I have an '01 with no pressure at the clutch pedal that I couldn't get to my shop this morning. Can anybody tell me a.) where to add fluid (DOT 4 ok?) and bleed, b.) where I might look for a common cause of failure, and c.) what tools I need to bring home to do this? Ideally, I'll be able to limp it into the shop tonight/tomorrow and actually diagnose repair from here, but I need to be able to get it here first, obviously.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
I have a 93 and no experience with your model Miata. That being said..if it's hydraulic you may have run the clutch master cylinder dry. I'd check the fluid level there first. If it's dry consult the clutch master lid or your owner's manual for the fluid to use in there. You'll have to bleed it it's dry. I'm not sure of the procedure for that model Miata to get that done.
If you have fluid in the clutch master I'd move further down to the slave cylinder. The way to check that on a 93 is to pull the rubber sleeve back from the piston that gets pushed out by the fluid pressure. Pull that boot back. If it's wet you've got a busted slave.
Also, check the hose inbetween the two. If it's leaking what looks like clear oil anywhere along it's length it will have to be replaced.
If all that hydraulic stuff is working fine you may have a clutch issue. That's a trip to the shop unless you're clutch savy.
You could also ignore all of what I said and wait for Keith to show up. He works at this place called Flyin Miata. You might've heard of it. 
He may graciously point out a couple of spots where I'm wrong. You should listen to him when he does this.
You could have broken your clutch fork.
If your 01 is the same as my 94, and I imagine it is, there should be a bleed valve on the right side of the transmission accessable from the passenger side front wheelwell. It should be pretty easy to get to.
You'll need a second person to help you bleed it though (assuming it needs to be bled). I believe you open the valve, press the pedal down, close the valve, and then release the pedal. Repeat the process as many times as necessary. The clutch fluid is the smaller container next to the brake fluid resivour.
MEGA EDIT: Also, as it was just said, Keith will likely come along and help any minute and correct any of our errors.
I'm hoping it's just dry. I haven't had this car for long (and hopefully I won't for much longer) but it has been in pretty poor hands before mine, including a body shop that screwed up royal and cooked the motor when they ran it without coolant. So I wouldn't be surprised by a dry reservoir.
With my luck with this car so far, I also wouldn't be surprised if it's something expensive that I don't want to do myself.
Anybody want to buy a Miata?
Help on tools required to bleed if need be will be very helpful. All my tools are here in the shop and I really don't want to be stuck with a 10mm when I need an 11mm.
One more bit of potentially helpful information: rapidly pumping the pedal will build some pressure, but not enough to get the car into 1st with the engine running. So, I'm guessing it's not just dry, but that there's a break in the system somewhere. Joy.
alex wrote: One more bit of potentially helpful information: rapidly pumping the pedal will build some pressure, but not enough to get the car into 1st with the engine running. So, I'm guessing it's not just dry, but that there's a break in the system somewhere. Joy.
Look on the bright side, at least that means it's more likely a hydraulic issue than a mechanical one. I'm guessing that's going to mean a bad clutch slave clyinder but will defer to the people who actually know.
It's a miata, isn't it? So the clutch slave is probably leaking. It's probably a slow enough leak that nobody would have noticed anything until one day, whoops, I can't disengage the clutch! That's how mine went. Clutch slave rebuild kits are like 8 bucks from autozone, and mine has been just fine since I rebuilt it, which took all of 10 minutes. It's not that bad a job at all, worst part is finding someone to help you bleed it or maybe getting black clutch fluid on your shirt :).
All Miatas are the same when it comes to clutch hydraulics. Well, except the automatics. But you know what I mean. Lessons learned on a 1993 apply directly to a 2001 
I'd definitely start with the slave. It's a known weak point. The usual test is to check for wetness inside the boot, but you're describing a bad slave pretty well. If you want to try bleeding it first, give it a shot - it's a 10mm wrench. You can either rebuild the slave (they're usually rebuildable) or stick a replacement in there.
Any DOT 3/4 brake fluid will work just fine. Heck, use 5.1 if you want. Just don't mix DOT 5 silicone fluid in there. Clutch fluid doesn't see the same high temps that brake fluid does so there's no need to go for high-dollar Motul 600 or anything.
bad slave cylinder? This happened on my EG Civic and it was an easy/cheap fix ($120)
before buying parts, check to see if there is a rupture in the lines anywhere. two months ago my '94's soft line between the slave and master hard lines blew out from extended contact with an oil hard line. my slave seemed to be leaking as all do so i mistakenly replaced that first before realizing that it wasn't the only (or main) problem. I replaced the soft line with a couple couplers and a coiled hard line to prevent the same from occurring again. also was cheaper at that point.
Watch that hard line. Remember that the engine/transmission is going to move, so you'll be flexing the line repeatedly. A better solution would have been to prevent contact between the oil line and the clutch line. I have to admit I'm not 100% sure what oil line you hit.
Cool. Thanks for the advice, all. I'm hoping I can bleed it and get enough pressure to limp it into the shop tomorrow and do the work from here. Something about a streetside repair that has me crouching inside the wheel well in an active traffic lane makes me a little nervous. (I know, what a cry baby.)
As if anyone really cares, I'll report my findings.
alex wrote: Anybody want to buy a Miata?
Like a hole in the head. We're two hours apart ;)
Clem
I shouldn't bad mouth it, especially since I'll probably be trying to sell it on these same pages. It's actually a cool little car, it's just been poorly treated lately. It may not be done to my taste (chrome style bar, sock chrome wheels, chrome wiper blades - sensing a theme here? I mean, really?) but it's actually really strong for an n/a motor, and the Konis are firm in a satisfying way.
And every time I run it up through the gears at WOT, I think about the first time I was at Elkhart Lake, in the trees at Kettle Bottoms, watching the small displacement sports cars - 356s, Bs, TR-3s - rip through there. This Miata sounds like a very well tuned four should sound, and that sound alone is enough to make me forget the little headaches it's been giving me
pretty positive the bleed screw is 8mm but it sounds like the problem
You're right, my bad. It's 10mm for the flare nuts.
On my old car, one of the rear calipers was replaced. I had one 7mm bleeder and one 8mm. I think the 7mm was on the rebuilt unit.
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