Hissing Brakes and strange clutch

[Tourniqet]

Hi guys,

I believe this just recently started happening. When i press on the brakes they start to hiss. Even If i press lightly, and continue to the end of the pull. They are really soggy when you push on them and then have to mash them to the ground to get it to stop. I thought it was air in the system but did not know about the hissing. Also at idle when i press the brakes in about an inch they hiss and keep hissing. The engine does not drop RPM but runs alot rougher likes its out of timing, The whole car shakes from The engine.

ALSO when i start teh car it WILL not go into gear untill it warms up, about a minute. Once it warms up the clutch stiffens up a bid,it starts loose. BUT if i start it cold in gear with the clutch all the way in it will creep forward like i am ridding the pedal half way out. AND if i start it up to warm up and press the clutch in and out about 15 times it will get a little harder to push and then it will go in nicely.

IS any of this normal..?

Anyway,

Thanks alot!!!

[mdbrandy]

Hissing sounds like a leak in the MasterVac Brake Booster. I believe there's a diaphram in there that could have ruptured. It's a big vacuum line too, and a leak that big would cause the engine to run badly.

Don't know how that could effect the clutch, though. Any physical damage likely there around the clutch lines/masterVac/clutch master cylinder? Some sort of impact under the hood might have effected both.

[LanceM]

The hissing is for sure a leak, check the hoses but it is probably the booster.

The clutch master/slave probably just figured it was time to die, or it could be worse, if your pilot bearing is sort of shot or just real dry it could keep the input shaft of the transmission turning enough so that you can't put it in gear. That is what I suspect.

Replacing the pilot bearing requires pulling the transmission and either special tools or a lot of luck. Sometimes you can use hydralic compression to force them out by packing the center with grease and using a tight fitting rod hit with a hammer to back them out. Pros have a tool that fits inside with hooks that grab the back of the bearing and pull it out.

If the hydralics are working fine cold, easy to check, have someone push on the clutch while you look then, it is probably the pilot bearing. Since it gets better after it warms up it might be that whatever grease was in there has dried up. A free fix/try would be to pull the tranny and clean up the end of the input shaft and put a "little" and I mean a "little" grease on it and and maybe a dab in the bearing, put it back together. This is a case where more is not better, too much can be thrown back on to the clutch plate, grease and clutch don't mix well