My car is an ’86 32 valve S. The symptoms that started out were driving home on Friday of Labor day in heavy traffic for over an hour at around 88 degrees and the clutch pedal started going down to the floor and not disengaging the clutch until the bottom. The next day it worked okay in my subdivision but I just had to find the problem. I figured it was time to replace some 22 year old parts in the clutch hydraulic system. I’ve replaced the master and slave cylinders and the hose. I’ve changed the dreaded blue hose over to a Goodyear piece of brake fluid resistant tubing. I flushed and bled the system until I had no bubbles. But still the clutch pedal goes to the floor and stays. If I push the slave cylinder back at the inspection hole I can get the hydraulics to work and have a firm pedal. But that is not operating the clutch.
It seems as if the slave piston is fully extended. The cup the slave piston seats in is in the middle of the view hole. I’ve checked the WSM I’m not sure if I need a new clutch.
I’ve searched the archives and I am probably not using the right search term.
I’m probably missing something obvious but at this point I don’t just want to go out and beat on the car. It’s time to take a deep breath and ask for advice.

Tim

 

Check the ball cup on the clutch arm to see if it broke as it is a nylon insert. Take off the air cleaner and look at the top of the clutch release arm. It should be pretty easy to tell if it is not there any more.

As for bleading the clutch expect it to be painful, read through the many many many posts about proper bleeding techniques as it is very difficult. If you are not using a Motiv power bleeder it is that much more painful.

If the those items fail you'll probably have to take the clutch pack out and inspect the mechanics. On my 5-speed the throwout bearing casing bent causing a simular issue.

 

your release bearing (T/O bearing) could have pulled out of the pressure plate. pretty easy to check this.
the slave shaft should push the release bearing arm, a little more than an inch. You can see this and measure it through the peak hole. bleading the system if all is in decent shape is easy. open the bleed screw, have someone with their hand, push the pedal to the floor. close the screw, have them pull back the pedal , (repeat). after 3-4 times, it should be in fine working order. sometimes the easy way to get bubbles out, is to remove the slave and push the plunger all the way in to the slave. this pushes all the fluid toward the reservior and releaves any issues if they are related to bubbles, etc.

mk