My 1988 RX7 was sitting do to a bad apex seal and the clutch was just stuck one day when you went to move it How do you unstick a hydrolic clutch?

Answer 1

A hydrolic clutch has a master cylinder on the driver side mounted on the fire wall that is compressed and released by the cluch petal. The hydrolic fluid moves from the master cylinder through a 18 inch long rubber hose to a slave cylinder that is mounted on the engine near the transmission. There the hydrolic fluid presses a shaft out from the slave cylinder that moves a lever that engages and disengages the clutch itself. The cluch is sprung, and presses back against the slave cylinder shaft. An older model RX7 often fails to hold the hydrolic fluid in the master or slave cylinder because the seals fail due to old age and pitting of the walls of the cylinder. Replacing both cylinders and the hose is a normal maintenance replacement, and costs around US$100. If you can bleed brakes you can replace hydrolic clutch cylinders. The bolts for the master cylinder are hard to reach, and are WAY back under the dash. But patience, long fingers, and a good tool set usually can get them off. I have had to cut the old master cylinder off once when the bolts had rusted. It is _not_ recommended to rebuild either cylinder, and if one is old, usually the other is too. There is no point getting stuck somewhere with a faulty cylinder just to save a small amount of money. It is very unlikely that the clutch itself is somehow "frozen". If it is, you will need to pull the engine and remedy the problem, but again, it is very unlikely. If you have a bad apex seal, there is not much point in fixing the clutch. Rebuild or replace the engine first, then deal with the clutch.