I am going to pick up an 88GT tomorrow in portland for 1k. Owner says it wont shift gears and that the clutch fluid resivore is empty. He said he had filled it in the past and then it would shift but the car has been sitting in his garage for the past 3 years. What is the best type of fluid to use for this and does anyone know if and where there might be a 'typical' place I can look for leaks. The car needs to make a 250 mile trip to it's new home so I'm hopeing it will make it. This will be my very first fiero w00t!!

Thanks,
-Steve

Either cylinder can be bad/leaking, but general rule of thumb is to check the slave first, since it is exposed to exhaust heat.

DOT3 brake fluid is recommended. Take a big jug of it, you're gonna need it likely. If its moslty highway travel with little shifting you can probably get away with less than a perfect fix until you get it home to fix properly.

I'd also recommend checking The Fiero Factory site for their gravity bleeding procedure and slave bleeding procedure. I have had no success on my '88 trying to bleed the system by depressing the pedal as you would on brakes. IMHO opinion a vacuum pump is best but not everyone has access to one.

I used Valvoline synthetic brake fluid in my 84. I would check closely for leaks before I drove the car that far. Good idea to carry extra, and use the regular brake fluid until you see whats up. If it hold the fliud it would be easy to change the fluid out and change to the good stuff later.

Good luck.

[This message has been edited by johnt671 (edited 12-06-2003).]

It's regular DOT3 brake fluid. Bleeding is a pain in the butt. I use a MityVac hand-held vacuum pump, but I had to wrap teflon tape arond the threads of the bleeder screw to keep it from sucking air in past the threads. If you apply too much vacuum it will also suck air in past the slave seal.

The clutch hydraulic system is a closed system, there's not really any place for the fluid to go to. My first suggestion would be to pull the carpet and padding back under the clutch pedal and see if the fluid leaked out there from the back of the master cylinder. On the slave cylinder you can pull the boot off of the body of the cylinder and check for fluid there.

JazzMan

Thanks for the reply guys + for you all

-Steve

P.S.
I will either be pickin the car up this evening or on monday so wish me luck