83

Is it possible at only around -9? I've been in colder temps than that before with my other trucks and cars and not had issues. I started my truck up in my garage yesterday, drove around town a bit then went to a friends. A couple hours later I went outside, started it up, let it warm up a bit, then tried to drive away...clutch pedal gets real stiff towards the floor. Won't go into a forward gear at all, reverse it just grinds. If I kind of get it into gear it tries to stall. With the engine running, and my foot off the clutch pedal, I can get it into gear...so my clutch is stuck engaged?

Clutch is only a couple thousand miles old. I'm figuring one of the cylinders? But has anyone had that happen in cold weather? There is no leak, release cylinder is brand new. Master may be the original but it doesn't leak. I guess I'll be waiting the cold weather out...may be able to try it again on Wed, but it's not supposed to get into positive temps until then. That's ok I guess...but is this going to happen every time it gets below zero? That's not alright in the part of the country I live in.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Likely that there is some water in that line that is freezing up. How long has it been since that fluide was las flushed out? In pure form, that fluid should be good to well below -40 (F/C).

refried

Always change the master and slave cylinder at the same time, if one goes the other is not far behind it.

83

Thanks 4Crawler. Ok, when I warms up I'll bleed it. The brake fluid really needs be flushed but the clutch fluid looks fine, however I didn't bleed it after swapping out the cylinder.

Refried- I only replaced the release cylinder becuase I was doing so much other work to the truck and it was a cheap part. It seemed to be fine before, I just figured I'd replace it, so hopefully the master is ok! Thanks. I'll try bleeding first, see where I need to go from there.

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

what part of MOntana are you in? My father in law lives up by Flathead Lake...says it is getting down there?

and was thinking the same thing as 4crawler...moisture in the line.

83

Great, I didn't figure it was too serious, but if the thing won't move, I guess that's serious enough..

I'm in Helena. The Flathead area's kind of the "banana belt" of Montana along with Missoula. Everybody on the West side of the divide stay a little warmer & wetter, but still get nasty weather. We're just on the east side of the continental divide, and we can be 40 one day and -30 the next. Friday was in the 20's, then it dropped & didn't get over 1 or 2 Saturday, now we're getting negative double digit lows and single digit negative highs. Supposed to get above zero wednesday, though!

Flathead lake's a beautiful place. I work for the department of natural resources and I'm actually working on the water rights for his area right now...

rdlsz24

Sounds like here in IL the last couple days. Yesterday was 45 or so and all our snow melted. Right now it's 3 degrees with a high of 10 today and everything is frozen solid again.

Rob

83

So here's a question- sorry it's even more of a newb question than most of my questions. Towing basics.

If I have a friend tow me home, and all I can do with the transmission is put it in neutral, what do I need to do? T-case in neutral or 2hi? It's only about a mile across town, going no more than 30mph.

Then we can push it in the garage & get it warm & flush the fluid.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Per the Owner's Manual, tranny in N, t-case in 2H, front hubs unlocked, e-brake off. Or better yet, for a longer tow, is disconnect the rear driveshaft at the rear axle and tie it up.

83

Great, thanks.

Yeah, that sounds like fun! My Mom is having similar weather in NY.

83

Well I got it home from my friends just now. The antifreeze froze!!? Apparently it's way too diluted. It shouldn't be any less than 50/50 unless the shop checking for leaks topped it off with just water.. It was oozing out from a hose. I sure hope that doesn't mess my engine up....I guess I'd notice if it was coming out the block or had popped out a freeze plug.

Anyways assuming freezing didn't kill it, I'll get a space heater going some time hopefully today and flush the clutch fluid.

83

Got a heater going in my garage yesterday & thawed everything out. Flushed the clutch fluid (brakes really need it too...), tightened up all my coolant hoses & started it up. No leaks so far, and no overheating, and the clutch works a bit better than before, so I think I'm good.

red1983

iTrader: (1)

I had a problem once with too much anti-freeze, if the mixture is greater than 75/25 it brings its freezing point way up...

83

I'll just buy one of those cheap measuring tools. I have one, but it bounced around in my tool bag for too long & I can't read the writing on it anymore.

83

So...the truck drove fine for 3 days, then it dipped down below zero again. Ran fine out of my garage, except the clutch only engages when the pedal is completely out. It drove fine downtown, was just weird that I had to have the pedal all the way up for it to engage but whatever it was cold. Parked for a half hour, and the same thing happened as last weekend. Can't get it into gear. Grinds if I try reverse, and just won't go into a forward gear. I turned it off and put it in first and turned it back on. I ended up getting it home, but the clutch was slipping the whole way. RPM's would rev up, but I wasn't getting hardly any power.

So what could be the deal? The FSM doesn't have any on-vehicle way of testing the cylinders, it just says how to take them apart. Like I mentioned before, my release cylinder is new, clutch is new, and I just flushed the clutch fluid Wed. It felt totally fine Thursday & Friday, even into zero and just below zero weather. Then this happens Saturday morning. So what would only show itself in really cold weather? IF I didn't mess something up with the clutch install (and I don't know why something there would only show up in cold weather), and it's not the release cylinder, that leaves the master cylinder and the actual clutch line, right? So is there a way to test the master cylinder?

To flush the fluid, I used a hand pump and kept fluid in the reservoir, just kept pumping out the old fluid until I saw nice clean stuff coming out. That should mean no air or moisture in the line, right? Would a kink in the clutch line only cause issues in cold weather?

I'm driving it today, but again the clutch only engages once the pedal is all the way up. Hoping that since it's above zero I'll be able to get it in gear when I leave for lunch...

Any help?!

83

And just in case, anybody rebuilt a master cylinder? The FSM shows that you use compressed air to get the piston out? Is there a way without compressed air?

red1983

iTrader: (1)

One really cold morning my clutch pedal stuck to the floor and the pedal the whole day felt soft. It was strange to drive, so I thought my master or slave was out. So I checked for leaks.The master looked brand new, the slave looked in rough shape (old crusted fluid, dried rubber boot) so I bought a new slave cylander... but it has been months and it hasn't done it again, my clutch feels fine. I bled it anyways, but it didn't change much. I never replaced the slave cylander. My guess is that I have old contaminated fluid, and I would have guessed the same for your truck, but since you already flushed it, that elimates that- but one thing that comes to mind is maybe you have a leak that allows it to re-contaminate the good fluid with moisture. Just a thought.

83

I did notice a little moisture around the base of the reservoir. Definitely nothing that's dripping or running down anything, but just a little wet. So that could be it, but it's happening today and it's about 10 degress right now, so it's getting worse. Who knows. I'd prefer Toyota parts, but Napa has a master cylinder in stock for like $25 right now, so...

I'm guessing your issue is a bit different. Want to know what happened over lunch? Drove to a trail to get the dog out, clutch still only engaging right at the top when my foot's off the pedal. After the hike, won't go into gear. I can again get it into gear with the engine off, so I do that. Long story short I eventually figure out that if I push the clutch in hard, the truck wants to move. So I crawled home & into the garage using 4lo (only way it would make it up slight inclines). Strange. Clutch out (tranny in gear) no sign of wanting to stall, and no movement. Clutch in as hard as I can push it, and I start slowly crawling forward. Nice, huh?

If nobody's got a better idea, I don't mind spending 20 bucks to see if it's the master cylinder.

Oh, and I can get it to shift if I only push the clutch in no more than half way...any ideas?

schmooot

my clutch seems stiff and less responsive the last few mornings...but then again it is dipping below -30 here overnight so its to be expected

83

Well no bright ideas so far so I bought the master cylinder. We'll see if that does it.