Ok, I did do a search, but I think its always good to get fresh perspective.

My clutch started sticking the other day. It would not come all the way up, and I had to use my foot to pull it out. It did this a number of times. I don't think I can attribute this to the recent cold weather here in Ohio.

THere is no obvious leak other than the normal small oil leak from around the oil pan. The fluid reservoir is at normal level, as I just bleed the system last year. My car has 55K miles, the last 25K by me, alot of it from trips to RP in Texas, and the rest hard driving around town, autocross, the occasional back road thrash.

Does anyone have sugestions, is there I chance I may have to replace the clutch, and if so, is it a straight forward job. Good time to replace flywheel??

I am about to have some time on my hands while I transition from military enslavement to a happy civilian life with a substantial increase in pay, but much more important, happiness.

Thanks

G

 

I would suspect the clutch hydraulics moreso than the clutch itself. Start by doing a full bleed of the clutch hydraulics, and if that doesn't help, look at getting a new master cylinder.

The clutch itself really can't stick per se. I could only see it being the clutch hydraulics. It can be tricky to troubleshoot as some master cylinders lose pressure internally and don't leak fluid out.

Next time it does this, try pumping the clutch pedal and see if you get normal pressure and it pops back up.

Also, double-check that there's nothing dumb like a wire or something jamming up the clutch pedal under the dash.

Dale

 

does mazda refer to the hydralic clutch cylinder a "master cylinder"? I've always known the brake system has a master cylinder and the clutch has a slave cylinder. anyway, that same thing happened to me on my truck (92 ranger with a 5-speed, mazda tranny because of the joint ranger/b2100 project), and it was the slave cylinder. pump it a ton of times, and you can get the clutch to disengage

 

There's a clutch master cylinder and a clutch slave cylinder. The slave is the simplest of the two in the system - it's just a piston in a bore with a rubber seal around it and a return spring. The master cylinder is slightly more complicated.

On FC's, I always recommend changing ALL the clutch hydraulics at the same time, since they usually go out at the same time. But, you car has pretty low mileage for the hydraulics to be failing, but the symptoms are definitely that.

Again, I would start with a good flush and bleed of the hydraulics then, if that doesn't do it, replace the master cylinder. Might be worth doing a visual on the slave cylinder - if clutch fluid is leaking out around the rubber boot, it's shot - brake fluid is bypassing the rubber seal and you're losing hydraulic pressure.

Dale