I’m not having a good day. Pulled out of the Post Office this afternoon and the car stalled. When I fired her back up the clutch pedal was not “biting” at all (please excuse the lack of technical terms!) and was completely unresponsive. Was still able to get her into gear with a bit of effort without the clutch but during the short journey home (no more than a mile), I lost each gear one by one until all I could get was 5th. Suffice to say in accordance with sods law this packed up as well just as I was almost half way across the last island only a stones throw away from home. In the middle of rush-hour traffic. Hazards on, I pushed her back out of the way, phoned a mate and when he turned up, pushed her into a slip road. Hopefully going to tow her back tonight. I’m hoping it might just be the clutch cable but I’ve got a horrible sinking feeling this is going to be expensive and could really do with some advice guys:cry:

Could be wrong but I think the clutch is hydraulic so no cable. My release bearing has gone and now grinds when I lift my foot off the clutch so it's off to Zedworld for a new clutch, £380. Good luck.

Quite possibly got a clutch fluid leak. Buy some dot4 or 5.1 brake fluid and give it a good bleed, see if much air comes out.

TBH Leigh, probably the clutch slave cyl or master cyl failed.

Look for leaks around them.

Could be the clutch release pivot - I'm on my 3rd one now :( - does your pedal go straight to the floor with no resistance?

Part costs around a tenner - labour about £200 :rolleyes:

Cheers guys, it's appreciated. Got to wait till my mate finishes work at 9:30 then we're off to tow it home. Currently trawling through old posts for more info...as you can probably tell I'm no mechanic! I know where the clutch fluid reservoir is but where are the master and slave cyl units situated? Just had a look at the prices from MJP for new cyls. I could manage that but not a new clutch, not this side of Xmas anyway!:( Fingers crossed it's just a leak...

A-ha! Now I know (thanks to an old post by AndyP!) that the slave cylinder is at "the end of the clutch activating arm" and the master cylinder "on the front of the bulkhead, directly attached to the reservoir." Now all I have to do is figure out which bit is the clutch activating arm! Lol! Ahh well you gotta laugh I guess:rolleyes: ;)

Argh...Dave don't tell me that!:( Cheers for the advice though. Pedal does go straight to the floor with no resistance...bugger. Will try to rule out possible leaks first...

Originally posted by friday

A-ha! Now I know (thanks to an old post by AndyP!) that the slave cylinder is at "the end of the clutch activating arm" and the master cylinder "on the front of the bulkhead, directly attached to the reservoir." Now all I have to do is figure out which bit is the clutch activating arm! Lol! Ahh well you gotta laugh I guess:rolleyes: ;)

 

 

The online manual is surpising useful in these situations ! ;)

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/tech/manual/manual/cl/005.gif

Right. Ended up pushing it back with a few people in the end (don't ask!). Checked the clutch reservoir and it's full and there doesn't appear to be any leaks around the master cyl. Too dark to get her up on stands to check the slave...Thanks for the diagram Andy! Guess my best bet might be to phone Jeff to see if he can take a look...just got to get it down to him somehow!:rolleyes:

Scratch that. Had a proper look (not just by torchlight!) and the clutch reservoir is actually empty! Plan is to top it up and try and find the leak....The saga continues...:rolleyes:

Ok, went to have a good look today and hit a problem. When changing things like the starter motor in the past I've taken the car over to the local St Johns Ambulance garage (friends of friends) to use their pit. Couldn't do that today and when I went to jack her up, neither of my jacks would fit underneath as the car has been lowered so much by the previous owner (would be b*ggered if I got a flat, will have to try and find an alternative sharpish).

As I had to start late I decided to leave it for today and sort some wood or paving slabs out to push her onto to get enough clearance. What I could see however, when I had as good a look as I could, was that the slave unit appeared bone dry but the the pipe running to it was completely wet with clutch fluid. Is there a proper name for this pipe? (see attatchment). Going to try to get hold of one (and possibly a new slave cyl anyway just to be on the safe side). Cheers,

 

Leigh.