Bad Clutch Pedal
 

Today on my way home the clutch pedal started behaving oddly. Initially the pedal was slow to come back up, when depressed. After driving several miles it got to the point that it would only half way return and I had to hook my foot under it to "unstick" it so it would spring the remainder of the way. It felt like it was catching on something half way up the return stroke but there was nothing visually stopping it, upon later inspection. When depressing it, the first half of the stroke is much lighter than the second half. It doesn't seem to be slipping and there is no smell of burning clutch so it seems to be functioning alright, even though I doubt it is...

Background: I had my clutch, flywheel, & slave cylinder replaced by a supposedly reputable speed shop about 3,500 miles ago and it has had no clutch problems since then, only brake system problems. I switched to Southbend Stage 2 Clutch, Southbend Flywheel, ZSpeed HD CSC. The car now has 85,000 miles and I've owned it since it was new.

Any ideas on what it could be? Helper spring, slave cylinder, flux capacitor?

Fluid level ok?

Could be your master cylinder going out if you didn't have it replaced before.

Also check to make sure the pedal itself didn't break. sounds similar to when that happened on mine.

As an update for any interested, I checked the fluid level yesterday and it was full. Unfortunately there were 3 or 4 marble sized globs of blackish grey grease in the reservoir (reservoir is tiny so that is a lot). I am having the car towed to the speed shop that did the slave cylinder install tomorrow. They are going to bleed the system as best as they can and test it. Hopefully by some stroke of luck that will fix it. If it does not, they are going to remove the slave cylinder and determine whether the part failed or it was a faulty installation of the part. I will update early next week when I know more. Pictures are below.

Attachment 104513

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That needs flushed *BAD*. I will almost bet money that your clutch pedal will improve significantly just by replacing the fluid in the reservoir.

Any updates?

Was the fluid clean/clear after you got the car back from the repairs?

did you replace the MCM when you replaced the CSC?

I apologize for the delayed response. I was trying to put some miles on the car first before releasing a verdict. I had the system flushed and bled "extremely thoroughly" by the dealership. This was a recommended first step by most people. After about triple the usual bleed, the clutch pedal came back and the dealership sent me on my way. I have put about 400 miles on the car since the flush and the clutch pedal is starting to go away again. I reach out to ZSpeed again and they said that it is most likely the Clutch Master Cylinder (CMC), which they suggested that it might be before because I didn't replace it when I did the CSC (I didn't know that I was supposed to). I will take the car into the dealership later today to have them change that and see what happens from there. The CMC is a pretty easy part that I could change myself but I do not currently have the tools to do so because I am changing jobs so it is just easier to let the dealership do it.

cmc can you see the oil leaking from above the clutch pedal assy?

csc can go bad right away if they are defective... one guy had it replaced and the moment he was about to drive off from the dealer, the clutch went limp again.

I had my clutch master cylinder replaced by the dealership and the system re-flushed. The dealership covered this under warranty because it became fairly evident that this was the issue. The pedal felt better than the day I replaced the CSC & Clutch. I have since driven the car about 1,000 miles and the clutch pedal still feels good. ZSpeed was helpful with diagnosing the issue and pointing me in the right direction. They were very timely with responses and definitely saved me from trying to replace the CSC.

Kenchan - Upon initial inspection I did not see leaking from anything and the fluid always maintained a full level. I had installed a ZSpeed HD CSC to avoid any OEM CSC issues that people have experienced.

sounds like internal master cylinder failure in this case.

glad to hear ur car is fixed. :D

Definitely the master if you have the ZSpeed HDCSC. Especially if you did not do the master when you did the CSC. The part is ~$125 and shouldn't take more than an hour to install.

doesnt it suck to spend time and money on flood gates and then be blown down by a tornado? :icon17: fak~ :mad: