maybe a clutch problem, maybe not
 

I have a 1988 base with 85,000 original miles on it.

Clutch info: Clutchmasters stage 1 street clutch 10k miles ago

This morning I got in and the clutch felt a bit spongy. I made it to my other house about 5 miles away and when I pulled in the driveway I could tell that either the clutch master cylinder went bad or the clutch was toast because I only had to let out on the pedal about 2 inches and it would grab hard.

I popped the hood and found the reservoir was bone-dry. So I thought it was a leak maybe. I got some fluid, filled it up and checked EVERYWHERE for leaks and there was none. I pumped the pedal a bit to get some fluid circulating. I made it back to my apartment and checked the fluid and found it was exactly where it was when I filled it up. Now it feels just like it did in May when I bought the car.

Question: Have any of you ever experienced this problem? I find it hard to believe that the fluid just gets "used up." If it does then let me know because I don't know a whole bunch about clutches. I have a LOT of running around to do today and will take the 7 to see what, if anything, happens to the level of the fluid and will update the thread later. Until then, if anybody has any advice or tests that I could try to eliminate clutch system failure that would be helpful. Until then I hope it was just somehow "used up".

Did you check under your dash. Fluid can leak there and soak up in the carpet. I can tell you this --- the fluid is not used up it is going somewhere.

I had to replace my master and slave on my old 86 . It was squirting fluid on the ground when I would push the clutch in. I replaced the slave and then the master went out right afterward. Def go rebuild cause it will save you some dough.