2009 Clutch, master & slave cylinder issues

Discuss any maintenance you've done to your Vibe & Matrix and ask how to perform maintenance on your vehicle
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pwyu1969
Posts: 44
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2015 3:25 pm

2009 Clutch, master & slave cylinder issues

Post by pwyu1969 »

Hi all, I have a 2009 vibe, 2.4L, 5-speed. Bought it recently with about 180K and now has about 200K. I was told it had a new clutch put in. Ok here is the issue. The clutch does not disengage. At first I noticed about a week ago that when I put it in reverse, as I let the clutch out, it stopped halfway and killed the engine, sometimes it did this in first. But going from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 was no problem. Clutch worked fine. This only happened a couple times a day. However, today I think it went out altogether as when I drove home, I think I was shifting on partial clutch or timing the rpms with gearing just right (I've done this in the past to show my kids that you could shift without the clutch). Now, when sitting in my garage with the car off, when I press the clutch pedal down all the way, it does not come up. I was told this was a master cylinder issue (rather than just air in the lines or slave cylinder. I don't see leaking on the inside of my car at the master cylinder, but I've been told that it can have an internal leak and loose hydraulic pressure.

Here are my questions:

1. For the 09, the master clutch cylinder looks awfully hard to get too from inside the engine bay. Is that the case? What all do I have to remove?

2. I have a picture of the slave cylinder. So it totally rusted out (ignore the battery ground and all the moisture is the anti-rust spray I sprayed on the fittings). So I figure I should replace the slave cylinder too, but if you look at the picture, there is a silver AL block 'thing' where a hydraulic line enters in, and then exits and connects into the slave cylinder. What the heck is that silver block?

3. How do the brakes hydraulics factor in? I know they share a reservoir, but do they share pressure and fluid in any way? I ask because my rear calipers are pretty bad, and one was binding and I'm sure really heated up. Can that effect the clutch fluid and system?

Thanks,
Paul
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andrewclaus
Posts: 482
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 6:38 pm
Location: Golden, CO

Re: 2009 Clutch, master & slave cylinder issues

Post by andrewclaus »

The two-port block is an accumulator. It acts as a delay for pedal feel. It's Toyota part no. 31490-42010.

Both systems take fluid from the reservoir at atmospheric pressure, so there's no way for one system to pressurize the other. But contaminated fluid can be shared. Both systems should be bled with new fluid.

Keep in mind it's possible that particles from the trashed pressure seals in the clutch system could have messed up your brakes, too.

I've not done the job on the Vibe, so I can't help there.
pwyu1969
Posts: 44
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2015 3:25 pm

Re: 2009 Clutch, master & slave cylinder issues

Post by pwyu1969 »

Thanks for the heads up on the accumulator. I guess Toyota used them on their 'higher end' clutches.

For the repair, turns out it was the clutch master cylinder, which was an absolute pain to change on the 09 (it makes the 03-08 air-blend actuator seem like a walk in the park). I also changed the slave cylinder because it was so rusty that the bleeder valve was rusted shut. Finally, I removed the accumulator altogether and was able to use the existing cable and fittings and go right into the slave cylinder. (1) it removes one more place one could lose pressure, and (2) it made the clutch more responsive. With the accumulator, I always felt that the clutch pedal didn't disengage the clutch until the pedal was halfway down, but now you can feel the clutch respond over the full travel of the pedal.
andrewclaus
Posts: 482
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 6:38 pm
Location: Golden, CO

Re: 2009 Clutch, master & slave cylinder issues

Post by andrewclaus »

Probably a good call removing the accumulator. I've heard of experienced drivers removing them on other cars. I've never driven a car that had one.

Have you changed the remaining fluid in the brake system yet? One more thing for the list. You may have similar corrosion problems and blockage with the caliper bleeder ports.
Que165
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2020 7:43 pm

Re: 2009 Clutch, master & slave cylinder issues

Post by Que165 »

How did you get to the master cylinder? what did you have to remove to get to it? did you have to unbolt it from inside by the pedal, and if so how?

Looking to replace the master on my 09 as well.
pwyu1969
Posts: 44
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2015 3:25 pm

Re: 2009 Clutch, master & slave cylinder issues

Post by pwyu1969 »

This really hard to do and I kind of got ‘lucky’ as there are some nuts/bolts that are ‘blind’ to you unless you take apart the whole dashboard (which I did not, but partially). Here are my tips. First, here is a YouTube video that I watched to see where it is, but I did not do exactly what he did making my job more reasonable. If the link doesn’t work google ‘clutch master cylinder 2019 Corolla’ and it will come up.

https://youtu.be/13Vb92rOYgc

Here is what I did vs the video:
1. In the engine bay I did not have to remove the brake master cylinder/reservoir like he did. I don’t think I removed the air filter box either. You DO have to remove the windshield wiper arms and the all the plastic and metal ‘leaf/debris’ catchers along the top of engine bay. Basically a bunch of 10mm bolts. Once you remove the trim, you can BARELY get your hands back to the master cylinder where you have to remove the rubber hose from reservoirs and nut that secures the Metel hydrolic line. For the rubber hose I had a special pair of long needle nose pliers that have a right angle on the end. Also one of those brake hydraulic flare wrenches. Maybe 10 or 12mm? Maybe has a hinged. Also use a good penetration spray on all the fittings. And have rags and plugs ready for the hydraulic fluid. Do this part first because if you can’t do this, the inside is harder and you want to make sure that if you get the inside bolts off, you’re set to go on the outside. This was the easy half.

2. For the inside, in the video he points out the two nuts you need to get to. The one you can see isn’t that bad, but also a pain to get to. I also took out clutch pedal pin that connects to the master cylinder. I thought I’d have to take the whole clutch pedal assembly out but didn’t have too. So the real (removed) is the nut that hold the clutch master cylinder on from the inside. Unless you know how to take out the entire lower drivers side dash board and fuse boxes (which I did NOT do), it is nearly a blind task. I’ll try to explain what I did. First I took a bright light and shined it up back into the firewall where the bolts were. Then I took as much of the lower dash as I could so that I was able to ‘see’ a part of the bolt through the mass or wires. I had to reach my arm/hand under the dash, peering through that narrow line of sight to get my ratchet with a small extension and was able to back it out. I also had one of those small 3/8 drive hinged ratchet wrenches. Something like a 12mm or something like that. I could barely get my arm up there. I’m pretty short and I say that only because the space is so small, it’s one of the few times in life I was glad I’m a small guy.

3. If you get this far, the only thing I recommend is be careful and pay attention when pulling the master cylinder out from the engine bay side as there is a plate/gasket that is asymmetrical and when I was putting it back together got it backwards at first.

Sorry I don’t have pictures, but It is a pain in the (removed) job. Message me if you need more tips or clarification.
Que165
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2020 7:43 pm

Re: 2009 Clutch, master & slave cylinder issues

Post by Que165 »

Thats exactly what I was looking for, thank you so much for the detailed reply! Ive been looking around and feeling my way up around there over the past couple days, trying to decide if I'm brave enough to do it...

Thanks!
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