1986 2.8 4sp feels like clutch slipping after replacing Master/Slave (Page 1/1) RustyTech JUN 04, 08:52 PM Hey all, Looking for some advice on my clutch settings/setup History: I have owned my 1986 Fiero SE (2.8 4sp) for 37 years. It has 115K miles (recorded). I have never replaced the engine or clutch and so far never needed to. I have replaced the Clutch Master and Clutch Slave a few time; basically just because the old ones rusted out. When i first bought the car the clutch engaged off the bottom of the floor so bad back them, that i cut out carpeting on the floor to help shift when what i really needed to do was replace the transmission arm; it was bent. Once the arm was replaced everything was good and the clutch pedal engaged about 1/2 way up. Now, After replacing the Clutch Master & Slave again it engaged right near the top. It was so close to the top i barely had to push the pedal at all to get it into gear. I’ve never had any grinding going into gears and the only shakes i had was when i was starting off in the wrong gear by mistake.(chattering/shaking) Problem: Some times i would drive around without a shifting problem but after a while (about 30 min) it felt like it was slipping whenever i pushed the gas to the floor. I could hear the engine rev and the power was lacking. I tried the start off in 3rd gear and was easily in 3rd gear doing about 20mph and accelerating very slowly. I was even able to slow down to a crawl while it was in gear, I don’t recommend this but i forgot i was in 3rd when coming to a stop; That did not seem right. Upon inspection i could see that the Clutch Slave piston was moving about 1.5” every time i pushed the clutch pedal to the floor i figured that wasn’t the problem. I tried flushing all fluids and purging air multiple times, even did the archie V8 method but nothing worked. Solution: I measured the distance of the transmission clutch release arm to the end of the clutch slave bracket and it was about 3”. After removing the Clutch Slave Piston the distance shortened to about 2.5”. Easy solution was to cut a NEW pin down from 5.5” to about 5”…..NOPE that just made things worse. So bad in fact that i couldn’t get back into my garage and had to do a pin swap back in the driveway. (such a loss in power) I figured if i couldn’t shorted the pin, i’d try moving the clutch slave back about 4mm. I reversed the clutch slave mounting bolts so the nut part provided a gap that was about 4mm away from the engine and this did the trick. You might be able to get away with 2-3 washers but i found that the bolt reversal worked well. With the Clutch Slave moved away from the engine another 4mm i was still shifting from top of the pedal (a negligible difference) but more importantly i was not detecting any slippage. I drove for 2 hours, hard accelerations and lots of stop and go traffic. I was feeling more power when accelerating, power that i haven’t had in years. (summer’s only) Question: I’m guessing it’s important for the clutch transmission arm to return to it natural position but why would the Clutch slave not have a means for this to happen automatically. Could the Clutch master not have enough pressure to push the piston all the way back enough? I’m temped to take things apart again and add another washer but i’d though i’d ask and see if anyone else came across this problem? What should the proper distance from the clutch slave to the transmission arm be? Should the clutch slave pin be loose with about 1mm clearance or should it be snug or what? I’d really like some feedback, i dread every having to pay or replaced the clutch myself. In Canada (ontario) you don’t see too many of these around and most garaged don’t want to touch them either. If anyone wants to know, it was a LUK clutch Slave from Rockauto. (yes i know all about Rock Auto) and i’ll never buy from them again. Thanks. Patrick JUN 04, 09:07 PM Welcome! If you suspected the slave rod was too long (for whatever reason) and wasn't fully releasing pressure on the clutch diaphragm, all you had to do was to see if the rod could be further pulled into the slave. The easiest way to do that would be to clamp some vice-grips onto the rod (while its still in place against the lever), and pull towards the slave. It should move a half inch or so with relatively little resistance. If it isn't able to move inwards at all (in other words, if it's already bottomed out in the slave), I'd then suspect that someone at some time has installed a longer than factory slave rod. quote Originally posted by Fieroseverywhere Here: Getrag slave rod length - 3.5 inches (3 1/2") Isuzu & muncie - 5.625 inches (5 5/8") Patrick JUN 04, 09:24 PM quote Originally posted by RustyTech: If anyone wants to know, it was a LUK clutch Slave from Rockauto. (yes i know all about Rock Auto) and i’ll never buy from them again. I've had my issues in the past with RockAuto, but they rectified the issue, and I'm now more than satisfied with their service. What problem(s) have you had with RockAuto? jelly2m8 JUN 04, 11:11 PM quote Originally posted by RustyTech: from Rockauto..... and i’ll never buy from them again. Thanks. Now there's a statement I've never heard from anybody! Vintage-Nut JUN 05, 09:33 AM Not to hijack the thread, but to me, RockAuto is my best source from the section to the shipping costs. I really like their shipping system so I can see my shipping options and costs before paying. However, I live in California, so of course I don't have any experience about shipping to Canada.... VN RustyTech JUN 05, 06:35 PM Hey Patrick, I'm pretty sure the rod is stock, its 5.5 inches in length for sure. Here is a picture of before and after installing the washer. About 3.5" before i added the extra washers to the clutch slave and 3" after. I really don't know what the distance is supposed to be but i figured it was somewhere around the distance with the clutch slave pin removed which was just over 3" (I allowed the trans arm to return all the way to its resting place. I would appreciate if someone else could let me know what their distance is. Does anyone know of any way to know if the arm is extended too much while at rest....I mean other then slipping while driving un load?. Rusty