About a week ago I noticed I had to press my clutch pedal all the way to the floor in order to shift whereas I normally just press it halfway in order to shift. Well, I noticed I was really low on clutch fluid and replaced it. The problem started to go away. I felt the clutch pedal pressure going back and it was easier to shift gears until last night. I was hauling *** trying to catch up with my buddy's RX-8 (that's another story) and noticed that at high speeds and RPMs, I lost pressure in my clutch pedal and couldn't shift into any gears til I slowed down. Later on after normal driving and pumping the pedal a few times the problem went away. Any of you know what's up with that? Is it an air bubble in the line possibly? If so, how would I go about fixing that (in the most simple way)? Thanks in advance.

 

Did you just add fluid, or did you actually bleed the clutch line?

 

I just added fluid. What's the easiest way to bleed the line?

 

You will need an assistant.

At the slave cylinder there is a bleeder valve. Attach a clear hose. Open valve. Push in clutch pedal. Allow brake fluid to drain out. Close valve. Slowly release clutch pedal. Repeat until you see no air bubbles. Add fluid to the reservoir. If it drops below the min mark, you will introduce air into the system and have to start all over.

Brake fluid doesn't disappear, so you should try to find the leak. Pull back rubber boot on the slave cylinder. There should be no fluid in there. Also look under the dash at the piston connecting to the clutch pedal. If the master cylinder is leaking there would be a dark stain on the carpet below the piston and some fluid around the rubber seal.

 

Little extra for bleeding instructions...

When bleeding, the clutch pedal won't spring up by itself; so tie a string around the pedal to pull it up. When you do that, control it with your foot, DON'T let it snap up suddenly.

I usually bleed it like this...
1) Pump the pedal then hold it down.
2) Open the bleed valve, then close it immediately once the slave piston is compressed.
3) Pull the pedal up (smoothly) & then repeat 1 & 2.

 

Cool, thanks guys! I'll give it a try when I have a chance. Actually, the problem seemed to disappear because when I press in the clutch pedal, it seems to operate fine now. I'll keep you all updated if anything changes.

 

Sometimes air bubbles can work their way up to the master & out all by themselves. But keep it in mind in case new air bubbles continue to appear.

 

Turns out I had a bad slave cylinder. Got it fixed for $150, parts and labor. Because I slammed it into gear trying to get where I wanted, my synchronizer's pretty much dead in 1st gear.