Recently I started having intermittant problems shifting my 97 4Runner. At times it would not go into gear or very hard to get into gear and also if in gear it may not disengage fully. It reminded me off my 85 4Runner when slave was leaking and master cyl was way low or when slave on my 89 P/U seized. So I figured I would start with the easy stuff and replaced slave no real difference. It may work fine for a few days then it will act up again, once I get it to work properly again it shifts great. It has never acted up while driving only after parking it. Sometimes I go into a store for a few minutes and when I come out I have a problem other times it is after parked over night. I have a new master cylinder but I am not convinced that is the problem either but am not sure what else could cause this. Truck has about 120K on it. Could it be an internal problem with the shifter? Or are the fingers on the pressure plate getting weak? Any ideas?

 

Did you get all of the air out of the system? Are you losing fluid? After I bled the system and made sure that wasn't the problem I adjusted the clutch pedal rod on my 86 a little longer and that seemed to work for me.

 

It is not loosing any fluid. It acts the same as it did before I replaced slave. It had been working properly for several days until I backed up my driveway last night then it was very hard to get out of reverse.

 

my 84 pickup did that and if i remember right it was either my pilot bearing or the pressure plate or both.

 

I have these same issues with my clutch - after parking and shifting in reverse, the clutch doesn't release and I can't shift - engine dies. Once the engine restars, I can shift, but it's pretty hard - mainly 1st and the 2nd gear. Almost every time I stop on light or a stop sign, the engine dies as I can't shift. After pumping it a bit, I'm able to shift again, but it seems to be getting worse. It was like this last time too and I couldn't shift eventually at all - had it towed toa shop... Had master cylinder replaced actually twice in 2 years and I'm hesitant to get it done again - since it didn't seem to fully fix the problem.
There is one thing I had changed before the first MC replacement - as the clutch would squeek like crazy each time - as many of you know, it was the spring of which the bushings were shot. A friend suggested to take the spring out and put in a regular "small" spring in. Well now I wonder if that is part of the problem - that the MC got worn out too fast as there wasn't much pressure to help pull the clutch back up. I went and bought stronger spring but that didn't fix the issue. I may have to get the MC replaced again, but I wish the solution was a lot more simple. I'll try to bleed the system and adjust the clutch pedal rod.
Let me know, if you have any suggestions. It's so unfun to drive it right now.