yeah, that's what i was thinking... I'd rather have my brakes fail and clutch fail at DIFFERENT times!!!

 

On MY03', I have had my Clutch MC leaking for over a year now. I check my fluid every month and i usually add fluid every 3 months. It is never extremely low although the fluid on my nice tan floor mats would show otherwise.
I am not sure exactly when it started to leak. I purchased the car and the pedal felt a little like you explained except i had no resistance for about an inch, and then I felt the clutch. I noticed it when i got out of the car one day and saw Brake fluid on my shoe. This led me to inspecting under my steering column and magically found the issue.

Everyone is correct in saying it is you MC. It's possibly leading under your hood or under your steering column.

My question is how hard is it to replace because I have been dreading it for some time now.

 

I dont think it is that difficult to replace... i managed to get a honda service manual off of here or a link somewhere... will try to find it but it's a great document! Can upload it to my server if you can't get it... just send me a PM

 

it's not difficult, i just did mine a couple weeks ago.

under the hood:

1. drain the fluid from the reservoir
2. unbolt the line from the reservoir

in the driver's floor:

3. remove the pin holding the pedal to the MC
4. unbolt the MC from the firewall (2 bolts, 8 or 9mm i think)

i removed the piece of plastic cladding that goes around the hood release, because it's tight in there trying to get to the bolt nearest the outside of the car. you may not need to.

now, just put your new MC in doing all this in reverse. i just re-used the gasket that goes against the firewall, replace that if you like. i doubt it matters.

you'll need to have the car up on jacks so you (and a buddy) can bleed the system.

to bleed:

i use a piece of clear plastic hose that fits snugly over the bleed screw, which is on the side of the master cylinder which is on the transmission.

-open bleed valve
-press clutch pedal to the floor, watching the fluid in the clear hose for air bubbles
-close valve (with pedal still on the floor)
-release pedal (while valve is closed)

repeat these steps until you get no air bubbles coming out in the fluid. make sure to stop every 4 or 5 pumps of the pedal and refill the clutch fluid reservoir.

 

^^thanks, now I know what to do when mine goes. Sounds straight forward.

WARNING - be very careful about adjusting the clutch pedal. The guys that advise adjusting clutch pedals fall into two camps. One, they have not had hydrolic clutches and revert to adjusting the pedal based on ingnorance. Two, they are talented tuners/racers and need a subtle change to enhance their skills. My skills are NOT that good. If I do a fluid swap and don't get any leaks, I am pleased.

If you adjust the clutch pedal, you'll feel "improvement" but you are loosing the indicator that your clutch is going and needs to be replaced. Additionally, when you get your new clutch installed, you'll never know where to reset your pedal. I don't know how many guys count the number of quarter turns when they adjust their pedal, and when they get it "just right," they drive off. Only to replace the clutch and then they can't remeber what the magic number is.

Bottom line - it's a hydrolic clutch, you don't need to make adjustments. Bleed it first. Top of the master second. Replace the master and/or slave last.

 

I have the same problem and searched for this thread....

So you're saying to bleed it and if it fells NORMAL again, then you know it's the master cylinder, so replace it?

What if the bleeding doesn't bring back the "normal" feel, what can it be then?

thanks looking forward (not really) to fixing this this weekend.

 

yeah, what i mean is...when the fluid gets too low in the reservoir, a lot of the pedal feel will disappear. if you've got a leak in the MC (and subsequently, fluid in the floorboard), then top off the reservoir and bleed the lines. if that brings back the "normal" feel, then you can (at least for the time being) assume that a new MC will fix the problem.

that didn't fix my problem, and i'm getting a new clutch installed tomorrow. i plan to find out what the problem is, and i'll report back

as a preface, my mechanic said it feels like somehow one of the springs came out of the housing and is getting lodged between the PP and the disc, which isn't allowing the disc to fully disengage from the flywheel.

i can't for the life of me see how that could happen, but it would explain why my problem showed up overnight

 

thanks! I ordered the MC this afternoon, will work on it this weekend. Keep us posted, I'll do the same!

 

well, i had my clutch replaced on friday. the guys at the shop were all really cool, i watched the whole process. took the guy about 5 hours on a lift. he was a pro. i'm glad i didn't attempt this myself on jack stands.

anyway, looks like i got every bit of life out of my disc :



my clutch wasn't fully disengaging, and we quickly found out why.
there's a piece of metal surrounding the springs on their edge that looks like this:



it's a real problem when it looks like this:







basically, that piece had broken off and was lodged on the inner rim of the pressure plate. this was keeping a bit of pressure on the friction disc at all times, and keeping it up against the flywheel, thus not letting it disengage completely.

also, the slave cylinder rod was rough, and had a nipple on it worse than this:



we ground that smooth.


i'm happy to report that my car feels brand new now, and i've fallen in love with it all over again