Clutch engagement point changes suddenly?

[karbon]

We had a low of 0F last night and it was only a few degrees this morning. I let the car warm up, and I had the problem of a sticky, sluggish pedal as I was driving to school. It'll stick about halfway for a brief moment after I let off of it, then spring up as normal. This happens after particularly cold weather it seems, but only to some people. After a bit of highway driving, I was finding it very hard to downshift (it even threatened to grind one time) although the pedal was on the floor, and I had to match revs exactly just to get it to shift until I could get it into a parking lot and readjust the adj. rod. I had to screw it in a good 2 turns until I had the usualy free play off the floor. Everything was fine for the rest of the way to school until it started pumping up (of course), so I stopped later and backed the cruise switch out. It still pumps up, and on top of that it seems as if the engagement point has fallen to where it WOULD'VE been if I left the adjustment alone. Now it's up to about 40% of the total travel off the floor rather than the usual 10 or so %, so I'm going to have to back the adj. rod out again.
My question is: why the inconsistent adjustment and what steps can I take to diagnose what's wrong? The things I can think of right now are to check for fluid in the slave cylinder boot indicating a leak, and to check the resorvoir to see if I ran out in the event of a leak.
I'm hoping someone's had this happen before and can tell me if my master or slave cylinders are on their way out. I can't check a lot of these things until I can get home as I'm at school right now.

 

[Logue]

Don't mean to scare you but i had that exact problem and it turned out to be crankwalk. I replaced slave, and master cylinder also. The problem never went away till the death of the motor, walked and died. I replaced with a 6 bolt. Look at endplay.

 

[housegsx]

I had similar problems right after installing my ACT 2100. I didn't have grinding or hard shifting though. It sounds like you had the clutch pedal adjustment rod out too far and you weren't fully disengaging the clutch, hence the grinding and hard shifts.

Then you screwed it in and it's fine for a while, but if you sit in traffic or something it "pumps up". I had this same problem. Try bleeding the slave cylinder again just to be sure it is free of air or bad fluid. Air in the line could possibly cause the "pumping up" feeling. Also, I noticed the adjustment rod is VERY sensitive to adjustment. You said 2 full turns. I think that is actually quite alot. Try 1/4 turns at a time and go for a good drive between adjustments making sure to do alot of stop & go to make sure it's not pumping up like crazy.

 

[exzercist]

well when my car is cold the clutch is hard and sluggish because my fluid is freezong. its down im my celica, supra, supra turbo,gst, and tsi. thats what happens when ur in freezing weather. But in all those times my clutch engaugment point was the same it didnt move around. so maybe you have a leak or is ur clutch going?

 

[Logue]

I had similar problems right after installing my ACT 2100. I didn't have grinding or hard shifting though. It sounds like you had the clutch pedal adjustment rod out too far and you weren't fully disengaging the clutch, hence the grinding and hard shifts.

Then you screwed it in and it's fine for a while, but if you sit in traffic or something it "pumps up". I had this same problem. Try bleeding the slave cylinder again just to be sure it is free of air or bad fluid. Air in the line could possibly cause the "pumping up" feeling. Also, I noticed the adjustment rod is VERY sensitive to adjustment. You said 2 full turns. I think that is actually quite alot. Try 1/4 turns at a time and go for a good drive between adjustments making sure to do alot of stop & go to make sure it's not pumping up like crazy.

^this is true

 

[karbon]

My clutch is relatively new, and still strong. I haven't been fighting the engagement all winter until today. I adjusted it back in to where it "feels right" and had no issues on the way home. I had consistent engagement and no pump-up (I have the cruise switch backed all the way out for now). The pumping up occurs when you have the end of the engagement too high, in fact so high that a part of it is past the clutch pedal stop, so every time you press it you build more and more pressure without being aboe to equalize it anywhere.
I wish I had a heated garage to work on this thing.
I thought crankwalk surfaced in the clutch pedal as it becoming loose on left turns. That's definately not happening.
The clutch seems back to normal for now but I'll keep posting here in case it happens again. In that case I'll KNOW I have some sort of problem. (by the way the locking nut on the adj. rod was not loose and backing out like I was hoping, which would make the problem MUCH easier to identify)

 

[exzercist]

how do you adjust the clutch master rod with out relieving pressure from your clutch system. theres so much pressure how do you push the rod in to make the adjustment. i can see loosen the nut and the pressure will push the rod further in the pedal bracket, but i cant see how if you unscrewed the U bracket all the way to the end of the rod then how would you push the rod in to fit on the pedal bracket.

 

[oldman]

how do you adjust the clutch master rod with out relieving pressure from your clutch system. theres so much pressure how do you push the rod in to make the adjustment. i can see loosen the nut and the pressure will push the rod further in the pedal bracket, but i cant see how if you unscrewed the U bracket all the way to the end of the rod then how would you push the rod in to fit on the pedal bracket.

The rod doesn't get push in or out. It's threaded so you can turn it in using a plier easily after you loosen the lock nut.

 

[karbon]

^ what he said. It's true that it's hard to turn with the pressure built up in the master cylinder. I needed to use a pair of vice-grips to get it turned in enough to relieve the pressure. All is well with the world afterward and it moves just as easily before with the fingers.

 

[UPGRADED2G]

same problem here.......except that my clutch is actually finished. The revs just climb when under boost, but the car doesnt really move. My clutch engagement point is up so high i have to put my seat back some. I can literally use my big toe when changing gears. gears engage WITHIN an inch of pressing the clutch.crazy

 

[exzercist]

using vice grips didnt rip of the rod? thats why i never did it that way becasue if you rip up the rod then that goes into the seals and that could wreck them.

 

[DSM MAN]

Just a quick question, I bled my clutch after i installed it, but im not sure if i did it right. Do you leave the resivour cap off or do you put it on? Because I have adjusted the rod about 2 1/2 turns and i still have an extremely soft spot on the last 2-3 inches, making it really hard for me to shift/takeoff.

 

[exzercist]

leave the cap off but make sure the level doesnt go down . you need to people so you can pump it like ten times hold the clutch down then have ur friend crack the slave cylinder and let the brake fluid out. do that about 3 or 4 times to make sure all air is out.

 

[oldman]

Follow the directions here,

http://www.plymouthlaser.com/slave2.htm

Attach a hose to the bleeder valve and submerge one end in fresh fluid or else a small amount of air will get back into the system before you close the valve back up.