I was looking to see if anyone knows of any insulation solutions for insulating the clutch line. I am having issues where when it hits about -20f my brake fluid in my clutch line is freezing when driving which makes the clutch pedal go very stiff. It's no longer an issue of water being in the lines ( I flushed with ate type 200 fluid less than a week ago) its just getting so cold the fluid is beginning to freeze. So I am looking for something that will insulate the stainless line from the cold and help keep the fluid a fluid at these lower temps. Thanks ahead of time.

 

find a roll of foam and wrap the line. just a suggestion.doesnt get that cold in cali thou lol.

 

Haha yeah I just closed up the grills with duct tape, not my favorite look for the car but at least it's black duct tape and I don't have to worry about damaging anything in the clutch system. I was looking at the dei firewrap insulation with the Velcro. But that stuff is designed to keep heat out idk how well it would do for keeping the fluid in the line warm.

 

So, why aren't your brake lines that run under the car freezing? The clutch line is in the engine bay and should get heat from the engine once it's warmed up right? Any way to run the car a while and actually measure the temp on the clutch line?

Yes, you could just wrap it with something that will insulate and keep the heat in. Do you still have the stock clutch line? Do you have any brake fluid? Do a test and put some out at night and check if it freezes at -20 or colder. I'm thinking something else is going on here.

 

they could be freezing but brakes are a little harder to tell since they are stiff to begin with, and the only way to tell would be if they are sticking which for me is a little difficult to tell on ice since sticking brakes feel a lot like sliding on ice, so for all I know they could also be sticking. And unfortunately I don't have anymore brake fluid to do the test with, I wanted to make sure that the lines had no water in them since that was the original theory so I pushed all the brake fluid I had through the lines to make sure. And my theory as to why the clutch is so noticeable is that I have a half size radiator (came on the car, not my choice) and I deleted the ac system so that isn't there to slow down the air, and the slave cylinder and line is right on the front of the transmission so its the first thing to receive the cold air. Since the line is a stainless line the metal in the line could be holding on to the cold, freezing the brake fluid in the line making it thicker, not solid. And the heat off the engine is thawing it but when its -20 plus the windchill of driving at 50-60 mph is just too cold and overpowering that heat, because it does thaw out if I sit and idle the car. Its when the car has been moving that the pedal would get stiff, and blocking the grills has been preventing it from getting stiff. Of course I am no scientist so I have no proof this is indeed what is happening but that is the theory that is making the most sense to me. And the only thing I am questioning about the firewrap is I understand that it will keep a bulk of the cold out of the line but it won't create any heat of its own and I am wondering if blocking a majority of the cold will be enough or if the lack of additional external heat will just do the same thing as no insulation at all. And sorry for such a long post but mostly thinking aloud so that someone smarter than I am can either confirm my theory or explain why it is wrong.

 

Ok, knowing your setup a little better, you are getting too much direct cold air to the line. Yes, you need to block the air coming into the engine bay. Same thing when you see Truckers block/cover the Radiator to prevent freezing.

Cover the line, clutch cylinder in something that won't create a fire hazard. Then you need to create a cold shield (lol) that blocks air to the area and allows heat radiated off the engine to warm the line and clutch cylinder and keep heat in that area.

 

To my knowledge (maybe a problem) brake fluid does not freeze it only becomes more viscus. When you flushed the system was the temperature above freezing? In other words, were you in a heated garage? I'm thinking you still might have ice in the lines. No amount of flushing is going to remove that.

BTW, wind chill only determines how fast things cool. It doesn't make things colder.

 

Yup the car stays in a garage 98% of the time only leaves to run errands. And I wasn't saying frozen solid, the pedals still operates, just the fluid gets super thick and so pedal gets real stiff like with a heavy pressure plate. And thanks for the explanation of windchill I was working with the weather report impression. But I did a little research on the freezing point of brake fluid last night, and apparently it begins to freeze at -40. So at the -20- -40 temp range I would expect it to get thicker which would be noticeable in the pedal. So I'm just going to leave the vents blocked to give the engines heat the opportunity to keep the fluid warmish.

 

While you were doing your research did you come across any brake fluid that advertises a being low viscosity. I know certain brands will occasionally make that claim and this is the fluid you'd want for low temperatures.

 

Not any really more so than the rest but I know the new ate stuff they came out with is supposed to be low viscosity but it's brand new and I haven't really seen anyone in evos testing it out. The sl6 stuff is what it's called.