Cannot shift into first - no clutch fluid

[pacent]

I drove my car over to my GF's place on new years eve, and it drove just fine. I parked the car there, and my gf drove me to the party we were going to. By the time I got back a few hours later, I found that my car was getting pretty difficult to shift into first and second. Halfway home, I could not get it into first without using all my strength to push it into the gate. I shut off my car, and tried shifting through all the ways and it went in each gear just fine. I started it up again, managed to get it into first with a lot of difficulty and slowly drove it home. I could get it into second and third, but they were equally difficult to get into. By the time I got home (maybe a 10 mile drive) it was shifting a little bit looser. I parked it into my garage and decided to take a look at it in the morning.

Fast forward to today, I got into my car, started it up, put it into reverse and it grinded pretty bad. I tried to put it into first and I could not. I noticed that my clutch pedal got a little looser as well. I opened my hood and noticed that my clutch fluid resevoir was empty. I didn't notice any leaks on my garage or the place where I parked yesterday. Please help. What should I do?

 

[Endz0r]

put in some clutch fluid and try again?

 

[pacent]

Can I do that? I thought clutch fluid has to be bleed just like brake fluid. I can just use any old DOT 3/4 brake fluid for my clutch, right?

 

[RamenPride]

Can I do that? I thought clutch fluid has to be bleed just like brake fluid. I can just use any old DOT 3/4 brake fluid for my clutch, right?

yeah, you'll need to fill it up and bleed it

 

[Game Over]

Your slave cylinder may have taken a shit on you. Check inside the car up above the fuse box above the clutch pedal (in that area), and see if it leaked in.

 

[pacent]

you're right, there some fluid coming out of my clutch pedal assembly up by the firewall. How do you know if this is the master or slave cylinder? Should I replace both at the same time? Wheres the cheapest place to get these? Thanks in advance.

 

[hystericfox]

The clutch master cylinder is the one that is located on the firewall, the salve cylinder is on the transmission. i've heard it recommended that both be replaced, but the only one I had replaced was the slave. not sure of the cheapest place to get one, call your local parts store, the slave cylinder for mine was $55, not sure about the cost for a master cylinder. BTW, i had a problem when it was bled manually, i would definitly recommend a vacuum bleeder.

 

[2.4 turbo Hyped]

Easy fix, buy a rebuild kit for the master and slave cylinders at the same time. I got mine at www.rockauto.com. Rebuild, fill with fluid, and bleed. Piece of cake.

 

[pacent]

Well...I bought the car and gave the parts to my mechanic to install. He installed both the master and the slave cylinder, and also bled the clutch. He says it still will not shift into first. He thinks the clutch is engaging fine and he wants to pull out the tranny. What should I do? What else do you think it could be? Thanks!

 

[NOSLO2PT0]

I think you should find a new mechanic.

 

[RedRain]

If you say ur resevoir was empty then you must have a leak somewhere. Make sure you are lot leaking from anywhere from the Master Cylinder to the Slave Cylinder lines. This happend to me about 1 month ago when the Slave Cylinder went out on me slowly and I just filled the resevoir with some fluid and right away you could tell the leak was there. Make really sure u r not leaking anywhere.

 

[pacent]

I stopped by the shop today and the clutch fluid reservoir was full. Both the mechanic and I are stumped as to what it could be. The car only has 35k miles on it. I would hate to have to start replacing stuff.

 

[NOSLO2PT0]

try adjusting the clutch.

 

[oldman]

I think you should find a new mechanic.

If your car drove fine before this, I would agreed you need a new mechanic. He probably didn't bleed it right. Ask him how did he bleed the clutch. Depending on how he removed the master cylnder, he may have to readjust the push rod and rebleed the system again.

 

[dot]

Well is there's a new slave and master cylinder and it still won't shift right, than the only other things it could be are:

1. Shift Linkage
2. Pedal Assembly
3. Clutch Fork
4. Clutch
5. Tranny

Maybe, after your master cylinder went, and you forced it into gear anyway, you damaged your synchros causing the car to grind even after the master cylinder was fixed?

 

[pacent]

Update:

It was the clutch fork that died after all. Since they opened up my tranny to make sure everything was okay, my mechanic replaced my first gear synchros and some bearings as well. Also resurfaced the flywheel and installed a new ACT 2100 clutch. Yay...at least everything is gonna be fixed soon.

Thanks for all your input.

 

[TurboGarageTech]

So the clutch fork broke/bent on a stock clutch with only 35K miles on the car? That seems a little suspect.

 

[MNGSX]

Depending on ther skills you may want to double check via this guide...

http://www.teamrip.com/clutch adjustment.html