this only started happening a few days ago. when the engine is running and i have the clutch pressed all the way down it's really hard if not impossible to get into gear. i feel like im gonna break the damn shifter if i force it any harder. on ocassion after driving a bit it'll go back to normal. the clutch pedal itself has also gotten very soft and the engagement point has gotten lower. at a stop if i have the car in gear and the clutch pedal all the way to the floor the car will slowly creep forward if i take my foot off the brake. this tells me obviously the clutch isnt disengaging fully.

at first i thought maybe a bad throwout bearing. but after checking the fluid in the clutch reservoir there's none in there. it's not leaking anywhere so where'd it go? :wtf:

any suggestions? im gonna try bleeding the clutch and adding new fluid tomorrow.

 

Bleed and add fluid as needed, see what happens. If problem is not fixed it is really inexpensive and easy to replace the master cylider for the clutch and the slave.

 

like he said...fill it/bleed it and see. I would do an inspection on the slave cylinder also.

 

If your clutch fluid in the resovoir is black your slave is probably shot. Any fluid leaking out? You may have to unbolt the slave from the tranny (not the line) and see. Just don't push the pedal with it unbolted.
If that's the problem, replacement is pretty easy, you'll just have to bleed the snot of the new slave to get some pedal pressure back. Which is a good thing anyway, to get the old fluid out.

Edit: I reread the post. Definetly pull out the slave and see if it's leaking into the clutch housing. Just remove the two mount bolts and maybe a bolt or two to get enough slack in the slave line.

 

I had a similar problem. I just flushed the system with Dot4 brake fluid. It took a few bottles to do it but I keep running it through until it came out as clear as it went in. I never figured out where the fluid went too but when I started cleaning the system it started coming out looking like thick ass coffee almost like gear oil. It was so thick in the cylinder it was keeping pressure on the clutch.

 

I had the same problem snoop
it's the master slave

 

the master slave huh...h:

Master cylinder

Slave cylinder

or the ultimate mutant hybrid the MASTER SLAVE CYLINDER!!!!!! rooooooooaaar

sorry h:

 

ok i bled and refilled the system earlier. seems to have done the trick...for now. pedal pressure and engagement point is back to normal. i'll keep checking it to see if it goes back to shit.

 

Glad to hear that fixed it

Did you use DOT3 or 4? And did you do it by yourself?

I always wondered why they don't just give a schedule for when to change the clutch fluid in the owners manual(at least not in the ones I own).

 

yes i did it myself and used dot3 fluid. two days and it seems to be holding up fine so far. also, i noticed the engagement point is now a little higher. before, it was almost 3/4 to the floor. now it's almost 1/2. took me by surprise and i nearly stalled the car a few times.