ImperfectTruth
Probationary Member
- 8
- 1
- Feb 12, 2012
-
Portland,
Indiana
I'll try to be as brief as possible while being thorough in hopes of getting a more 'professional' opinion and putting this thing to bed.. Car is a '99 GS 5 speed N/T.
About 2 weeks or so my car started intermittently stuttering/bucking - please bear with me it's hard to explain. The best way I could describe it was it's like someone that's first learning to drive a stick, they get to that point where they're letting out on the clutch and hesitant to give it gas so the car starts 'bucking'. Keep in mind my car wasn't as violent as this, but that's as accurately as I can describe it.
The issue seemed to be most frequent/worse after first taking off from a stop around 2k or so, or if I'd be cruising in third gear around 2-3k down the street. Needing to do it anyway and just seeing if it would help, I threw some new plugs and wires at it. Issue seemed unchanged, just been dealing with it.
Fast forward to this morning after I get off work - I plop down in the car and immediately notice a difference in shifter feel. Shifts felt very 'stiff', with not much movement between gears if that makes sense. Car shifted fine before with no issues, a little clunky going into reverse but I thought that was the norm. Did some research on clutch pedal adjustment, checked out master/slave for leaks etc. While I don't seem to have the MC adjustment rod as shown in Jaf's video, I did back off the upper bump stop (14mm bolt) about 1/4" to raise the pedal and get more travel. Shifts immediately returned to normal.
In summary (sorry for length!) - While I haven't had a chance to drive the car yet to see if helped my previous issue, I included that information to be thorough and see if it possibly relates. Because of the above mentioned issue, and all of a sudden having to adjust my clutch pedal, in your guys' opinion does this point to a worn clutch or master cylinder? Possibly both? I'm leaning toward the MC however it isn't leaking and I always thought that was the first indication, not 'wow, suddenly my car shifts like garbage'.
Thanks guys!
40 views and no replies, that's rather odd, but to update the thread:
Drove the car around town a little today and to/from work. Stuttering and slight bucking issue is still present and I still cant reproduce it. Shifts feel a lot better, I'd say a bit better than they did previously honestly. Taking off from a stop in the car still doesn't feel quite right. Seems like there is some hesitation in the clutch or something.
After doing some more reading and price checking both slave/master cylinders at rock auto I'm just going to pull the trigger and replace both at this time. My thinking leads me to believe one or the other, possibly both, are bad or going bad due to suddenly needing 1/4"-1/2" pedal travel for all to be right in the world. Better to spend the $50 for piece of mind if nothing else imho..
Will update this thread again once these two items are changed in hopes of possibly helping someone else out down the road.
About 2 weeks or so my car started intermittently stuttering/bucking - please bear with me it's hard to explain. The best way I could describe it was it's like someone that's first learning to drive a stick, they get to that point where they're letting out on the clutch and hesitant to give it gas so the car starts 'bucking'. Keep in mind my car wasn't as violent as this, but that's as accurately as I can describe it.
The issue seemed to be most frequent/worse after first taking off from a stop around 2k or so, or if I'd be cruising in third gear around 2-3k down the street. Needing to do it anyway and just seeing if it would help, I threw some new plugs and wires at it. Issue seemed unchanged, just been dealing with it.
Fast forward to this morning after I get off work - I plop down in the car and immediately notice a difference in shifter feel. Shifts felt very 'stiff', with not much movement between gears if that makes sense. Car shifted fine before with no issues, a little clunky going into reverse but I thought that was the norm. Did some research on clutch pedal adjustment, checked out master/slave for leaks etc. While I don't seem to have the MC adjustment rod as shown in Jaf's video, I did back off the upper bump stop (14mm bolt) about 1/4" to raise the pedal and get more travel. Shifts immediately returned to normal.
In summary (sorry for length!) - While I haven't had a chance to drive the car yet to see if helped my previous issue, I included that information to be thorough and see if it possibly relates. Because of the above mentioned issue, and all of a sudden having to adjust my clutch pedal, in your guys' opinion does this point to a worn clutch or master cylinder? Possibly both? I'm leaning toward the MC however it isn't leaking and I always thought that was the first indication, not 'wow, suddenly my car shifts like garbage'.
Thanks guys!
40 views and no replies, that's rather odd, but to update the thread:
Drove the car around town a little today and to/from work. Stuttering and slight bucking issue is still present and I still cant reproduce it. Shifts feel a lot better, I'd say a bit better than they did previously honestly. Taking off from a stop in the car still doesn't feel quite right. Seems like there is some hesitation in the clutch or something.
After doing some more reading and price checking both slave/master cylinders at rock auto I'm just going to pull the trigger and replace both at this time. My thinking leads me to believe one or the other, possibly both, are bad or going bad due to suddenly needing 1/4"-1/2" pedal travel for all to be right in the world. Better to spend the $50 for piece of mind if nothing else imho..
Will update this thread again once these two items are changed in hopes of possibly helping someone else out down the road.
