Bled clutch, no no pedal

2013 Tacoma 4x4 6spd mt. I had issues with the clutch pedal staying down when it’s cold in the floorboard. (No shifting issues) when the heater heats the truck, problem goes away. To avoid a murdering my significant other trying to bleed the clutch I had a local shop do it. After they bled it they said that they cannot get any resistance in the pedal and can’t get it to engage in gear. The service manager noted there was no problem when he pulled it in.

im leaning towards there being air in the system still but he wants to try the slave cylinder thinking maybe there was gunk holding an internal seal that let loose. What’s y’all’s opinions

 

try back bleeding it using the brake bleed . Run a line from the brake bleeder to the slave, and then start pumping the brakes. You should see bubbles rising out of the reservoir. Another thing to check is the pushrod adjustment. It may need to be adjusted and thats why you're having an issue. I had mine fully bled and i wasnt happy with the pedal feel. Ended up needing pushrod adjustment on the clutch master cylinder. There should be 5-15mm of free play in the pedal before it starts engaging the pushrod on the master

 

Does this do anything different than a vacuum bleeder or 2 person method would?
It probably does need adjustment, unfortunately I have to get hydraulic pressure first lol

 

Sounds like your clutch master cyl is calling it quits

 

Any good way you know of to test other than replace the slave cyl first?

 

If your clutch pedal sinks and doesn’t spring back or it feels like you can’t push it down far enough to get the truck in gear, it’s probably the CMC. Assuming you have a good bleed on the system

 

It just strikes me as odd because it shifted just fine before they went to flush and now they can’t build pressure or get it in gear. Before the issue would only occur with the slow clutch return when the floor board area was cold

 

My slave took a shit about
a year ago.
At about 150k I think
There is an updated one now and it metal.
Not plastic like the old one was.

The slave is under the dash where the clutch pedal is.

Good luck

 

That would be the Master. The slave is mounted on the side of the trans

 

That sounds like they don't know how to bleed it... which isn't terribly surprising given that like 97% of cars on the road are autos at this point, and even among the mechanic ranks driving a stick isn't all that popular.

While the system is all screwed up anyway, might as well delete the 'accumulator' (which isn't an accumulator really) which AFAIK is the usual culprit in the cold-pedal-on-the-floor. I replaced mine with a Toyota OE brake line 90, it's as easy as busting the 2 line nuts free & screwing them into the 90.

 

If the pedal goes flat either something hydraulic is leaking or the clutch unit is shot. How would "air" get in there in the first place?

The master can leak internally, if the slave is dry it's fine

I'd try a different shop, they'll likely find a leak or bad clutch unit

 

Have someone who doesn't know how to bleed a clutch try to bleed a clutch. It's like a brake system in that you have a master cylinder pushing fluid through a sealed line system to an operating cylinder... and that's about it.

A brake master has a lot more stroke volume. And your brake pedal doesn't have a funky spring that kicks the pedal down to the floor. And the brake system doesn't have a pressure plate that pushes the caliper all the way back in when pressure is removed. It doesn't take much air to get the clutch to the point it's not disengaging, and the torsion spring kicks the pedal to the floor... just keep the bleeder open a liiiiiittle bit too long, leave the bleeder hose pointed downhill, and you can screw up a working system in no time.

I mean, it could still have a leaking/bypassing cylinder, but it's not likely it was working, then someone bleeds it properly & poof now it's broken!

 

Right but he said the pedal was going flat before anyone messed with it.

If no lines were disconnected and the bleeder wasn't opened there's no way to get air in the system.

 

The pedal staying on the floor when it's freaking cold is a thing, like I said AFAIK it's a neat "feature" of the flow restrictor that we call an 'accumulator'. Mine used to do it too, if the temps dropped down around the teens.

Of course, mine also now has a new metal master cylinder, but that was more cuz I was opening the system anyway to delete said accumulator, and figured I might as well get it all done with one bleed. Given how enamored my wife was with the process, I think I made a wise decision!

 

Back bleeding - thats genius! I’ve always hated bleeding a clutch system ,but thats golden!

 

Clutch and brake system don’t share the same reservoir. At least not on my truck

 

Good point, back bleeding is only do-able on the vacuum booster trucks that share the clutch and brake reservoir

 

If you don’t have a shared reservoir you can also pull a vacuum from the top side of the clutch reservoir. I’ve done this to get stubborn bubbles out of the clutch master cyl. Should get any bubbles out if you hold the vacuum long enough for them to travel up to the res.

 

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I like to post conclusions to help folks in the future with similar issues. The clutch master cylinder just happened to shit the bed at the same time and that’s what ultimately resolved the issue