Clutch Question

Picked up the new (to me) mr2 and the previous owner said the clutch was slipping. I go to start the car and it won't start. Push the clutch pedal and it engages only when the pedal is nearly touching the carpet. The PO had just replaced the slave cylinder, which had a leak and then had another problem after replacing the slave cylinder. A mechanic friend told him the cutch was slipping. Shouldn't the clutch engage high with a bad clutch? I am thinking that they didn't bleed the clutch properly and there is air in the system or that they did not adjust the clutch travel properly. Thoughts? could it be anything else?

Sounds more likely to be hydraulics or adjustment before clutch itself in this scenario.

I would bleed the system first, then check to see if there's any leaks.

Hydraulics. There's no adjustment to do. Score on buying it cheap with a $5 problem and a mis-diagnosis.

could be just a continual string of bad slave cylinders right out of the box. I think I replaced 3-4 12$ slaves on my 240sx back in the day before I got one that lasted more than one tank of gas.

For whatever reason (maybe it is me), I seem to get a good slave cylinder from a parts store maybe every other time. It really pisses me off. Maybe the guy you bought from was in the same boat.

Some cars have a slave cylinder with a spring behind a piston that acts to smooth out the clutch engagement. I could not get the one the 240 race car to work properly and eventually removed it altogether. It was only then that the clutch worked properly. On the 240 it was if I remember bolted to the frame rail about 12 inches from the actual slave cylinder.