Scotty, I recently bought a 1991 MR2 with 145,000 miles 5 speed manual transmission and about 68,000 on a 5SFE pulled out of a 90s corolla. The first time drove the car I was at a complete stop with my foot all the way to the floor on the clutch and break and the car started pulling me into an intersection. After that I bled the clutch 3 times over since then and still had problems stalling the engine or having to pump the clutch 3 or 4 times before it engages/disengages. I also checked the master cylinder and there doesn’t seem to be any cracks or leaks, any ideas what the problem could be?
In addition to what Chuck says, let me add that just because clutch master (or slave) cylinder looks fine outside, showing no leaks - the internal seals can have gone bad and leak internally. This frequently happens with an older car that has contaminated fluid and/or has sat unused.
Is it losing any fluid? What is the condition of the slave cylinder? Some clutches are notoriously difficult to bleed and may need to be pressure bled. Another potential cause would be the clutch disc installed backwards.
No loss of fluid. I’m assuming it’s still the original slave cylinder because the car hasn’t had much work done to it except for the motor swap and a new clutch. Previous owner runs a shop so I’m ASSUMING he installed the clutch correctly but I never checked for myself.
A 31-year-old slave cylinder would definitely be on the suspect list. It's very easy to put a clutch disc in backwards. Unfortunately there's no easy way to check it. (I'll admit that I've installed a clutch disc backwards it but fortunately on a car that did not require major disassembly to get at the clutch. It was still a pain though.)
Both cylinders are 31 years old, I would replace them -
Duralast Limited lifetime warranty -
Master #10349 - Slave #10396 - at AutoZone and everywhere.
