UsualDosage

Hey all. New to the boards, and I've been trying to find out the root of this problem, so hopefully someone here can confirm my suspicion, or just rule it out completely.

I have a 2002 Tacoma Xtra Cab TRD with a 5 speed manual. Recently, I noticed that often times I would press the clutch down, shift, and when I took my foot off, the clutch would not return, or, rather, come up very slowly. I found I could hook my foot on the other side and pull it back up manually. It didn't seem to do this when the engine wasn't running.

I've seen this behavior before with a brake system's master cylinder on an old Mustang I had. I'm not sure, but I think the truck's problem may caused by a slowly failing clutch master cylinder. Doesn't look like a big deal to change, but has anyone experienced anything similar? I suppose it could also be the slave cylinder, but I figured on starting with the simplest fix, first. The truck only has about 60k on it, and I'm fairly certain the clutch itself still has plenty of life left in it.

Just hoping for some advice before I start buying parts. Thanks in advance for any tips!

toytech76

Try checking your clutch pedal bracket and the spring bushings. Those will sometimes make your pedal not return fully

kmcaprice14

Only if they are physically obstructing the return. Without any spring at all, the clutch will return very briskly. The spring is just to bring it up that extra 1/2". I would suspect a hydraulic issues as well. Put more fluid in the system, see what that does, then go from there.

But yes, it wouldn't hurt to give it a quick look to make sure that the crazy spring toyota uses stock (I long since replaced mine with a linear spring) is not actually obstructing the up stroke of the clutch pedal.

UsualDosage

Yeah, I had checked the spring and bushing earlier since I'd heard about the defects. They both actually look fine (mine used to squeak like everyone else's but some lithium grease cleared that up). Like I said before, the clutch only sticks when the motor is running. When it's off, it returns like it's supposed to.

I added some more fluid to the system after noticing that it indeed was a bit low. I traced the lines and there don't appear to be any visible leaks. I'm going to replace the clutch master cylinder as well, and drain the system just to be on the safe side. FYI, the cylinder was only about $33 from Auto Parts Train, so I figured that was affordable.

Thanks for the quick responses!