car dies when put it gear?

[92a6]

ok so i just recently put a new motor in my car got everything hooked up i blead the clutch and its super spongey and its getting weaker and so when i have the clutch in and try putting it in 1st it wont go in when the car is running and when i get it in halfway it dies and it dont grind. so is my master cylinder bad or is it leaking out somewere i need to know so i can go get one. and i cant find a leak

[oyajicool]

If you need to know if it's leaking or not, all you need is look for leak. Replace faulty part.

If you don't see external leak and the clutch worked fine prior to engine R/R job, there may be air still within the system. Try bleed it again.

If clutch is still spongy, you may have faulty master cylinder.

[92a6]

If you need to know if it's leaking or not, all you need is look for leak. Replace faulty part.

If you don't see external leak and the clutch worked fine prior to engine R/R job, there may be air still within the system. Try bleed it again.

If clutch is still spongy, you may have faulty master cylinder.

Ok thank you I have a spare master cylinder laying around I can use.

[JDM AlEXiTO]

Chances are you still have air in the system. There are plenty of techniques you can find on here in order to bleed it correctly.

Honestly, if something indeed had to be replaced, I'd replace the slave cylinder first. Much easier to get to and may be the cause of your issue. If there isn't any pressure in the clutch in order to engage chances are it's your slave cylinder.

[oyajicool]

If the slave cylinder is at fault for not holding pressure, there must be an external leak which should be visible provided that there is no air within the system, IMHO.

[92a6]

I had a lil leak but its still dies when I put it in gear :/ I think when I took the radio out there was prolly a bare wire under there making it shut off idk if that's the case ill find out later tho.

[deevergote]

I've had lots of problems with my hydraulics since I changed my master and slave (which are best done with brand new parts, at the same time.) I suspect my clutch damper is the problem, and I'm bypassing it with a braided steel line from RyWire.

I also had my throwout bearing fail, and that would cause the car to stall when put into 1st. I had to drive it home 200 miles like that... every time I pressed the clutch without holding the gas, it stalled.

[reklipz]

Don't replace anything yet, that's unnecessary, especially if the hydraulics worked before.

Second, make sure you bleed the balls out of the system to remove any air. This is what I did recently: grab a clear vinyl hose, attach it to the (opened) bleeder valve on the slave, and run it back into the reservoir. This may be a little long; mine was about 2.5 feet, and I was on a different vehicle where I could route it straight up. If you can't feed it back into the reservoir, that's fine, you'll just have to catch it in a bottle and make sure the reservoir stays full while doing the procedure.

Then, start pumping the clutch pedal like mad; alternating between very rapid pumps and slow pumps, and also alternating between time in pumps. Pump the pedal down hard, wait a bit, and bring it back in slowly. Also, it's better if you have the hose go upward straight from the bleeder instead of straight downward, as this will allow any air that comes out to travel away from the bleeder while you hold the pedal down so that it doesn't come back into the system when you release the pedal. Anyway, the point is to just pump a ton of fluid through the system while making sure the reservoir stays full.

Next, once your satisfied (I did this for about a half hour, just to be certain), tighten up the bleeder and fill the reservoir; you're done with bleeding. You should be able to feel some pressure in the pedal, and depending upon the adjustment, you might have some pedal slop as well as a small distance before you are engaging the master cylinder with the push rod; like "two stages" of resistance. Don't worry if you don't understand; I'm terrible at explaining and it doesn't really matter yet.

Next, you need to do a master cylinder piston push-rod adjustment. The factory service manual will detail a procedure, or at least give recommended clearances and distances, but those are not really necessary to ensure proper operation of the clutch; you can achieve a similar result with trial by fire. Before you start messing with the push rod, you should try to align the pedal stop so that the pedal is close to aligned with the brake pedal (this assumes the brake pedal is properly aligned, though). It's probably better to have the pedal behind the brake than in front, because of the way the clutch master cylinder works. You should be sure to do a proper adjustment when you're all said and done, though.

Adjust the push rod all the way slack, and try operating the clutch. Instead of trying to put it into first gear, use reverse; there are no synchros there so you won't be causing damage, and you'll have an audible feedback rather than looking at the tachometer. Don't slam it into reverse, just slowly try and if you hear reverse gear grind, the clutch still is not disengaging. Another option is to put the front up on jack stands; there might be enough friction that while in neutral your wheels will spin, if they stop spinning when you push in the clutch pedal, then the clutch is operating fine.

Anyway, use a binary search on the distance of the push rod until you find a setting that works. That is, if all the slack did not work, go half way. If that doesn't work, then go another half distance (so, a quarter distance more), ... repeat.

By the end, assuming all parts are functional, you will have a working clutch again.