Stevo F Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 When I got in my 2005 Outback sport this morning, I noticed the clutch pedal wasn't coming all the way up, so I had to pull it up all the way with my foot, then it was working OK. Go back to 2 years ago- I noticed it was grinding gears occasionally and the pedal was getting sluggish to come up all the way. I replaced the slave cylinder and all was good until now. I'm thinking some air has gotten into the system from somewhere... I'm thinking of replacing the slave again or maybe the slave as well as the master (original I believe). There are no signs of any leakage and the fluid level has not dropped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montana tom Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Stevo; Replace the rubber line to the slave cylinder. Subaru had some issues with the line and the slave cylinder, in the 00-04 model. Your 05 could have gotten left over parts. You already replaced the cylinder , the rubber line should take care of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golucky66 Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 My dads 99 Outback had the same problem but it would get stuck on the floor. Turned out that it had a leaking master cylinder. So all the pressure on the slave side would leak around the bladder and not have enough pressure to push the pedal back up. We got it to act up by very slowly and gently, pushing the clutch pedal down (while the car was running) and it actually got sucked down a bit of the way, and if I kept pushing it very slowly, the slave wouldn't even move. On the bright side, there's only like 3 main components of the hydraulic clutch system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo F Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 Thank you. I inspected the rubber line and it looks OK, but it's also covering with a plastic sheathing that might be hiding a pin hole. It seems to be that an air bubble got into the system somewhere and may have caused the laggy pedal (it now feels OK). I'm think of just doing the whole system (master, slave and hydraulic hose). I can get Beck- Arnley components from Rock Auto for about $106 shipped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forester2002s Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 You could start by flushing & bleeding the clutch hydraulics. That might fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketman Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 My 98 was cured with a flushing,the fluid was black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo F Posted September 5, 2016 Author Share Posted September 5, 2016 I went ahead and tried to flush the system yesterday, as I noticed I was losing even more pressure in the system after driving it yesterday morning (the pedal was now seldom returning all the way up after being released). Now the problem is even worse- barely enough pressure in the system to engage the clutch at all, even after pulling about 1 pint of fluid through the hydraulic clutch system. So I am going to go ahead and replace the master cylinder, rubber hydraulic line, and a new slave while I'm at it. Does anyone have any particular aftermarket brands they like, or avoid at all costs? I've generally gone with Beck Arnley when I order form Rock Auto. Also, regarding the rubber line replacement- how does the line disconnect at the rear coupling where it connects to the steel line? The fitting on mine is pretty corroded there and it's not obvious how to remove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo F Posted September 10, 2016 Author Share Posted September 10, 2016 I ordered a new master cylinder, slave cylinder, and hydraulic hoses and installed them today. I bled the system pretty thoroughly and when I went to try the pedal- same thing as after I bled the system last weekend- pedal will only come halfway up on it's own and the slave cylinder movers the clutch in a little but not enough to fully engage it to shift the transmission. It still feels like there i sair in system. I suspect my vacuum brake bleeder may be at fault- maybe it is sucking air into the system from somewhere, so I may buy a different one and try it. BTW, the clutch pedal is already adjusted to come up as far as I can adjust it for maximum travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 The slave cylinders on these are difficult to bleed air out of when they're mounted on the transmission. The best way I've found is to unbolt the slave cylinder and twist it kinda sideways and point the front of it down so that air flows up to the bleeder screw. Open the screw and let fluid flow out until you don't see any air. Then push in on the pushrod to shove it into the cylinder, hold it there while you close the bleed screw, then release. Do that two or three times until you don't see any air coming out. Be sure to keep the reservoir full. This uses the slave cylinder to pull larger quantity of fluid through the line and suck out any air with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now