Lydia's trans/clutch woes:
First, try bleeding the hydraulics. The drill for this
is that you and a friend hang onto the car, one of you
working the clutch pedal while the other locates the
bleed nipple on the slave cylinder. Put a piece of
clear hose over the nipple and let it out into a jar of
Castrol LMA. Now you're ready to start.
Let's say it's you on the slave and your friend on the
pedal. You say, "Go," and your friend pushes and holds
the pedal down. You open the bleed nipple about 1/6 of a
turn, or just till fluid squirts out. It should come out
in one pulse, then stop. Tighten the nipple and tell
your friend "Okay, let up." Your friend should check
the level of fluid in the master cylinder reservoir; if
it drops more than about 3/4", refill it with fresh LMA.
Now repeat that paragraph until:
- The fluid coming out the slave cylinder is clean (and
yes, you will be able to tell the difference)
OR
- The fluid coming out the slave cylinder has no bubbles.
Now that you have this procedure down, note several things:
1. This might or might not solve your problem. If it
does, you're fixed and it's fairly cheap (a couple
bucks worth of fluid and a hose). If it doesn't
fix the problem, it points to the clutch throwout
bearing as the next most likely culprit. Yes, I know
the T/O bearing has only 3K miles on it, but these
sometimes fail (my Midget's did, with symptoms very
much like what you're describing).
2. Bleeding brakes, BTW, is done very much like this
only with another set of hydraulics. It's a useful
skill to learn.
Good luck.
--Scott
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