The MR2 Owner's Club of New Zealand

Hey Guys,

I was wondering if I can get you opinion(s) on a odd clutch problem that I'm experiencing.

New E153 transmission (MT90 fluid to level), new (single port) slave cylinder, master cylinder is about 4 years old. New derlin bushings (I have and have also tried the spherical bearing bushings as well). The clutch is 8puk ceramic – so it doesn’t allow for a lot of slip but not as grippy as a 4 puk per se.

When the car is cold shifting up and down is as smooth as it gets - no issues whatsoever. Once I've been driving for say half an hour or so I start having a little bit of trouble getting into gear (sometimes 2nd / 3rd sometimes all of them) and sometimes if i'm at the traffic lights after staring to roll in first - I have had trouble disengaging from fist to go into second (kind of had to force the lever out of first). I have had couple of instances where the thing just doesn’t want to get into any gear at all (despite pressing/releasing the clutch multiple times) and when eventually I get it into gear has no issues changing afterwards

This by all means doesn't necessarily continue happening once the car is warm - it's at best intermittent. It will occur sometimes and at other times there’s no issues whatsoever and shifts just fine. One other thing I noticed driving into a petrol station the other day – with the clutch fully depressed I felt a bit of bite from the engine similar as to holding the clutch in half way – which I think points to the hydraulics

I have not had any leaks from the master or slave cylinders. Bushings etc. are all new on the gearbox, shift cables are fine as well, clutch clevis pin is new. I have bled the system 4-5 times already – no bubbles.


What I’m trying to ascertain if the clutch master cylinder may be at fault. Previously when I had a bad master cylinder – it leaked inside the cabin but worked fine . This one albeit not new is only few years old and has no leaks (but it’s had moderately hard life pushing a 3000lbs pressure plate) and has not given me any trouble previously. It feels OK – it doesn’t get soft or spongy as such. Though why would master cylinder work OK when the car is cold and playing up when warm - I don't think the front part of the car heats up sufficiently to cause the master cylinder to play up.


Is it possible for just the front seal to leak on a master cylinder and effectively not allow for full opening of the slave at the back? Since I don’t have a leak in the cabin I doubt it’s the rear seal. No leaks in the trunk area either and fluid is clear and at level. A smidge of black stuff in the bottom of the fluid tank – which may be an indication that seals are gone/going but overall it’s clean.


I’ve ordered a rebuild kit ($25) since Toyota and supercheap quoted me ~$500 for a new master cylinder – but if this doesn’t fix it I’m wondering what other avenues do I explore. Could a brand new slave cylinder be faulty (though there’s no leaks) ? Should I go and swap both cylinders and the hard line as well ?


… it’s getting annoying since because of this I missed the 18th July run ☹

A few ideas come to mind. Have you adjusted the master cylinder rod? And the other is getting a longer slave cylinder pin. Seems odd that you'd need one but it seems to solve the majority of problems even though most of the time it's OEM parts. I note you changed to the single port slave.

Yep good points I didn't mention - I did upgrade to the longer pin as well as adjusted the rod/clevis to the maximum possible extension

though if it was to do with not enough release I would have thought it'd happen constantly not intermittently - sometimes working OK sometimes not

Ok. That's making it difficult. Heat does make things expand but it's not consistent with what you describe.

What throw out bearing do you have?

Another thing worth asking/adding is how are you bleeding the system? I know we had issues with mine when using a vacuum bleeder, once done by foot with two people it seemed to be much better

Throw out bearing is OEM toyota - came with the transmission - no noise. I've used the aftermarket ones in the past an regretted it . So all OEM


The bleeding part is easy - since it's a single port slave cylinder (https://primemr2.com/collections/clutch ... e-sw20-mr2).

Still using two people though - one presses the clutch, the other one (usually me) opens the bleeding port (I have a hose connected to that that goes up to the ceiling so it doesn't let air in) to release some of the brake liquid and closes it. Then top up the reservoir .... and repeat. Very similar to how one bleeds a brake system.

Initially there were few air bubbles - since it was new install - but in the last couple of times i bled it there was no air at all. The way this slave cylinder is designed though may trap bubbles in the hose since that sits higher than the cylinder itself - so I may pop it open from the banjo bolt to make sure no air is in there.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0363/ ... 1598472333

It sounds like you've bled it correctly

If we're talking about odd issues there may be odd things happening. Is it possible for the engine mounts to become so old that after the engine has been on and they have heated up, becoming softer, the engine/gearbox is moving too much and making that shifting hard?

Just on a Honda forum https://honda-tech.com/forums/tech-misc ... ng-713547/

Probably going down the wrong rabbit hole here, however never know when a random train of thought might help

Agreed - that's another very good point ... though as part of the engine out operation I have replaced all the engine mounts with new PowerFlex ones

One thing I haven't done is on the shifter end in the cabin I have not replaced the shift lever cup / bushings - that's another venue I might explore though the intermittency of the problem does not necessarily point there but then again there could be odd issues happening.

I've gone from the original ~92 E153 to whatever was the latest model E153 that Toyota had as a spare (which has the better synchros) - though I take it cables/shifter/forks/bushings etc. would be identical regardless if it was a newer or older style E153


I'll carry on with the troubleshooting ... hopefully by October 2022 It'll be sorted

You could do a short shift conversion while you're at it, although with the cars of this age, I wouldn't recommend changing the gears too quickly - I do prefer it myself as I can rest my hand on the arm rest and on the gear knob a bit nicer when it's lower down, that's just me though

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/car- ... f=WTa4P4PH

ClanFever wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:38 am

You could do a short shift conversion while you're at it, although with the cars of this age, I wouldn't recommend changing the gears too quickly - I do prefer it myself as I can rest my hand on the arm rest and on the gear knob a bit nicer when it's lower down, that's just me though

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/car- ... f=WTa4P4PH

The best shift lever is the 92+ JDM. And with a brand new REV5 gearbox shifting shouldn't be an issue. Short shift kits do not work, they make the lever so short you can't find the gears properly and you spend more time stuffing around then you do with a stock shifter.

Thanks for the feedback guys - much appreciated

I'm happy with the stock shifter - though I've changed the shift knob so it goes a bit deeper than stock for a partially shorter shifter. I like resting my hand on the arm rest/gear knob also ... but my wife read somewhere that it's a bad thing and wears the gearbox when you do that (my fault for getting her a manual car ) and now I don't dare touch the gear knob for anything else but changing gears, let alone thinking about going above 3000rpm