Help clutch problem troubleshooting
 

Well somethings wrong with my clutch. Does someone know what it
could be?
Description:
Clutch pedal has alot of free travel, about 1/3 of total pedal travel from the top before
feeling any resistance.
You have to make sure to push the clutch pedal all the way to the floor
to get it into gear, it will go into gear but it does not go in easy.
When engaging the clutch, clutch engages very close to the floor.
Also, when just starting to engage the clutch it shudders alot especially when
you start out in first gear or if you slip the clutch a little going into other gears
you can feel and hear the shudder.
The clutch doesn't seem to slip once it is fully engaged underload.


Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks
jaj1

I couldn't have stumped the board could I ?

has your brake fluid gone low? you may need to replace the clutch/preassure plate or one of the cylinders.

Well, I finally got a chance to take a look at my brake/clutch fluid reservoir
and it is not low. I have looked at both the master and release cylinder and I am
not finding any moisture on or around them. When one of these do fail or leak is it
usual to see fluid in the area? I also took off the trans inspection plate and I'm
not seeing anything out of the norm. Later I will have a friend push on the clutch
pedal while I look at everything again. Any help trobleshooting this problem
would be appreciated.

Thanks

jaj1

Have you adjusted your clutch linkage? There is a push rod under the pedal that you can use to adjust the travel.

Ok, I took another look at the clutch pedal linkage.
There is play between the pedal push rod and clutch master cylinder piston.
Also I noticed once you take up the slack in the between the push rod
and the piston I can still move the piston about a quater of an inch before
any resistance. Wouldn't a hydrolic system have less compression than this?
When I do have the piston fully depressed inside the cylinder I do not see
any excess fluid in the cylinder. Again problem happened suddenly so I find it
hard to believe the push rod suddenly lost it's adjustment. Looking for deas
on this one.

Thanks

jaj1

Have you bled the clutch? You may also have bad seals in the clutch slave cylinder. Just some ideas, hard to believe they would go bad overnight.

I vote for bleeding the clutch. It's the easiest and cheapest thing so why not start there?

IIRC, clutch release forks bend or break, causing similar problems. I've seen several threads on this. A search on this may help.