Clutch petal lost hydraulics, black fluid

greengoblin0129 · Post by **greengoblin0129** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:58 pm

Last night I lost all hydraulics in my clutch petal. It got to the point where I could no longer shift trying to get it home. It has a new clutch, slave, and a rebuilt master cly. They all have around 600 miles on them. It has been fine up in till now. Just in one night of driving around it slowy lost all hydraulics. When I checked my fluid (also pretty new) it was black. I tried bleeding it to get my pressure back but no luck. The slave seems to move in and out just fine. Its on an 87GT 5 Speed getrag. Whats goin on???

Thanks, Ryan

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 4:12 pm

Check the slave pushrod boot for fluid. Also look inside the car in the driver's side footwell where the pushrod from the master cylinder goes through the front firewall. Are there fluid in either of these places?
If no fluid is leaking out anywhere and you still have no pressure, the front seal in the master cylinder is shot.
I realize you have a new master cylinder, but if its not the welded steel AC Delco part or a NOS GM part, it's garbage. I have not found an aftermarket supplier of the late design Fiero master cylinders that has any reasonable control over their bore sizes. Some of them are too big so fluid leaks into the footwell area, some are too small so the umbrealla seal binds and halfway inverts itself, making bleeding completely impossible because it acts like a check valve. When you try to bleed it, does fluid come out of the master cylinder? If not, the seal is inverted. The master cylinder will push fluid fine but none can flow out of the reservoir..

Shaun41178(2) · Post by **Shaun41178(2)** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:33 pm

I can almost bet your slave is bad.

I would rebuild it for like $20 bucks. Aftermarket slaves are the worst. I had 4 bad ones out of the box, all leaked air.

I rebuilt it and cleaned out the inside with some 600 grit sandpaper, installed a new seal, and now all is well.

BTW my fluid is black as well and has always been that way since the new slave. No matter how many times I bleed it, it still turns black.

greengoblin0129 · Post by **greengoblin0129** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:46 am

I bleed the hell out of it yesterday morning...drove real good up till now(toinght). All of a sudden I lost all my pressure again, but no fluid is missing, WTF? :scratch:

p8ntman442 · Post by **p8ntman442** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 8:52 am

Shaun41178(2) wrote:I can almost bet your slave is bad.

I would rebuild it for like $20 bucks. Aftermarket slaves are the worst. I had 4 bad ones out of the box, all leaked air.

I rebuilt it and cleaned out the inside with some 600 grit sandpaper, installed a new seal, and now all is well.

BTW my fluid is black as well and has always been that way since the new slave. No matter how many times I bleed it, it still turns black.

shaun, where did you get the new seal? I have rebuilt my slave a couple times, but I guess it was more like, take it apart, clean it out, and lube the seals, cause I dont know where to get a new seal. I have the black steel slave for an izuzu.

Shaun41178(2) · Post by **Shaun41178(2)** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:58 am

I went to Advance auto, bought a rebuild kit, and it came with a new seal. :dontknow:

i thought they all came with new seals.

p8ntman442 · Post by **p8ntman442** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:50 pm

ohhh you spent money. Thats probably the difference.