Clutch Master Cylinder Refurb - A Step by Step Guide

Hey guys,

I've been busy working on my clutch master cylinder refurb after having problems with fluid

escaping past the seals in the master cylinder. I have a 93 - 5 Speed Manual NA.

I thought it might be worth putting together a little guide for people,

especially those who don't have much experience with this sort of thing but

want to have a go themselves. It is my understanding that the master

cylinders for the TT and the NA are the same so this guide will apply for both types.

Not sure about the auto box though (please feel free to correct me )

Ok, first things first! (obviously!)

Tools Needed:

¼” Socket set with various extension bars

Snap-ring pliers (the ones that compress the ring)

Needle nose pliers

12 mm spanner

10mm spanner

Punch-pin and hammer (or something to knock the spring pin out with)

Syringe & length of clear plastic tubing (I believe 7mm tubing is good)

Parts Required:

Clutch Master Cylinder Refurb Kit – Part Number 04311-12110 – This cost me about £23 from Mr.T.

It contains:

New piston

Washer

Snap Ring

Reservoir bottle grommet

R-Clip

First Step:

Remove the rubber cap and carefully remove the minstrel (if you have one) from the reservoir.

Drain the fluid from the reservoir. For those that don't know exactly where the Clutch Master

Cylinder is located I have attached a few pictures below. I used a big syringe and a small

length of clear tubing to get right down into the reservoir, emptying the fluid into a suitable

container. BE CAREFUL NOT TO GET FLUID ON YOUR PAINT WORK – IT WILL DAMAGE THE PAINT.

******pics*****

The red arrow indicates the location of the clutch master cylinder. It has been already

removed in this picture but just to give you an idea of it's location if you don't know already

The blue arrow indicates the location of the brake master cylinder, make sure you don't try to remove this!

Once all the fluid is removed from the reservoir use a 10mm spanner to disconnect the clutch union bolt.

The next stage is the most difficult, both to get at and to find (if you don't know where it is!)

You must remove the two mounting nuts holding the master cylinder in place on the other side

of the bulkhead, these are located in the drivers side foot well, right above the clutch pedal.

In order to get to the bolts you must physically get inside the foot well with a torch and a ¼ inch

socket and some various length extension bars. The two bolts are 12mm. Use the extension bars

to physically get to the bolts then attach the socket and try to remove the bolts. They shouldn't

be too difficult to get off, but there isn't much room to manoeuvre so watch that skin on them knuckles!

I tried to take a picture of the location of the bolts but it's very tight in there, even without

trying to take a picture with a bulky camera!

**Tip – In order to give yourself more room in the foot well I advise to push the seat as far back

as it goes and tilt the steering wheel right the way up, this is so your head doesn't get stuck when

you're trying to pull yourself out, which isn't fun when you're upside down!

**pic of bolt location and underside**

I have taken an image from the workshop manual to show the position of the bolts. Also the clevis

and where it attaches to the clutch pedal.

Once loosened the bolts should come off easily.

The next job is to remove the r-clip and pin that is holding the clevis to the actual clutch pedal.

I used a pair of needle nosed pliers to get the clip off, it's very easy and once done the pin should

slide out with a little bit of a jiggle.

**These pictures are of the unit removed to give you an idea of what you're looking for.**

...cont

The master cylinder should now be able to be removed by sliding it out from the engine bay side, it may need some encouragement as there is a rubber boot with a little lip on it holding it in place in the bulkhead.

You must make sure you are removing the clutch master cylinder bolts and clevis pin and not the brake master cylinder unit. Obvious tip – the clutch unit is attached the clutch pedal, and the brake unit is above the brake pedal! - simple!

**pic of unit half out of bulkhead**

**pic of unit removed completely**

**pic of unit removed from bulkhead**

Next, remove the reservoir from the master cylinder. There is a slotted spring pin which holds the unit in place on the master cylinder. Use a punch pin and hammer to drive the pin out to free the reservoir unit. I'd recommend spraying some penetration spray or good old WD40 in the area of the pin before attempting to hammer is out, this will make things a little easier, especially if it's been sat in there for possibly 15 years!

**pic of spring pin/various angles**

When removed you should have the reservoir and the black grommet attached - replace this with the new grommet in the refurb kit

**pic of removed reservoir and grommet**

Next task is to remove the push rod and piston from the main unit.

Pull back the rubber boot from the master cylinder. It will be quite a pain to get this off but a bit of patience and the use of a screw driver will get the job done, just be careful not to puncture or tear the boot.

**pic of boot to be removed from cylinder**

...cont

Next, with your trusty snap-ring pliers remove the snap ring from inside the main cylinder.

You can use other things to get the snap ring out but I'd advise using the correct tool, makes things much easier and less risk of damaging anything. Be aware that the piston is under load as the spring is pushed in, so when removing the snap ring do it slowly and keep hold of the push rod so you can grab hold of the push rod and piston that is about to fire out!

The piston should just pull out no problems and you'll be left with the parts like so:

**pic of push rod and piston with clip and washer both pics**

Once this is all apart I'd give everything a good clean with brake cleaner, it's available from almost every motor factors shop and some garages, it's cheap and very good stuff! I use it on lots of stuff, it cleans things up a treat!

I cleaned out the inside of the master cylinder, the inside and outside of the reservoir etc to remove all the old gunk and other bits that had built up over time. Plenty of dirt came out, and now I know it's all clean inside and there's much less risk of future contaminated fluid.

Using a 12mm spanner loosen the lock nut from the clevis.

**pic of bolt**

Once sufficiently loosened, twist the push rod to remove it from the clevis. Once complete and pulled apart it should look like this: please note that there should be a washer in between the push rod and the rubber boot, but I forgot to put it back in place before taking this picture – if in doubt, refer to the exploded diagram further down

**Pic of clevis, push rod and bolt etc**

..cont..

Your refurb kit should come with everything you see here

**pics of refurb kits in and out of box and packaging**

Just out of interest you can see the difference in size of the old and new pistons. Also, condition of the seals were bad and were the obvious cause of the problems

**pics of bad seals**

The manual says to apply lithium soap base glycol grease to the following areas of the new piston before inserting into the master cylinder, I just got one of the guys at my local toyota to put a little bit into a baggy for me (free of charge of course).

**pic from manual of lube locations**

Next insert the new piston into the cylinder making sure you put it the right way in, then the push rod assembly and new snap ring, this should then return the unit to the way it was before as shown below:

**cylinder with new snap ring and washer**

I have attached an exploded diagram of the master cylinder assembly so that you can make sure you've put everything back together in the right order.

Reassembly is in the reverse order of the above.

*Tip – Be careful when reattaching the clutch line union back up to the master cylinder, I had problems with the bolt not sitting properly straight and almost threaded the inside of the master cylinder, this is very easy to do as it's very soft metal! I believe there is a special tool for this type of job which lines up the thread properly (can anyone confirm??) but unfortunately I don't think many people have them in their tool boxes!

Once everything is reinstalled you must then bleed the clutch system and adjust the clutch pedal. There are many guides on here for you to follow. It's pretty straight forward, you just need to be patient (and have someone else helping you!)

Hope people find this guide helpful

Dan

Superb work Dani!

Will make sure this gets added to Technical reference for members in the coming months and years

Thanks!

A very comprehensive writeup you've done there.

Infact it's by far the best I've seen, great pictures too.

Just what I was looking for

Thanks for this great guide, came in very handy today.

Just to add, if you remove the lower dashboard panel below the steering wheel - you can then remove the black plastic heating duct that runs from the center console to the rightmost dashboard duct below the steering column.

There is a single tiny bolt holding it in place (cant remember the size) but its not a job for anyone with sausage fingers as getting it back in when refitting the duct can be a challenge.

Once that's out the way you can easily access the 2 nuts holding the master cylinder in place (photos attached)

Tiny Bolt holding securing air duct:

Easy Access To Nuts:

Just used this guide to do the wife’s Supra, just wanted to say thanks. Easy job with the guide, thanks again.