[evilmnky45]

hey everyone. I was driving my 1987 alfa romeo quad around and suddenly the clutch went soft. i replaced the slave clutch solenoid last year and that may be the problem again, but we've had problems with the linkage. either it fell off or broke and we had to get it fixed. i think this may have happened again. Is there a way it could have fallen off or anything without necessarily breaking? also, how to fix it?

thanks!

 

[Tifosi]

Have you checked the clutch pedal pivot arm?
Or by 'soft' do you mean the pedal goes up and down like it should, but feels like goo?

If the latter, has the clutch master cylinder actuation rod been properly set at some point during the slave replacement or other fiddling about? (spec in FAQ)

Should that be too long the slave will pretty much blow seals and if too short you won't get full throwout activation.

And for the really random side note:
If someone felt creative and put a return spring on the throwout fork's tail where it looks like a spring should go, get rid of the spring.
Even though it looks missing there's not supposed to be one (the clutch fork works over many model years and the spring receptical is a 'left over' from more ancient setups) and putting one in will cause the slave cylinder to over~compress making for a pretty useless and soft pedal that will for the most part need pumping 1~2x before it'll do anything regardless of how well the system is bled.

 

[evilmnky45]

Well its been over a year since I replaced the slave, So for some reason I think if it was the master cylinder it would have gone out long before this. and the clutch just goes straight down, no sort of pushing back at all.

 

[alfaparticle]

When you press down the pedal does it stay down until you hook it back up with your toe? If so it is probably the pivot arm as Darren suggests. But there appears to be some poor quality, aftermarket master cylinders in circulation that fail much sooner than they should. I would be surprised if it was the slave cylinder, but its easy to check. Look at the rubber boot. If it is blown up like the Michelin man or it is covered in fluid then it has failed.
If it is the pivot arm get a new improved one from John Ortakles (spelling ?). If it is the Master cylinder, make sure that you get a good brand such as Ate or Benditalia.

 

[evilmnky45]

To my knowledge, the master cylinder is stock. As with everything in the car besides the alternator, and slave clutch. The pedal does come back up but like I said, its as if I were pushing the has pedal down, no resistance. I'll check the slave again just to be sure. Is the linkage out of tbe question?

 

[Andrew]

Get someone to push the pedal while you watch the arm at the clutch master cylinder in the upper left rear corner of the engine compartment. If the bellcrank moves the clutch master pushrod in and out, the pedal shaft is likely OK. If the pedal moves but the master's pushrod does not, the weld on the pedal shaft has probably broken.
Andrew

 

[Giorgio68]

It is likely the clutch master.

Same thing happened to my Giulia 2.0L conversion after I rebuilt the transmission, replaced the slave cylinder and after many bleeding it was still soft pedal, then I replaced the clutch master and bingo everything came back to normal.

Before the transmission rebuilt the clutch pedal was fine, I guess it was a coincidence.

 

[papajam]

Really dumb question but is there any fluid in the reservoir?

 

[john.harrill]

Have you replaced the hose? Could be soft.

 

[jcslocum]

Here is my post about the clutch pivot:

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/spider-1966-up/181063-broken-clutch-pivot.html

 

[Giovanni2000]

I just started having issues myself, although a little different. My car will only do it when I'm driving it for the 1st time that day. I don't feel any resistance until the pedal is almost all of the way in. I came up to a stop in 3rd the other day and at a full stop I couldn't shift into 2nd let alone 1st (grinding). I exercised the pedal a few times and the trouble went away (for the day anyway). There has been no recent work done to the clutch...

 

[65Sprint]

Ed brings up a good point about low quality, after-market clutch master cylinders. Most all of the domestic vendors sell them (aftermarket) and very few advertise ATE or Benditalia. I bought one a year ago and it failed this weekend. These may not all be junk but it seems to be one part where you will likely get what you pay for. Check everything else first but if you need to replace the MC, buy a quality part as suggested above.