Cuda's Cars, v2.0

[thesameguy]

DIDN'T THE GOVERNMENT BAN THAT STUFF?????



I had a Saab a long time ago with a weak master cylinder that was mushy in the heat and ok in the cold.

[CudaMan]

They can pry my ATE out of my cold dead hands!

Would love for it to simply be a lazy MC. I'm not sensing a temperature pattern or any pattern as of yet - and surely once the car is warmed up the outside temp wouldn't matter too much?

[thesameguy]

Honestly, I would assume that to be true, but there was no denying my morning mushy pedal turned into an afternoon nearly unusable clutch every day for weeks. One day while leaving Rite Aid I had to roll several stops and double clutch it like I should and that prompted me to replace the MC.

FWIW, I would definitely blame mushy pedal on hydraulics. Could be either end, but it's probably hydraulics. A bad disc or pressure will be slipping, chatter or other engagement issue; but shouldn't be a mushy pedal... unless you have a broken pressure plate, but I would characterize that more as a lack of feedback or inconsistent pedal effort rather than "mush." Mush is probably gonna be wrecked fluid (probably ruled out) or fluid moving past seals. You might *try* another bleed, just to see what comes out (black fluid = wrecked seals) or if there is any improvement. Even a tiny amount of air can cause mush.

[CudaMan]

The pedal feel hasn't changed since I've had the car. The clutch bite point has become less sharp and has moved up a bit. And fast shifts can lead to slippage if not done correctly (T smoked the clutch several times this year). It's like it's too easy to be smooth engaging a gear around town, you know? There's no positive engagement feel anymore. I researched whether there was a CDV on these cars, apparently there's an orifice somewhere in the lines that's a little small to restrict how fast fluid can move, but my 2003 hasn't had this weak-feeling clutch problem (it got a new clutch in 2014). So all this made me think worn disc or weakened PP. Hydraulics hasn't been on my mind much - the 2007-8 cars are known to fail the plastic CSC but when that happens it's sudden and you need a tow. I've been nursing this weak-feeling clutch for months.

In simple terms: the 2003 will chirp tires engaging 2nd gear if you try -- the 2007 will peg the rev limiter and not accelerate.

[thesameguy]

Ooooooohhhhhh... so definitely slipping. Got it! Probably is a mangled PP or maybe a broken spring?

[CudaMan]

I'm tending towards thinking that, yeah. AFAIK it's original clutch hardware in the car (75k miles now, plenty of which is highway but also lots of autox, and clutch wear there is highly driver dependent... I know I cringed a lot when T was slipping the heck out of it - not doing anything untoward but also not adapting to the special needs of this clutch). They're not known to be a weak point but anything is possible. I can still launch the car fine, get wheelspin off the line and all that, which suggests a weakened clamping force or rate is not so weak as to affect that but weak enough where improved traction at 35mph engaging 2nd gear is enough to notice the effects. But also even letting the clutch out normal/slower around town I'm always smooth like an automatic because of this -- even when I don't match revs particularly well. And that to me suggests a disc near end of life.

Looking like I'll still end up separating the trans, which means I might as well order a clutch kit anyway.

[thesameguy]

I had a similar situation with the Alfa 164 - it worked fine, but the pedal was always mushy, had slightly unpredictable engagement, and would slip horribly if dropped but never once engaged. One damned hot day in July it totally failed leaving me stranded with three girls in the car two miles from the movie theater. BALLS! I had the work done at a shop and they found all the springs on the disc were broken. They thought one or two had failed a long time ago and the rest finally gave up the ghost. Sounds similar to what you're experiencing... I've never seen broken springs since then so it's my only experience.

I would replace everything in there so you get another 75k out of it. Might be worth inquiring whether the RMS is prone to failure - some cars you just always gotta replace them, others virtually never need replacing. Some cars only leak after they've been replaced.

[CudaMan]

Thinking it's about time to tackle the inner tie rod replacement.

OEM is expensive. What's the skinny on aftermarket tie rods these days? My choices look to be mainly Moog, AC Delco, Proforged, Beck/Arneley, and a couple others I've never heard of (Mevotech, Quick Steer, MAS) . Much of a muchness?

[thesameguy]

It's a crapshoot IME. Stand-by brands that have always been good like Moog now sell repackaged, lesser stuff so you don't entirely know. I would probably ask people who have used the specific parts for reaction.

Generally speaking, I aim for Moog, ACD, and Raybestos Pro for things I care about and other brands for things I don't. Mevotech has been a good cheap brand for me, for whatever that's worth. I am guessing there are off-brands that specialize in Japanese cars similar to off-brands that specialize in Euro, too - but I have no idea what they might be.

[CudaMan]

Guess I won't stress too much over it. Some quick reading suggests Moog's Problem Solver line is consistently good quality. At $26 shipped it's worth a shot.

My usual trick of finding the supplying manufacturer for the OEM part and buying that, didn't work for this application.