Nissan Repair: temporary loss of clutch, nissan cars, nissan maxima

Question
i drive a 98 nissan maxima manual transmission, whenever the ambient temperature gets above 90 degrees the clutch pedal becomes real soft to the point where it becomes nearly impossible to shift gears; at that point i have to stop the car and let it cool off for an hour or more then everything goes bacck to normal. what the heck might be going on? thanks for you feedback  ben

Answer
Ben,

Sounds like the slave cylinder on the transmission is getting overheated.  Replace with a rebuilt unit or rebuild yours.  Also, bleed with Ford High Performance Brake Fluid.  The stuff has twice the boiling point of regular DOT3 fluid and will give you an excellent pedal feel and the higher boiling point will aid in keeping things working.  Also, if you have high temperature heat wrap it would be a good idea to wrap the clutch line to the slave cylinder.  Most newer Nissan cars have this from the factory now.