I took some advice, and bought a slave cylinder from Autozone. It is the exact same factory cylinder as what was on there already. I thought everything was going to be all right.

I don't know what is going on. I followed the directions religiously on adding fluid to the new slave cylinder. I then followed the bleeding instructions in the Helms manual, for installing a new slave cyl.

When it was all done, the pedal would not move. I got my wife in the car, and I opened the bleed screw as she slowly pushed the pedal. It went down OK, and fluid came out the bleed port. We did this several times. I got up and noticed the fluid reservoir had gone down a lot. Everything looks normal. With the bleed screw closed, the pedal would not go down. Like a hydraulic lock. We bled it again, pushing the pedal and opening the bleed screw, closing the bleed screw, and releasing the pedal. Now, the pedal woun't budge. I got in the car, and applied a little too much push I guees, cause bam it went to the floor, and the slave cylinder boot was puffed out and full of fluid. Blew that apart too. :-(

Is it possible the master cylinder is at fault? Causing the slave cylinders to get blown apart?

I am going to buy a complete assembly from GM, as they are supposed to be pre-bled, and ready to install. I was hoping to get out of this deal the easy way. Apparently not. $60 bucks and 4 hours wasted for nothing!


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Tom, it sounds to me like there is something wrong in the clutch assembly itself. If you were able to push the pedal down while opening the bleeder it sounds like that part is working just fine. Possibly a clutch fork binding?? Front brg. retainer problem? I hope it's not something in the clutch, but it sure sounds like it. I'd definitely take a close look before going through another slave cylinder.

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1984 Z28 350
Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you down to their level and beat you with experience
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Well, I don't think it is a clutch or t/o bearing. I could be wrong, however.

Anyway, when my wife was pushing on the pedal and it had resistance, I was under the car with my hand on the pushrod coming out of the slave cylinder. I could wiggle it, so there was not any resistance on the pushrod itself.

 

Trying to work from memory here since my car is in the body shop and I can't go out and look at it. I remember a friend of mine that replaced a clutch and when he put the slave back on he bolted it back up wrong (wrong side of the bracket?) causing excessive travel and blew out the slave. I'm just throwing around ideas. This would not explain why the first one went bad but could explain why you were able to move the push rod while she was pushing on the pedal.

 

cvpde37: thanks for trying to help me here

As for the proper position, I am sure I mounted it in the correct sequence with the heat guard.

What I meant when I said I could move the pushrod, was only after she released the pedal from the floor.

I was talking to one of the master mechanics at my work, and he told me that clutch master cylinders are supposed to have check valves that bypass excess fluid and presure. And if that were to fail, it would cause too much fluid to go to the slave cylinder, and blow it apart. That would explain why the first original slave, and the second replacement slave both blew apart.

I just got finished inspecting my clutch fork and t/o bearing and everything slides along the trans input shaft just fine. The only thing I can't do is push on the fork to release the clutch. I'm not that strong anymore!

 

What he said makes sense Tom. Sorry I wasn't actually helping out and I knew you'd get it figured out and let me know what the problem was. It's always nice to learn something new.