Bleeding clutch ugh.

Check out the rubber clutch hose when they get old they tend to break down and swell up like a balloon taking the fluid that would be moving the slave cylinder.

does not hurt to look for a cracked clutch bracket or firewall.

 

Thank you. I did look for any rubber hose issues didn't see any. I did not check the clutch bracket!

 

If your vacuum bleeder draws air around the threads just smear a little grease around the bleed screw. Learned that one the hard way after drawing off half a quart of brake fluid and still seeing air bubbles.

 

holy shit I never considered this, thank you!!!!!

 

Hello everyone!

Back with mostly good news!

Thanks to everyone here for their helpful tips. I did indeed get the clutch bled. I'm going to bled it a bit more just to see if there's any other air bubbles I find but it was a overall success as it is working properly.

The shifter bushing went in no problem and now it shifts even smoother (engine off).

I drained the transmission fluid and put in the RT-90. I knew it was around 2.8 quarts I was overthinking this a lot. While I was filling and almost out it started to drain back out of the fill hole so I guess I did it right!

Side note here, I may have forgot to put the crush washer back onto the DRAIN plug for the transmission. Do I really need to drain it again and then put it back on? That stuff is expensive.

Lastly, while driving it does shift a lot smoother. I still get some hiccups in first and third. First is difficult to get in when at a stop occasionally. I don't have to put a lot of pressure on it but enough to make me question it. With the slight rev it goes in pretty well so I'm not to concerned and there is no grinding. Third is weird as sometimes it goes in so smooth and other times I get some feedback again no grinding so wondering if it is a syncro issue? Sometimes it smooths right in and others not so much but the truck isn't trying to lurch forward or anything so I don't think it's the clutch again though I'm going to try and bleed a bit more off just to see. It's also a 20 year old truck I don't expect it to be perfect.

I don't know a lot and still learning. I do know it is driving right now and there is no grinding. I'm the only one who drives it so I'll continue to be easy on it. I'm going to try and educate myself about the transmission and maybe pull it this winter and give it a shot, or not we'll see. It has 283k miles on it and unknown when the clutch was replaced so maybe that'll be my project for the winter.

So thank you again for all the help! Next stop is buying a welder next year, teaching myself to weld and then welding up some of the frame with some safetcaps.

I'm also going to adjust the clutch now since I have it all working. Lots of small things to do/fix on it but man I'm having a good time.

For future if anyone reads this post and wonders if they can do it, if I can do it I promise you, you can do it to! Just take your time. Take a breath when it's not working out. Laugh at yourself/the situation. Try to enjoy it. Come here and read, read a lot. Then ask questions!

Edit to add,

After driving around quite a bit. It shifts sooooooooo much smoother. First gear goes in a lot easier! 3rd is less feedbacky (new word). So I'm guessing the transmission fluid had to work itself around or something I don't know. I just know it is 100% better than before I did the work.

 

Kudos

 

Where is the bleeder on my 1999 Tacoma SR5 with the 3.4?
I just paid to have the clutch replaced at 348k miles, and the clutch works perfectly until it's warm. Then the clutch pedal doesn't come all the way back up. This was one of the problems I was having before the clutch replacement. Slave cylinder was changed, master was not. It isn't leaking, but could it still be shot, causing this?
Thanks

 

The bleeder is on the slave cylinder attached to the transmission. I've heard that you should replace both master and slave together.

 

I thought I had read that somewhere too. The guy that did my clutch came highly recommended, so I didn't question it when the master wasn't replaced. I guess that's the next project.
Thanks Mister.

 

Its stupid easy to replace if you DIY. Save on labor.

 

I'll just watch the YouTube video again.

 

Swapped out the master, bled system and adjusted pushrod length.
Why does the pedal still not come all the way back up? It doesn't affect shifting, but it shouldn't stop 2" from the top.
I use my toe to lift it up. It almost seems like it "cams over" and pops to the top. Make sense?
I adjusted pushrod length both ways. No change.
The spring isn't the type that hooks into the pushrod pin. It's a beefy looking thing that looks fine. I don't see anything that looks bent or tweaked.
What am I missing?

 

It's the spring/worn bushing. You need the linear spring mod.

 

Is that the spring under the dash?
Mine looks like this.

 

Please tell me more about the "linear spring mod" and where my worn bushing is.

 

Ordered spring and bushings from Toyota dealer.
Checked tightness of bolt, loosened it up and fixed the problem.

 

Thought the problem was fixed. Nope.
Since that last post my mechanic has replaced the pedal, spring and bushings.
Still not right.
Took the new master off that I installed, put the old one back on and it's almost perfect. It still hangs up occasionally so I'm going to get the OEM master, Aisin, and replace the old one that has 348k miles on it.