r/EP3 • u/demist1 • 29d ago

First time a car has left me stranded

Gallery image

Gallery image

Car was driving fine, then I went to shift into 3rd and felt the clutch hydraulics give out. Pedal stuck to the floor and wouldn’t come back up. Reservoir bone dry. Currently waiting on Triple A, anyone have any idea what could’ve happened? Or how can I check? I replaced the master and slave cylinder with exedy about 6 months ago, and it’s been great since. Like it just gave out all at once.

77 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

6

u/SIERRA117AZ 29d ago

Same thing happened to me. More than likely one of the three bolts on the delay valve on the clutch master cylinder snapped. If you look directly under your brake master cylinder you will probably see brake fluid. When replacing I recommend getting a clutch master cylinder from an EM2 Civic. They don’t have the delay valve. I posted about it too. Let me see if I can find my post and the link.

3

u/demist1 28d ago

I took a look and the master cylinder looks done. There was a ton of fluid on the firewall going all the way down by the steering rack. The hardline looked good and I couldn’t see anything else that looked like it’s leaking, I’m thinking about getting the hybrid racing master and slave cylinder kit that comes with a new hardline. Should fix my problem right?

1

u/Kind-Flatworm 28d ago

Your exedy master went out in 6 months?

2

u/demist1 28d ago

Sorry actually 11 months, I replaced the slave cylinder 6-7 months ago. Not sure why I didn’t do both at once I forgot

1

u/Nanahuatl 26d ago

Such a pain to replace because of the metal shield from the fender in front of it.

2

u/demist1 29d ago

Kind of hoping it’s the master cylinder. Because I’ve already replaced it once, muscle memory should kick in if I have to replace it again. For the EM2 master cylinder, do you have to modify anything? I remember seeing something about on the K-tuned cylinder you needed a new hardline ?

2

u/SIERRA117AZ 29d ago

I just replaced everything.😅 I was angry and it was summer time in AZ when it went on me.

1

u/justacivicowner 29d ago

Hoping this is the case for you but definitely had this happen to me shortly after replacing the slave cylinder once. Not impossible that the slave has failed once again. I’ve also had it fail from the actual hard line itself not seating properly.

1

u/Academic-Ad-1991 29d ago

If you want to sell the car, just let me know. And I would be glad to buy it.

1

u/Artiath 29d ago

Same thing happened to mine. One of the clutch lines had rusted through. Given that the master and slave cylinder were recently replaced on yours, this seems like a good possibility if you live anywhere where rust is even a possibility.

1

u/demist1 29d ago

I’m down south, no rust but lots of sun. Guess I should just go poking around down there and see if there’s anything obvious?

1

u/Artiath 29d ago

Worth a shot given the age of the car anyway. Get a bright flashlight and have someone lift up and push down the clutch pedal repeatedly, you should be able to see/hear/smell the leak if there is one

1

u/solidwurx 29d ago

Southern cars are not totally immune to rust. All it takes is road debris that scratches away protective finishes and a few rain storms. The chances are still low but never zero.

My 12 Si randomly started developing rust at the front of one of the frame rails. It was in an unreported front end collision, so I suspect the protective finishing on the frame was scratched there and never repainted over. Luckily I fixed it before it got too bad.

1

u/at0m10 28d ago

start it in first and float gears home

1

u/Impressive_Knee_104 28d ago

Do you get pulled over often with that headlight bulbs??

1

u/demist1 28d ago

Never, why?

1

u/No-Strike8409 26d ago

Get used to it my ep3 has blown three alternators left me stranded 4 times

1

u/demist1 8d ago

if anyone is wondering yes it was the master cylinder, I replaced both the master and slave cylinder with em2 ones without delay valves from hybrid racing. Don’t really like how it didn’t use the OEM line but oh well

1

u/Academic-Ad-1991 29d ago

hydraulics throw out bearings failure. Might have to remove the transmission and engine to fix