In short, pushing the clutch pedal is not disengaging the clutch. This problem does not occur all of the time, but definately occurs upon initial startup and seems to decrease in severity as I drive the car. There are NO unusual noises. Shifting between gears is almost unaffected, but trying to put the car into 1st or Reverse is extremely difficult when this problem is at its worst. I am prett sure its not a problem with the transmission or clutch/pressure plate itself because there is NO slipping and the car will want to bog down and roll on its own from a full stop with the clutch pedal fully depressed. Again, this is an inconsistent problem, it varies greatly in severity and occurance.

I have replaced the master and slave cylinder, TWICE (thought maybe I got a bad part) and blead the system thoroughly. I have adjusted the freeplay numerous times. Trying to shove the pedal through the firewall with an ungodly amount of force also seems to help at times. A new engine was installed just over a year ago and the ACT clutch is slightly older, both have around 30k miles on them. The pilot bearing was replaced with the engine and the release bearing was replaced with the clutch.

There has been one noise that has persisted off and on for about a year. It's a sad groan/squeek that sometimes occurs when taking off from a full stop. It stops shortly after overcoming the intial inertial tendency to stay stopped.

Please help me, I've been agonizing with this problem for over 2 weeks now and I am at a total loss. It must be either the release bearing or release fork, I'm hoping for some good discussion and confirmation.

 

The problem continues to mystify me. The past 2 days, it has given some trouble at initial startup (the car will start to roll as soon as you turn the ignition) and shifting is labored for the first few minutes. However, after a little driving, almost to the warmup point, it seems to be fine. Additionally, I am now starting to get a noise upon initial startup and movement after a prolonged rest period (several hours). It is a fairly high pitched whine that seems to eminate from the transmission area. All this continues to lead me to the conclusion that it is the release bearing. Any input would be appreciated.

 

I'm not sure about the clutch grabing, you may have contamination on the clutch disc itself. the whine in you tranny might be from the rear tail bushing, I just rebuild my tranny and found that the bushing was shot, turned out I had metal flakes in with the bushing (the tranny oil get's up in with the bushing and had flakes of metal in it). so if you can put your car up in the air and pulls the drive shaft and check the yoke for damage, mine was just shot.
and what really sucks is the u-joints can't be replaced so you have to get a whole new drive shaft.
good luck.

 

When's the last time you inspected the pivot ball for the throwout bearing? On the tranny front cover...

 

Where is this pivot ball? Is it part of the clutch release fork? What do I look for when inspecting the pivot ball? Are you talking about the end of the release cylinder push rod? I don't think I got no *****.

 

The fork arm that pushes the throwout bearing rides on a pivot (kinda looks like 1/2 of a ball). This pivot gets worn with years of use, and causes the throwout bearing to run slightly skewed towards the pressure plate (in other words, it's no longer hitting the PP "square on"). You have to pull the tranny to access it, and I can only guess that it's similar to the S4's...

I changed mine after a clutch/PP lasted only about 25K miles a while back and I was searching for a cause. Mazdatrix had a little writeup on it in their catalogue, next to the picture of the tranny front cover. It may still be there on their website, I dunno.

Something to look at, anyway...

 

How's the clutch problem going?

I've had a couple of interminent "can't get the clutch to disengage" episodes. No play in pedal, linkage trying like all hell. Cars been sitting couple years. The last time I finally got it to drop in gear and it was working again...I was saying damn clutch...how about a couple 5grand hole shots for you...in the dirt, yeeha...lets go check the tracks...been working since... FK

 

Good call on the "pivot ball", which for reference sake the parts manual calls a "Clutch Release Fork Pivot Pin". I dropped the tranny last weekend and low and behold, there is a little bolt that screws into the transmission behind the release fork and it has a little mushroom head on the end upon which the release fork pivots.

In my case, the bolt/pin was sheared completely in 2. I got a replacement from an old tranny that a friend had.

So if you ever have very odd clutch disengagement problems, this is a likely candidate. I would recommend purchasing the pivot pin ($14-dealer), a release bearing ($20-any auto parts store), and a release fork ($23-dealer). It's a financially cheap fix, but dropping the tranny sucks.

 

This problem is a bit more common than people might think, especially when an upgraded pp is added into the system. A heavier pp stresses the pivot ball even more.

A friend of mine with a TII showed up at the shop at 10/p one night with his in 2 pieces, asking if I had a spare. With 9 trannys sitting in the basement, I told him to take his pick.