fluid resevoir had blown off and sprayed the fluid all over under the hood. I immediately disconnected the battery and searched for the electrical problem along the firewall. I couldn't tell exactly where it came from but there was significant heat. I tugged on all of the wires trying to free whatever was shorting and then connected the battery again. The short was gone and I was able to start the car. Now my only problem is my clutch. I put fluid in the resevoir and tried to pump the pedal but the fluid never drew into the lines to empty the resevoir and the clutch pedal has no pressure to it at all. Its almost like feels not even hooked up anymore because it flops to the floor so freely. Could the heat have blown anything? I'm not so good with clutches, like master and slave cylinders so I'm pretty lost. Any help appretiated! Thanks!

 

[kspharris]

I will bet that you never had an electrical problem. I bet that your fire was from the clutch fluid getting on some hot part and starting a fire. It sounds like either your slave cylinder is out or leaking. Did you check to see if it was leaking anywhere along the path of your clutch lines? I would start checking there and at the slave cylinder. Hope this helps, Keith.

 

[Calan]

What Keith said...

And, did you check the slave again after filling it back up and pumping the pedal, to see if it was still holding fluid?

Did you bleed the clutch? If you "sprayed the fluid all over under the hood", you probably have one monster air pocket in your clutch line. Since air is compressible (and why we use fluid instead), you aren't going to have a very functional clutch until you bleed it thoroughly.