Clutch Problems

[96SEChick]

I was driving home from work last night and my clutch pedal felt a little bit "mushy" (didn't seem to have as much spring as it did earlier in the day and the previous 4 months of ownership), and it was squeaking while engaging and disengaging.  I had my boyfriend drive it to dinner and we couldn't get the cruise control to set.  He pulled the pedal out with his foot and it worked.  At first my boyfriend thought I may need a new spring.  Well, we were driving home from dinner and he told me he thought I needed to drive my car the rest of the way because something really didn't feel right.  I tried to press in my clutch pedal, and it only went down 2 inches.  I could pull the pedal out the rest of the way with my foot, but there's like 6 inches of dead clutch pedal right now, and only 2 inches of operation.  And it still squeaks.  Does anyone know what's wrong (or what could be wrong)?  THIS TOTALLY SUCKS!!!!  I was supposed to auto-x tomorrow!  AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Can anyone help me?  I talked to a mechanic today and he says it sounds like my pressure plate is gone, and possibly my slave cylinder.  What should I do?  I have 68000 miles on my car.  I don't "ride" the clutch or slip it very much.  I baby my car!  Should this be happening so soon?

Thank you in advance.

(Edited by 96SEChick at 9:23 am on Aug. 25, 2001)

[Jeff240sx]

It could be the pressure plate, but if the pedal is staying down, my money would be on the slave (or master) cylinder.  My friend's Fiero had the same problem, but it was from leaking fluid and getting an air pocket in the line.  The pedal would loose all firmness except the last couple inches.  
I don't quite know how to fix it, but a sure way to know if it is a leak is to check the clutch fluid level.  Is it full?  If not, you've got a leak.  That leak could either be a line (hopefully!) or a cylinder.
-Jeff

[96SEChick]

Yep, clutch fluid is full.  I checked it this morning before I drove it back home.  I was hoping that it could be a leak, too--much cheaper than the other options.  Thanks Jeff!

[Jeff240sx]

Is there a possibility that you ran the resivour (sp?!?) empty, and got air in the lines?  Have you tried bleeding the slave cylider and then the master cylinder?
-Jeff

[96SEChick]

I'm not sure I know what you're talking about.  The resevoir is full, and has been.  It's stayed full since I've gotten the car.  I've only had the car 4 months and the clutch has felt fine the entire 5000 miles I've put on it so far.  How can air get in the lines?

[Jeff240sx]

Well.  I should preface this with an "I don't own a manual tranny 240."  But my previous car was, and ALL my friend's cars are.  Most of them are the same way.  So I will give generalities, since all manuals have the same clutch fluid setup.
The slave cylinder must be bled first.  It is right by the transmission, under the car.  When you follow the line from the master back, it will be on the tranny.  There is a nipple or even a screw there.  I have used a brake bleeder on three different cars, and only used my finger to bleed it once.  You can use a bleeder if you have a nipple there.  Just pop the top off, and you're set.  If it's a screw, unscrew it, and put your finger on top.  Tell a friend to hit the clutch (MAKE SURE THE E-BRAKE WORKS AND IS ON!).  Air should push out, then fluid should spray.  It is important to keep the fluid resivour full.  Hold your finger on it while the other person releases the clutch, and tell them to push again.  Once you get pure fluid to spray out, re-screw the screw back in, while the pedal is depressed.  Once the screw is airtight, the other person can depress the pedal.
Then you open the hood.  There should be a steel hardline comming out somewhere by the resivour and turning down towards the tranny.  It should be comming off your master cylinder, on a post looking thing, in your engine bay.  If you unscrew it, you should see a hole.  Put your finger on the hole where you took the line out of.  Do the exact same as the screwslave cylinder bleeding.  Once all fluid comes out, re-screw that hardline back into the cylinder.
If you kept the fluid resivour full, you should be set with a tighter clutch.
-Jeff

[Jeff240sx]

Whoops.  I thought you said "how can i get air out of the lines?"
Well.  A drained resivour will do it.  A bad cylinder somewhere will do it, and a crack in the hose.  Even a little one.  That's all I know.
-Jeff

[96SEChick]

The reason I'm so clueless on this is the fact that this is the first manual I've owned. I've known how to drive one for almost 10 years now (thanks to many friends who taught me and let me drive their cars), but this is the first time I've been lucky enough to be able to own a manual. Thank you for your help Jeff. Maybe we can get something figured out this weekend (that hopefully doesn't cost $400).

If I do just need to bleed my lines, what could be causing my pedal to be squeaking while engaging and disengaging?

(Edited by 96SEChick at 10:59 am on Aug. 25, 2001)

[Jeff240sx]

Apparently every manual owner's pedal squeaks.  There have been like 2 posts about it since I've been here.  Some people flood where the pedal swivels with wd-40, grease, everything.  There is even a post somewhere named "I can fix my squeaky clutch, you can too!"
-Jeff

[96SEChick]

But the squeaky pedal isn't concerning me as much as the fact that I only have 2" of usable pedal movement and 6" of dead movement with my clutch pedal.  The pedal doesn't spring all the way out anymore either--you can pull it out with your foot, but as soon as you depress the pedal again, it's only about 2" from the floorboard.  That's what's worrying me the most.

[96SEChick]

Anyone have any other possibilities?

[rabbit23]

i had same problem, mine got mushy, and would only raise up about 3 inches off the floor, i could raise it with my foot and keep driving,  a short while later my pedal stuck to the floor and wouldn't come up. turns out to be a metal bracket broke that holds the spring. cost me 25 bucks to have a mechanic fix it. hope yours is same cheap problem.

[96SEChick]

Thanks rabbit!  I hope so, too!  That's exactly what mine did.  It got mushy, then stuck to the floor.  You can pull it up with your foot, but as soon as you depress it again, it only comes back about 2".  I really, really hope that's it!

[96SEChick]

Well, my car is currently in the shop.  When I went to lunch today, my clutch pedal sounded like it was grinding against something metal, so I decided to go ahead and pass her on to a mechanic.  I didn't want to take a chance on something more serious breaking.  I'll let ya all know what's wrong with her.  I should find out more tomorrow (Tuesday).

Thank you all for your help.

So, what happened with the clutch?<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'>

[96SEChick]

The master cylinder shaft and brackets are completely broken. &nbsp;Apparently the previous owner drove the total $hit out of the car and I'm getting to take care all of his problems! &nbsp;They're replacing my master cylinder and slave cylinder for about $400. &nbsp;The master cylinder was not leaking any fluid, but the tech said that he honestly has never seen a master cylinder broken before.

Thanks everybody for your tips! &nbsp;You can read exactly what happened in the &quot;props&quot; post in Chat. &nbsp;The mechanics totally tried to screw me over out of an additional $700 for the clutch and pressure plate (even though they hadn't even looked at it, they assumed that it needed to be replaced so me, a girl, wouldn't have any more problems. &nbsp;haha)