clutch, or master cylinder?
 

my dad works with a guy who used to be a mechanic, and was telling him about my clutch problems. he told him to do a test... take the car out on an open road, shift into third gear like you normally would, and then just slow down until it's about to stall. when you get to that point, nail it. if it accelerates slowly at first, then normally, the clutch is ok. he told me that's what happened, so he said i probably need a new master cylinder. he said if it smells, i might just be smelling some fluid burning off.

anyway, i remember reading somewhere that early ls1's have weak hydraulic something, could've been master cylinder.

it might be worth looking into before i shell out the cash for a new clutch...

if you can't find your answer here, go to LS1Tech.com and they will help you out.

do you have any signs of fluid loss? the master resevoir is on the firewall near the brake booster. if that is full then you haven't lost anything.
teh other symptom you commented on before was that the clutch was slipping, that is more a sign of friction material loss than hydraulic failure.
clutch disk gone = lots of slippage
hydraulics gone = clutch not wanting to release

later
tim

i'm not completlely sure on the slipping. i think it is, but i could be wrong. maybe on saturday i'll bring my car down and you can check it out.

easiest way to check if the clutch is releasign all the way is to stop on level ground. push teh clutch peddle all the way in with the shifter in 1st gear and start bringing up the revs slowly.
if the clutch is not fully released it will start to creap almost immediately.

later
tim

also if it is slipping you will hear the engine rpm rise very quickly when you stomp on it the only problem you may get if it hasnt been disegaging properly is the friction disk gets a glaze over it causing it to wear out prematurely. this is what happened to the fiero before i put the five speed in this is why i now have the five speed because i figured while i had the old tranny out id put a better one in

Did you top off your fluid?

what are you, his mom? :finger:

put it in 6th at about 40 mph on a level road and go WOT, if the revs fly up but the speedo doesnt its slipping

Just following up...

Don't make me beat your ass with this here hickory stick!

i bought the fluid, and i checked the level when i got back, and it looked like it was good, but where exactly do you fill it to? also, does it make a difference if it's hot?

i'll check it again in an hour when it's a little cooler. it looks like there's 2 different spots where you can fill it to.

also, if i need to get a new one, i was looking around last night, and it looks like it's not that hard to replace. i was also looking into the drill mod, and that might be something i'd want to do...

I don't htink you can replace the master cylinder by itself, you have to replace the master and slave as one unit.

I would just fill it up so it pours out (that **** is cheap anyway) and then put the black thing back in there and let the excess spill out...but that's just me.

except that brake fluid will eat your paint :shock: i wouldn't be too sloppy with it. when i first said it was way low, i was using my cell phone as a light source, i couldn't see ****. once erik shined his light on it, it didn't look that low. aren't there lines to fill to on the outside of the tank?