fix one thing, another breaks!

[Cyrus]

so i just finished my head gasket job. been loving driving the car again. ive only had it running now for less than a week. prior to that it had been more or less sitting for the past 8 years. went out today to go for a drive, started it up, put in the clutch and tried to shift into reverse and it wouldnt shift. clutch pedal feels funny. goes up and down, but doesnt have resistance like it should.

reached up and felt around near where the pedal arm connects to something (slave cylinder? master cylinder?) it is all grimey and oily. looks like something blew up! there is no puddle on the carpet though.

so yea, what is the thing the pedal connects to? what should i be replacing here?

 

[D.J.T.]

clutch master cylinder... id do both the master & slave cylinders at the same time. save you a headache later.

 

[Cyrus]

yup, just ordered the master and slave cylinders. where did all the fluid go from the reservoir? it isnt in the carpet.

also, do i have to do any major disassembly of the dash or anything to replace the master cylinder?

 

[Maple191]

Its been absorbed into the carpet and probaly dried up now. Or check under the hood for bubbling paint around the CMC. And no you dont need to remove alot. Just the under dash plastic panel and the pedal it self... its a bitch to do but its do-able.

 

[CyFi6]

Use water to rinse anything that got brake fluid on it. It will stain the carpet and strip paint.

 

[jetjock]

It's helpful to remove the switch panel and go in through there for the nuts. Also, master cylinders are rarely full one day and empty the next. Fwiw...

 

[Cyrus]

yea, i was definitely having some tunnel vision after getting the head gasket job done. i didn't do a really thorough check-up on the systems unrelated/unaffected by my top end rebuild. i dont know how low the fluid can get before the clutch starts malfunctioning, but it is possible that it was already low on fluid even before i started driving it again (car had been sitting for years). maybe the reason there isnt a puddle is because it has been steadily leaking out for a long while now.

thanks for the tip jj. by switch panel, do you mean the panel with the fog light switch and the coin holder etc?

 

[jetjock]

Yep. Pop that off and use an extension to get at the nuts.