I posted about this in TExx Corolla Discussion, but seems like that part of the forum is quite low on traffic and this post has nothing to do with that specific model. If any admins sees this please remove that post, thanks!

My old master and/or slave cylinder gave in a month ago so decided to order new ones, got them from PECAustralia and the make is PROTEX. I got them yesterday and they looked almost identical with the old ones, it seems to be good quality parts.

Anyway, I put them in and found that the clutch became very stiff and sluggish like. Also, the clutch only engages when the pedal is all the way out, and the clutch is "dragging" (not sure how to say this in english but the friction plate is dragging when accelerating, hopes this makes sense). I took the new master cylinder out again and found that the rod is over 1cm longer than the old one, and I cannot adjust the new one to be as short as the old, since when adjusting the rod it eventually hits the pedal.

Any advice on this? Should I cut the rod?

Thanks!

Cut it, don't think twice about it. 

We cut them to get pedals in a comfortable place for tall drivers when we run out of other adjustments.

Just make sure it is not fully disengaged when up now, pop the clevis pin out and see where the arm sits when the piston is right back.

You need a couple of mm of slack in it before it starts to push the cylinder piston forward.

Edited September 24, 20188 yr by altezzaclub

Thanks for the reply! A friend of mine told me to change to the rod from the old one so that I didn't have to cut it, that made me feel pretty dumb.
Another friend who works with mechanics told me to change out the old clutch hose as well because they sometimes (when old) get damaged inside and makes the whole system act weird and stiff. Well, I'll put it all back together now without a new hose and see how it works, but I suspect that my hose is in need of replacement too.

Once you have swapped the push rod, you should adjust the rod length until you have 1mm clearance, before the push rod contacts the M/C piston. Davew7

New push rod is in and the car is running, yay!!!

everything seems fine except that the pedal is very stiff and sluggish feeling. When I inserted the new slave cylinder I had to twist the hose the opposite way due to the threads being different, I suspect something inside the hose broke and something inside it is now blocking the flow. Can anyone confirm that this might have to do with the clutch hose by the slave cylinder being bad and in need of replacement? Or can it be something else?

Thanks for all the advices and replies on this, I appreciate it a lot.

Edited September 25, 20188 yr by Parre

Asking questions on the internet isnto going to pull it apart and diagnose it.  Maybe just pull off the lines from the master down and clean them all out and start over.  Inspect them when off the car and re-install if good.

Well you're right, I just don't want to order stuff that is not going to do anything. But the hose is old so I'll be ordering it anyway I guess. Thanks for that!

Yeah, new hose just in case. 

Then take the slave off, put the new hose into both cylinders & do it up, then put the slave back on.  Saves that twisting..

While you're under there just make sure the clutch arm slides smoothly back & forth. 

There was one of those cars at the weckers a few years back, in the second-hand car yard part.  Nothing wrong with it, drove OK, just well-worn, for $600..

Thanks for the suggestions altezzaclub, very helpful. I put in a new hose but the pedal is still very stiff and unresponsive, guess I'll have to troubleshoot everything again.

Just got a new set of tires for my celica supra rims, will try and get my car into my friends garage this weekend and hopefully fix that together with the clutch.