Hi all,

This is my first post, so sorry if I put in wrong place. I searched and didn't see a thread right to this issue.

Have a Cherokee XJ (1996) manual. Has been running fine, but today after sitting up for a few days, the clutch is "spongy" (pretty much no resistance) and it won't go into any gears when the engine is running (will go into gears with engine off). I checked the clutch fluid and it is full. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

 

No leaks anywhere along the line to the slave cylinder? It might work better after you bleed it, but it's not going to solve the underlying issue that just popped up. Perhaps of seals in the master cylinder are shot.

 

Did you try to bleed the clutch system ?

 

Thanks, guys. I will try to bleed and check seals, and see where that gets me.

 

I have a chebby beater with a similar hydraulic clutch. When it got cold out, I'd have "no clutch"; straight to the floor. If I sucked all of the fluid out of the reservoir, replace it with new fluid and pump the clutch a few times, I'd magically have a clutch for about two weeks. Wash, rinse, repeat. If I had bled the fluid out of the slave cylinder and line it probably would have lasted longer than 2 weeks but it was just easier to replace the fluid every couple weeks. In the end, I replaced the slave cylinder and installed a braided stainless hose in place of the bleeder screw on the slave cylinder. The hose is about 24" long so now I can bleed the clutch without even crawling under the vehicle. Popular upgrade on chebbys...

 

The good news is, a hydraulic system is pretty simple. There's not much that can go wrong. Pretty much it's one of these:

1. Air in the system.
2. Failed seals in the cylinders (master or slave, for a clutch or brake system)
3. Leaks
4. Bad hoses (the rubber can go soft)

Since yours happened suddenly, assuming there is no evidence of leaks, the seals or hoses are your most likely culprits.

 

^^^^^^^^ This.

You can buy a complete Master/Slave system, pre-bled and ready to go for something around $100 from RockAuto. Fortunately, by 96 the AX15 used the eternal slave, so it's easy to replace and doesn't require dropping the transmission.

When you remove the slave cylinder (whatever you're doing with it, just the next time it's unbolted), take a solid stick (maybe a thick piece of threaded rod) and push the clutch fork manually. If it's soft-ish, there is an off chance that the plate springs wore out. Usually this is a progressive sort of failure rather than an "all of a sudden".

When I replaced the clutch on my 95, I had thought I mis-installed the slave cylinder (I even pulled it out and re-installed it) because the clutch felt so damn soft... it was just the Sachs brand vs the (presumably) Luk that had come out. Either it stiffened up (as I read was likely) or I got used to it, but it feels "normal" now. My point is that the plate springs can mislead... you'll know when you push the fork in manually and feel whether it resists.

 

I know it is for a 2.5, but is the same with a 4.0/AX15: