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Sticky clutch pedal... again


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When I got in my 2005 Outback sport this morning, I noticed the clutch pedal wasn't coming all the way up, so I had to pull it up all the way with my foot, then it was working OK.

 

Go back to 2 years ago- I noticed it was grinding gears occasionally and the pedal was getting sluggish to come up all the way. I replaced the slave cylinder and all was good until now. 

 

I'm thinking some air has gotten into the system from somewhere... I'm thinking of replacing the slave again or maybe the slave as well as the master (original I believe). There are no signs of any leakage and the fluid level has not dropped.

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My dads 99 Outback had the same problem but it would get stuck on the floor. Turned out that it had a leaking master cylinder. So all the pressure on the slave side would leak around the bladder and not have enough pressure to push the pedal back up. 

We got it to act up by very slowly and gently, pushing the clutch pedal down (while the car was running) and it actually got sucked down a bit of the way, and if I kept pushing it very slowly, the slave wouldn't even move. 

 

On the bright side, there's only like 3 main components of the hydraulic clutch system. 

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Thank you. I inspected the rubber line and it looks OK, but it's also covering with a plastic sheathing that might be hiding a pin hole. 

 

It seems to be that an air bubble got into the system somewhere and may have caused the laggy pedal (it now feels OK). I'm think of just doing the whole system (master, slave and hydraulic hose). I can get Beck- Arnley components from Rock Auto for about $106 shipped.

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I went ahead and tried to flush the system yesterday, as I noticed I was losing even more pressure in the system after driving it yesterday morning (the pedal was now seldom returning all the way up after being released).

 

Now the problem is even worse- barely enough pressure in the system to engage the clutch at all, even after pulling about 1 pint of fluid through the hydraulic clutch system.

 

So I am going to go ahead and replace the master cylinder, rubber hydraulic line, and a new slave while I'm at it.

 

Does anyone have any particular aftermarket brands they like, or avoid at all costs? I've generally gone with Beck Arnley when I order form Rock Auto.

 

Also, regarding the rubber line replacement- how does the line disconnect at the rear coupling where it connects to the steel line? The fitting on mine is pretty corroded there and it's not obvious how to remove it. 

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I ordered a new master cylinder, slave cylinder, and hydraulic hoses and installed them today. I bled the system pretty thoroughly and when I went to try the pedal- same thing as after I bled the system last weekend- pedal  will only come halfway up on it's own and the slave cylinder movers the clutch in a little but not enough to fully engage it to shift the transmission. It still feels like there i sair in system. I suspect my vacuum brake bleeder may be at fault- maybe it is sucking air into the system from somewhere, so I may buy a different one and try it.

 

BTW, the clutch pedal is already adjusted to come up as far as I can adjust it for maximum travel.

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The slave cylinders on these are difficult to bleed air out of when they're mounted on the transmission. The best way I've found is to unbolt the slave cylinder and twist it kinda sideways and point the front of it down so that air flows up to the bleeder screw. Open the screw and let fluid flow out until you don't see any air. Then push in on the pushrod to shove it into the cylinder, hold it there while you close the bleed screw, then release. Do that two or three times until you don't see any air coming out. Be sure to keep the reservoir full.

This uses the slave cylinder to pull larger quantity of fluid through the line and suck out any air with it.

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