Clutch or shifting problem/Not really sure

My miata was working just fine. Went and had the oil changed and put it
in the garage for a few days. Yesterday morning got in started it up,
pushed in the clutch to put it in gear and nothing. It wouldn't go into
any gear I tried. Was as if the clutch wasn't pushed in but without the
grinding. I pushed the clutch all the way to the floor and nothing. It
won't go into any gear at all. Now I am stuck and have no idea what
could be wrong because it was working just fine a few days ago. It is
really strange. It is a 1994 MX5 with around 90,000 miles on it. It
isn't even driven that often. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

On 7 Jul 2006 13:06:53 -0700, wrote:

>My miata was working just fine. Went and had the oil changed and put it
>in the garage for a few days. Yesterday morning got in started it up,
>pushed in the clutch to put it in gear and nothing. It wouldn't go into
>any gear I tried. Was as if the clutch wasn't pushed in but without the
>grinding. I pushed the clutch all the way to the floor and nothing. It
>won't go into any gear at all. Now I am stuck and have no idea what
>could be wrong because it was working just fine a few days ago. It is
>really strange. It is a 1994 MX5 with around 90,000 miles on it. It
>isn't even driven that often. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>Thanks

In theory this could be either the clutch master or slave cylinders.
In practice with Miatas it is almost always the slave cylinder. Check
your fluid level. It is probably low, although sometimes the slave
will allow air in without visible leakage.

Get a new slave cylinder and swap it out. It's held on by one 14mm
bolt. You will also need a 10mm flare nut wrench for the pipe. A
regular wrench will almost surely round off the nut. Fill the new
cylinder with brake fluid before you bolt it up. Bleed the system and
you should be good to go.

"Natman" > wrote in message
news
> On 7 Jul 2006 13:06:53 -0700, wrote:
>
>>My miata was working just fine. Went and had the oil changed and put it
>>in the garage for a few days. Yesterday morning got in started it up,
>>pushed in the clutch to put it in gear and nothing. It wouldn't go into
>>any gear I tried. Was as if the clutch wasn't pushed in but without the
>>grinding. I pushed the clutch all the way to the floor and nothing. It
>>won't go into any gear at all. Now I am stuck and have no idea what
>>could be wrong because it was working just fine a few days ago. It is
>>really strange. It is a 1994 MX5 with around 90,000 miles on it. It
>>isn't even driven that often. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>>Thanks
>
> In theory this could be either the clutch master or slave cylinders.
> In practice with Miatas it is almost always the slave cylinder. Check
> your fluid level. It is probably low, although sometimes the slave
> will allow air in without visible leakage.
>
> Get a new slave cylinder and swap it out. It's held on by one 14mm
> bolt. You will also need a 10mm flare nut wrench for the pipe. A
> regular wrench will almost surely round off the nut. Fill the new
> cylinder with brake fluid before you bolt it up. Bleed the system and
> you should be good to go.

this may also be a helpful resource...
clutch slave cylinder
http://miata.net/garage/slavecyl.html
clutch master cylinder
http://miata.net/garage/mastercyl.html

"Christopher Muto" > wrote in message
newsmErg.1140$ZD.62@trndny02...
> "Natman" > wrote in message
> news
>> On 7 Jul 2006 13:06:53 -0700, wrote:
>>
>>>My miata was working just fine. Went and had the oil changed and put it
>>>in the garage for a few days. Yesterday morning got in started it up,
>>>pushed in the clutch to put it in gear and nothing. It wouldn't go into
>>>any gear I tried. Was as if the clutch wasn't pushed in but without the
>>>grinding. I pushed the clutch all the way to the floor and nothing. It
>>>won't go into any gear at all. Now I am stuck and have no idea what
>>>could be wrong because it was working just fine a few days ago. It is
>>>really strange. It is a 1994 MX5 with around 90,000 miles on it. It
>>>isn't even driven that often. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>>>Thanks
>>
>> In theory this could be either the clutch master or slave cylinders.
>> In practice with Miatas it is almost always the slave cylinder. Check
>> your fluid level. It is probably low, although sometimes the slave
>> will allow air in without visible leakage.
>>
>> Get a new slave cylinder and swap it out. It's held on by one 14mm
>> bolt. You will also need a 10mm flare nut wrench for the pipe. A
>> regular wrench will almost surely round off the nut. Fill the new
>> cylinder with brake fluid before you bolt it up. Bleed the system and
>> you should be good to go.
>
> this may also be a helpful resource...
> clutch slave cylinder
> http://miata.net/garage/slavecyl.html
> clutch master cylinder
> http://miata.net/garage/mastercyl.html
>
and here...
http://www.finishlineperformance.com...n&key=MIAD1028

Thank you so much for all your help. I am going to try it and see how
it works. Thanks again. I really appreciate it.
Natman wrote:
> On 7 Jul 2006 13:06:53 -0700, wrote:
>
> >My miata was working just fine. Went and had the oil changed and put it
> >in the garage for a few days. Yesterday morning got in started it up,
> >pushed in the clutch to put it in gear and nothing. It wouldn't go into
> >any gear I tried. Was as if the clutch wasn't pushed in but without the
> >grinding. I pushed the clutch all the way to the floor and nothing. It
> >won't go into any gear at all. Now I am stuck and have no idea what
> >could be wrong because it was working just fine a few days ago. It is
> >really strange. It is a 1994 MX5 with around 90,000 miles on it. It
> >isn't even driven that often. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> >Thanks
>
> In theory this could be either the clutch master or slave cylinders.
> In practice with Miatas it is almost always the slave cylinder. Check
> your fluid level. It is probably low, although sometimes the slave
> will allow air in without visible leakage.
>
> Get a new slave cylinder and swap it out. It's held on by one 14mm
> bolt. You will also need a 10mm flare nut wrench for the pipe. A
> regular wrench will almost surely round off the nut. Fill the new
> cylinder with brake fluid before you bolt it up. Bleed the system and
> you should be good to go.

Natman wrote:

> In theory this could be either the clutch master or slave cylinders.
> In practice with Miatas it is almost always the slave cylinder. Check
> your fluid level. It is probably low, although sometimes the slave
> will allow air in without visible leakage.
>
> Get a new slave cylinder and swap it out. It's held on by one 14mm
> bolt.

I think that you are missing a bolt down there. :-)
The slave cylinder should have two bolts holding it in place, and these
are 12mm, iirc, not 14mm.

> You will also need a 10mm flare nut wrench for the pipe. A
> regular wrench will almost surely round off the nut.

All it really takes is thinking about using a regular wrench for long
enough to round off the bolt heads on the hydraulic lines. ;-)

> Fill the new cylinder with brake fluid before you bolt it up. Bleed the system and
> you should be good to go.

Ok, you got me here. Why would you need to fill the new slave cylinder
with fluid before bolting it back on?

Pat

On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 23:22:08 GMT, pws > wrote:

>Natman wrote:
>
>> In theory this could be either the clutch master or slave cylinders.
>> In practice with Miatas it is almost always the slave cylinder. Check
>> your fluid level. It is probably low, although sometimes the slave
>> will allow air in without visible leakage.
>>
>> Get a new slave cylinder and swap it out. It's held on by one 14mm
>> bolt.
>
>I think that you are missing a bolt down there. :-)
>The slave cylinder should have two bolts holding it in place, and these
>are 12mm, iirc, not 14mm.
>
You're right. They say the memory is the first thing to go. I can't
remember the second thing... ;>)

>> You will also need a 10mm flare nut wrench for the pipe. A
>> regular wrench will almost surely round off the nut.
>
>All it really takes is thinking about using a regular wrench for long
>enough to round off the bolt heads on the hydraulic lines. ;-)
>
>> Fill the new cylinder with brake fluid before you bolt it up. Bleed the system and
>> you should be good to go.
>
>Ok, you got me here. Why would you need to fill the new slave cylinder
>with fluid before bolting it back on?


It makes bleeding easier if the slave cylinder isn't one big air
bubble.

Natman wrote:

> You're right. They say the memory is the first thing to go. I can't
> remember the second thing... ;>)

What were we talking about? ;-)

> It makes bleeding easier if the slave cylinder isn't one big air
> bubble.

Gotcha, I will do that next time. I haven't replaced anybody's miata
slave cylinder in at least a week, so one should be coming up soon....

Pat

In article >,
pws > wrote:

> > Fill the new cylinder with brake fluid before you bolt it up. Bleed the
> > system and
> > you should be good to go.
>
> Ok, you got me here. Why would you need to fill the new slave cylinder
> with fluid before bolting it back on?

Eases/shortens the process of bleeding the system. (Experience talking)

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info

Don Bruder wrote:

> Eases/shortens the process of bleeding the system. (Experience talking)

Ok, I told Natman that I would try it next time, but.......I have done
either 5 or 6 M1 miata slave cylinder replacements in the last 6 years,
along with 2 clutch master cylinder replacements, so I am fairly
familiar with the system as well.

How much air are we talking about displacing? I know that it is not
much, there is a small reservoir, small slave cylinder, and a very short
hydraulic line.
My last slave cylinder replacement had a speedbleeder so it was a quick
process to hook up a tube and drop the end in a glass of brake fluid.
I think that I refilled the small master cylinder twice before there
were no more air bubbles, it used very little of the large can of brake
fluid that I had.
The entire bleed process took about 5 minutes on a completely empty
system once the tools were gathered, how much time are we saving here?
It has also been a very quick process when I have used a conventional
bleed valve and a pedal-pushing helper.
Even gravity bleeding takes very little time on the slave cylinder.

With a speed-bleeder, the only extra work is a few extra pumps on the
clutch pedal, which seems like it would be easier than bolting a part on
in an inconvenient location while trying to keep it full of fluid.
Even without a speedbleeder, we are talking about 3 or 4 extra turns on
the bleed valve, not a lengthy or difficult process.

Pat