9KCanuck

I was doing some preventative maintenance and ran into a snag. If I had a dollar for every time... anyway...

I unbolted the slave and removed the rod to check the ball end and regrease it, etc., as well as the fork. Sanded off the nub on the end of the ball and polished it, as well as the receiving 'cup' on the fork. Plus greased up the lube points on the fork for good measure. The stuff was super dry and gross and definitely needed the attention. Great. All fine.

One thing I noticed tho, is that the slave cylinder piston didn't want to pop out like I have read about happening (guys use tape or zip tie to retain it). Odd this wasn't necessary for me, but perhaps no big whoop. So I put everything back together and realize that if the piston isn't extending on its own when not being held back, then the ball doesn't seat itself into the fork... it just kinda hangs out there, short of its target. And pushing on the pedal is no good, as it almost certainly won't line up properly with the cup -- I realized this the hard way, cuz it went in cock-eyed the first time and put a slight dent into my freshly polished ball.

So, is it simply that I introduced air into the system and I need to bleed it? I guess that's not so bad, and I can do that... but if the piston (and therefore rod) isn't extended far enough to seat properly in the fork, how do you manage that? The stupid boot/cover/thingie makes it so difficult to line it up, cuz you can't see where it's at obviously, and trying to feel where it's at through that cover is freaking annoying.

starchland

Pinky through the vent hole to feel it’s seated properly. Careful not to cross thread the bolts as well.

B serious

There's a spring in there that seats it. regardless of air in the system.

did the spring pop out?

9KCanuck

A spring? Where?

Shit... I'll look to see if one popped out.

B serious

It is internal to the slave cyl body.

It goes spring --> piston --> rod

The spring makes sure the rod is always pushing on the fork. Like...if you had a slave cylinder off the car on a bench and you squeezed the rod into the body, you'd be squeezing against the spring.

So...
if you're sure your fork hasn't popped out....maybe something happened to the spring in the slave cyl. Or maybe the piston is jammed up?

9KCanuck

Gotcha. Behind the piston. The piston definitely did not come out of the cylinder, so the spring must still be in there.

I had unpopped the fork to grease the centre bearing and to kinda try and get some grease up on the ends (who knows how successful that was... tough to tell). And it 100% popped back into place.

I think you're right -- something happened to the spring inside the cylinder and/or the piston is jammed up somehow. At this point, should I just unbolt it again and slowly push the pedal down and take the cylinder out? Will that gush fluid? I've never messed with one of these before, but suspect it's basically the same as a brake cylinder.

Slowcrash_101

If you push the pedal with the slave disconnected you're just going to make a huge mess.

9KCanuck

Thanks for the replies, folks.

Just to close the loop on this for anyone who might make the same mistakes I did...

Turns out my biggest problem was that I had the clutch fork re-installed in the wrong spot. I didn't think that was possible, but there is a 'spot' further fwd within that access hole that the fork clicks into, as if that's where it is supposed to go. With the fork in this position, it is too far from the SC, so the rod just barely reaches. When I pressed the pedal, it extended the rod all the way, but obviously there was nowhere for the fork to go, so the pedal just went "clunk".

I initially thought the problem was the SC, so I took it right off the car and opened it up... because things go VERY well when I take things apart. It was a bit sludgey in there, and the piston definitely didn't move smoothly in the cylinder -- the spring was barely able to push the piston beyond the top of the cylinder. So cleaned it out, lubed the o-ring with some brake fluid, applied some Honda grease to the ends of the rod and reassembled. The piston now springs up/down nice and smooth.

When I got back under the car to put it in, I re-evaluated that fork position and it dawned on me that I either broke something or must have put it in wrong. Sure enough, its proper position is more towards the rear of that access hole. Dummy. Once it was in there, I wrestled the SC and rod into position and snugged it all up. Then refilled the MC and bled the air out.

After ALL that, the clutch better feel good (and work!) or it was all for nothing really. And sure enough, it feels WAY better! Wow, what a difference. Smooth, light, springy, all the things you want a clutch pedal to be. Unless you like different things, I guess.

They say you learn something new every day. I learned probably 50 things yesterday.