While everything was absolutely fine and normal with my car for about a year now, ( actually this is how every MX-5 owner starts a topic) yesterday something strange happend to my clutch pedal. After an hour driving, when I parked my car, while the engine was on, I accidentally left the clutch with the Second gear in and the car obviously turned off . I turned on again and while I was reversing to put the car into the space, the clutch pedal stuck to the floor and I couldn’t disengage the reverse gear so the car turned off again.Â
Since then, when I have to use the clutch very often, being in the traffic for instance or riversing, the clutch pedal becomes softer, and finally it sticks to the floor. It is fine if you use this normally, i.e, without changing gears frequently and leaving a few seconds between the change.
The car has only 47000miles where 7000 of these have been made by me, and before me, according to the MOT history it haven’t been used like I am using it, only few hundred miles every year. Also, I have checked the clutch fluid and is exactly as it should be, without having any leaks or moisture next to it.
Could you please give me your thoughts why is this happening? What should I look for?
 Also, depending on the possible issue, do you think that I need to go to an MX-5 specialist garage, or any garage with good reputation can handle it?
Try pumping the pedal 3or4 times does the get better to change gear on the 5 press, if so looks like slave cylinder, which is underneath, drivers side, on the side of bell housing, piston seal passing fluid, the system will not leak from the cyl its just passing the piston seal not the cyl seal, so fluid level will be ok. New slave cylinder very cheap say £20 aftermarket one will do, any garage will be fine with this, happens on all cars,done this on my Eunos V Spec, lets know how it goes, Rob.
My slave cylinders, OE or aftermarket, since 1997, have all lasted 45-50,000 miles, except for one, that fell off because a bolt wasn’t tight.
So simple to fit, it can be done at the side of the road by rescue recovery. I would top up the clutch fluid reservoir with brake fluid, and get the car bookd in ASAP into a local garage. They’ll probably charge an hours labor plus slave cylinder (£20-50) and £10 in consumables. Otherwise, you will risk the car being immobilised in an inconvenient location.
Just a quick update.
During my brake I went to the garage next to my place, explained what we said earlier, and he agreed on slave cylinder fault. He checked the movement and the fluid in the engine bay while I was pressing the clutch but he didn’t find anything suspicious. He advised me to replace the clutch fluid. Tomorrow we will start with it, to see if will make things better, otherwise probably to replace the slave cylinder?
It’s not usual to find “faulty” hydraulic fluid…
I agree with the rest here and say it almost certainly needs a new slave cylinder. There’s an internal seal in there; if it fails (and they often do) the piston will move as advertised but the fluid leaks just past the seal so the pedal goes to the floor without the clutch disengaging.
Another point of leakage is the flexible hose that passes over the gearbox. Whether unlucky, I’ve had two in two cars fail on me (split); one was high miles and the other was just old. Aftermarket replacements are hopeless.
A weeping slave cylinder will look wet, though at this time of year, that can be hard to tell. If the rubber bellows are pulled back, the piston rod will be wet. or sometimes a failing seal will result in air being drawn in.
When changing clutch fluid, which is just brake fluid, it will turn black very quickly, thanks to that flexible hose. The clutch fluid never goes through the heating cycles like brake fluid does, so doesn’t really go off. The mechanic could try rebleeding the system, but is it worth it. By changing the gfluid (and the system takes a tiny amount of fluid), bleeding it, he might end up charging you double to fix this.
Another possibility, if you;re really not loosing fluid, is a failed master cylinder, which is a bit more money. But the mileage seems a bit low for that. I changed mine at 270k kms, and even then, that was only a precautionary change.
So as you correctly mentioned, the slave cylinder needs to be changed. I just had a call from the garage, with a quote of 160ÂŁ. 65ÂŁ for the slave cylinder, 1.5 of labour plus the brake fluid. I asked them if I can supply them a cheaper slave cylinder, and they said as long as is a compatible part they are fine with it.
I would like to ask you which of the slave cylinder you recommend. A genuine or aftermarket? I found both from MX5 parts and the price difference is about 55ÂŁ. Will the genuine be better or it will not make any difference?
I also found a few more options in Autodoc, some cheap and some more expensive but made from Valeo Brembo or Bosch for example. The Brembo and the Valeo cost about 30ÂŁ and the Bosch 10ÂŁ more.
Well after reading the reviews for the aftermarket part I am not so confident to use it. In addition, my car is imported from Japan, should I look for a specific part or it doesn’t matter?
I am waiting for your responses like waiting for the sun to come out
Makes no difference, the aftermarket parts are fine.
If you go for the garage supplied part, then if anything goes wrong with it, its down to them and their suppliers. If you supply the part, and there is an issue, they are under no obligation to refit for free. Their quote is reasonable.
I decided to go for the most expensive part and as they said it’s an OEM part. At least I will know that I have put the “best” part on the car. Next time if something will happen I will try the aftermarket parts.
By the way, in my area I am seeing a Grey ND RF model and it’s number plate starts with SAZ. Any luck to be your vehicle?
Well the slave cylinder has been replaced by an old rusty one and not in a good condition.
However the mechanic told me that is still soft which means that the master cylinder will have to be replaced.
I haven’t driven it though, and he said these are the parts that cause this issue. He will not charge me for the extra labour work, only the for the master cylinder which cost 60£ or so.
He will also make the connection of the MK1 hardtop to MK2 car for rear heated window. So I suppose I am on a benefit ??
Let’s see how it will be then, hopefully this will be it!!