So I got in the car yesterday and went to reverse and it wouldn't go into reverse. I thought hm that's weird, something isn't right. I took it out and then realized that my clutch felt really squishy? Soft? You have to depress it way to the floor before it bites plus the shifting is kinda notchy. Anyway, someone had said my clutch was really hard to depress a couple years ago compared to their car. Upon reading about this, a couple people said slave cylinder, a couple people said compression plate. This just came about randomly yesterday. It was fine about 4-5 days before this. So I guess my question is, has anyone had this problem? If you have what was your solution?

 

Easy stuff first... have you checked the clutch fluid lately?

 

Look inside the car, behind the clutch pedal, where the rod behind the clutch pedal actually goes into the firewall, so to speak..
Does it look greasy and nasty? If it does,it shouldn't. That means it is leaking.

What year is your car? The clutch master cylinder, from my personal experience, lasts about 10 years before it will start to leak.

Like Julie said...open the hood and check the clutch fluid reservoir. If it's low, then there's air in the system, because the fluid leaked out.

 

I checked the fluid yesterday and I would say yes it is low. That was the first thing I checked. I didn't add any because I figured there would be air in the line similar to bleeding brakes. Right? The air would just stay in there even if I added cause it would be leaking? The rod that goes into the firewall so to speak, is filthy. It's a 04 so you're right about it being 10 years old. How easy of a fix is this? Since we have determined master cylinder.

 

This happened to MY03 recently. Shifting did not feel notchy but the clutch engagement point was noticeably lower (closer to the floor) than normal. Turns out I had totally neglected the clutch fluid and the reservoir was almost empty! Bf cleaned it out and refilled it. According to Billman250, no need to even bleed it. See this thread.

 

ok. so this is gonna be the easiest fix for this. my fluid is pretty dirty so i can imagine there is some kind of dirt inbetween seals. now i gotta see if my buddy has a bleeder so i can change the fluid out.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

Bleeding the clutch is really simple. It is just like the brakes. There is even a bleeder valve underneath the car just behind the front wheel towards the center of the car. We have done this many times on install day. You car get a bleeder kit for about 75 that hooks up to the air compressor. It draws the fluid out and all you do is put new in as it is drawing the dirty fluid out. Takes about 10 mins with 2 people.

 

ended up going with the gravity method. seems to have worked for now. clutch came back to normal and everything, lets hope it stays that way for a little bit. thanks for the info jimmi. thanks for everyones help.