Clutch Master Cylinder is Dry

[JeffWalden]

Currently my CJ7 is stuck in reverse. Even with the engine off, I cannot seem to shift gears. When I attempt to start it with the clutch pedal depressed all the way, it lurches in reverse. I started hunting and found that the clutch master cylinder is bone dry. Three questions:

1. What's the easiest way to bleed the master cylinder? I've never done this before but imagine that it needs to be bled out.

2. The fluid didn't just evaporate. I haven't had this CJ7 for very long, but I haven't noticed any drippings in the last few months. Any suggestions as to where I should look for common leaking points? This fluid went somewhere.

3. Is it reasonable to believe that since I'm having issues disengaging the clutch that it could have to do with the fact that it's locked up in reverse? One problem at a time, I'm just really hoping that it's not a tranny issue and I can blame it on master cylinder.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Old Dog]

Master cyl. is shot, you need a new one.

 

[JeffWalden]

Master cyl. is shot, you need a new one.

Should I be concerned about the slave cylinder? How do I know the master is the bad part?

 

[Kilo19]

I had the same issue, fluid was dropping, no sign of where it went. At the same time the clutch pedal wouldn't hold/ stay down.... When depressed it would act like I was lifting the pedal without actually doing it. I replaced the slave clutch first then a week later did the master clutch and problem went away, fluid stayed where it belonged and drive like a dream. Well like before it gave me problems.

Year end of the lesson


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[Purple77CJ7]

I added a hydraulic clutch in my Jeep. After a few years I found fluid was leaking out the push rod down the floor board under the floor mat. Didn't notice it at first. The fluid will evaporate too. Noticed the paint was all blistered from the leak. I bought a rebuild kit and fixed mine. You can also get rebuild kits for the slave cylinder.

 

[Old Dog]

I added a hydraulic clutch in my Jeep. After a few years I found fluid was leaking out the push rod down the floor board under the floor mat. Didn't notice it at first. The fluid will evaporate too. Noticed the paint was all blistered from the leak. I bought a rebuild kit and fixed mine. You can also get rebuild kits for the slave cylinder.

^^right^^ you need to find out which one is leaking

 

[jasonmark1993]

typically you want to pull the rubber boot back from both the master and slave to check for leaks

 

[CJim7]

The hydro clutch in CJ's is a very simple system. They either leak at the slave or the master. Typically, when I do a rebuild on the master or replace the slave, i R&R the opposite component. When a master cylinder goes bad, it typically sends contaminants down to the slave, and vice versa.
My most recent incident involved losing clutch pressure with no leaks....the plunger seat had gone bad allowing the master cylinder to blead off.

Ironically, a rebuild kit is getting harder to find....and I ended up finding a rebuilt unit for virtually the same cost as a rebuild kit.