Now that I’ve tried every known way discussed on the Fiero forum to bleed my clutch and some other inventive techniques with no success I guess I will start replacing parts. Just not sure which to replace first the master or slave cylinder. I have not been able to get more than about 5/8” of travel on the clutch release arm and if remember correctly it should have around an inch of travel. The crazy thing is it was working perfectly fine until I removed the slave cylinder during engine work this winter and got some air in the system.
I have bled my hydraulic clutch on my 88 maybe 5 times successfully over the past 5 years either after removing or disconnecting the master or slave cylinders. Doing so I thought I had figured out how to bleed the hydraulic clutch system, but I guess I was wrong. I now have spent 7 or 8 hours of trying over the past week and half running about a quart of brake fluid through the system. I guess being experienced doing it before doesn’t mean success.
I told my wife I should sell this stupid car but when she quickly agreed that would be a good idea I realized I had said the wrong thing.
Go with the slave first, it is the most common one to fail. Buy it from Rodney Dickman. Do not buy it from ANYONE BUT Rodney Dickman. Autozone ones are junk. Adavnced ones are junk. Napa ones are junk. O'Reilly ones are junk. EVERY SLAVE CYLINDER FOR SALE IS JUNK UNLESS IT COMES FROM RODNEY DICKMAN. If you've done the research you say you have, you have probably seen guys go through two or three parts store slaves without fixing their problem-- that's because parts store slaves are junk, and you should buy your slave from Rodney Dickman. Any questions?
I changed my line and put a cast iron slave on and it works alot better. The Rodney slave was scored to much to hold pressure. I did use Rodney dickmans one way valve to bleed the system and it worked great. My line was bad and I was to lazy to change it and it cost me a slave. I did burp a little air out the day after by jacking the left side and got like 2 bubbles out. I must tell you that my master cylinder came with a round circle of cardboard in it and I never removed it . for me that is the reason my clutch would not work plus my line was bad. It was standing straight up and laid flat and fluid would not go through. That is my clutch story,maybe it will help you with your car.
The crazy thing is it was working perfectly fine until I removed the slave cylinder during engine work this winter and got some air in the system.
Possibly you also got some grit in the hydraulics when you disconnected the slave. It doesn't take much to score the walls of the cylinder and/or damage the soft seal material.
quote
Originally posted by robert1234:
But what makes Rodney's the best, just wanna know.
Dual seals on the clutch slave piston.
The original slave came with a single seal. It eventually allows air to be sucked into the system. Except for the slave supplied by Rodney, I believe all replacement Fiero slaves just have the single seal.
* Original pre-tweaked image supplied by Nosferatu187 in This thread.
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 03-15-2016).]
What many people do wrong here is buying the cheapest (in price) parts available for their fiero. That's a no-no from the beginning.
Like some, yes, could of spend 12$ more to get a top quality Rodney Dickman new slave cylinder. Do it once, and do it right.
I remember someone 4-5 years ago was looking to buy used ball joints for their fiero. I shaked my head believing some would do this. For 12 dollars more, that as simple as a McDonald's meal combo...that's it. Not really expensive, right?
I don't fool around, because once you fix a problem with a cheap part, mostly likely it will fail and you'll have to spend 70$ to have your car towed home. Just spend 65$ and have peace of mind.
You guy's that love Rodney's slave cylinder will be proud of me. I just canceled my order on the cast iron Wagner and ordered the one from Rodney. I had ordered the other one through Amazon this past Sunday and for some reason they had not shipped it yet which is unusual. I guess fate was on my side for once.
[This message has been edited by Imnuts (edited 03-16-2016).]
Talk about fast shipping, I ordered the slave cylinder from Rodney at 9:15 and I received 3 emails a confirm order, a processing and a shipped all by 10:16. I may receive it tomorrow or Friday, when the other had not even shipped after 3 days. He must of been waiting by is computer like a panther ready to pounce.
------------------ ∇PONTIAC∇ “The difference between a Fiero owner and genius is that genius has its limits.”
I JUST DID THE SAME THING TO MY 88. I initally lost all clutch response. I first replaced the slave cylinder. and YES, go with the Rodney Dickman unit. Its excellent ! I then replaced the clutch master cycinder. This I bought from autozone. After installing both, and gravity bleeding the system, it works GREAT ! I have excellent clutch travel, and she shifts like a dream. Considering the age of the car, go for it. Its worth it, and you'll have a brand new system.
I just canceled my order on the cast iron Wagner and ordered the one from Rodney. I had ordered the other one through Amazon this past Sunday and for some reason they had not shipped it yet which is unusual. I guess fate 
was on my side for once.
