Bad Clutch, BAD!

My clutch master cylinder just went out for the second time in a year (only had the thing for just over a year) last time I had the Stealership do it and they used an aftermarket part. I’m 6000 miles over the warranty. My questions are how hard is it to replace? And has anyone had better luck with OEM cylinders or a specific aftermarket brand? Did I just get a bad part? Is my engine compartment to hot? Do these things go out all the time no matter what you do? I just don’t want to have to do this every year.

My 97 has gone thru 2 of them. Isn't yours internal? If so, it's a lot harder to replace. Mine is fairly easy due to it's external fitment on the bell housing. Used OEM both times so can't comment on after market. HAve you tried refilling and bleeding it?

Replacing the M/C is not difficult at all for your model - an '87 has the metal one with standard quarter inch compression fittings.

Just unscrew the clutch line, remove the cotter pin from the pedal assembly, and the two nuts holding it to the firewall and you're done. (a bit cramped above the fuse block, but do-able).

After you re-install and fill it up with fluid, just make sure you bleed the line a LOT. The smallest amount of air in the line will interfere with the operation of the slave.

As far as brands - don't know what to say. I just replaced my plastic '92 M/C and line, with the metal combination of the earlier year XJ's (I was having a recurring issue with the downpipe melting the '92 plastic clutch line). Too soon to say if the aftermarket (new - not re-built) '87 metal one I got at Advanced Auto will be fine - but it should be OK.

My experience is that the M/C themselves are not prone to failure, but the damn cheapo plastic clutch lines certainly are!

(Mike - BTW, I think you're referring to the slave cylinder (internal or external) - Bronco seemed to be talking about the Master itself - up on the firewall)

Good Luck.

Mike in NJ atriot:

Are you talking about the master cylinder or the slave cylinder?

Dan

It helps to have a helper to get the two mounting nuts off the unit. One nut (I think the upper one) unscrews from the engine compartment, and one comes off from inside the cab. Like Mike said, there's not alot of room to work inside above the fuse block, and the helper can spin the bolt head from outside while the other holds the nut stationary with a socket and extension. It'll be obvious to you when you start working on it. One tip...when you install the new one, before you tighten down the two mounting bolts/nuts, thread the clutch line fitting into the M/C to make sure you don't cross-thread the fitting. You may have to wiggle the M/C around a bit to get the threads to start, so leave it loose until you get it started. Once you do, go ahead and tighten down the bolts, and then fully tighten the fitting.
HTH,
Jeff

Bronco said:

My clutch master cylinder just went out for the second time

Click to expand...

um...

I'm on my 4th one (at 165Kmi) -- so they don't go out too often -- bleed it regularly to keep it clean and happy --

Most of the post-install failures that i've seen seem to come from dry cycling the assy (pumping without fluid or anything to lube the cups) or by getting a "dry rebuild" where the replacement part has been on a shelf long enough to have dried completely out or was built without any lubrication...

Best to pre-bleed the M/C or to fill it and let gravity draw fluid (vacuum pump bleeding is OK if your slave is good enough to tollerate it) through it to get things a bit loser ...

Replacement itself isn't all that hard - there's one bolt that can kida be a PITA (above the push-rod - the nut's on the inside nad'll need to be held still to start -- can be done with locking pliars or 2-sided foam tape easily enough)...

BLEED it.... (lots, as above)

That all sounds very encouraging. So I should run some fluid though the thing before install. Is that what you are suggesting?
What is the procedure for Bleeding?
Thanks all