I tried searching but I couldnt find much that seemed to fit my problem so here it is...

I was driving over to my friends house, doing about 40 or so, i keep my foot on the clutch but not pressed on it, just resting. All of the sudden i feel this shudder come from the clutch and a snap. I says to myself, "self this cant be good..." I downshift to check, and the clutch seems to have lost some of its travel, and it doesnt have as much preasure pushing back on my foot. It was also a little harder to shift. I figure, well I can still shift everything should be okay.

Well the night lingers on, and about 3hrs later I go out to get some grub. Now the shifting is noticablly harder. I make it back to my friends house and hope that itll somehow go away by morning. Well i wake up this morning, and head out to go home and I cant even get into first gear. I have to rev it in neautral with the clutch engaged, and then push it into first until it catches now to get it in. Once in first, I can still shift to 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th, but it is harder then it should be, noticablly notchier. The higher I go up in gear though the easier it becomes. IE its easier to shift from 4th to 5th then 1st to 2nd.

Question is, What the heck happened? How much is it going to cost me to fix? and How do i go about keeping this from happening again?

Thanks in advance for any help guys...

 

Clutch slave. Really cheap and easy. Just make sure to bleed the lines.

 

Alrighty, Should i go over to the stealership? or Is this something say Autozone/Napa/Pep Boys would have?

 

IMO, from other cars, other than toyota, the generic auto parts stores have seals that aren't near the quality and fail more often than those of the manufacturer. Check prices to see if it's worth your while.

 

I'll bet you $20 the metal bracket that holds the clutch broke, it just happened to me a few weeks ago. Sounds like a carbon copy of my experiance.

Lamm

 

nah i bet it is the clutch master cylinder... sounds exactly like what happened to my civic a few years back.... the part was like 300$ i think maybe its cheaper or i got ripped off back then, but i think you can do it yourself if you have some basic knowledge of how a car works lol... good luck - steve

 

My bet stands, get up under the dash and check, very carefully. Imissed it when I looked for it and so did my mechanics the first try. Those cracks can be small. Look for about a $300 bill too.

Lamm

 

I had my friend come over and have a look, hes worked at a bunch of auto shops and installs hydraulics now, he thinks its the clutch slave as well. He took a look under the dash, and was able to drive it around the block. So tommorow we are going to try and replace it. Hopefully it works!

 

It may be but there is no concivable reason why the slave cyl. would fail when it was not being used, its just an overbuilt syringe. If you felt a shudder, that would have to be in the pedal assembly. Even if the hydraulics somehow failed at 0 PSI you wouldn't feel a "shuddr", just a lack of resistance. Go ahead and replace your slave, its only $40 and they do wear out, but I still feel that you had a breakage in the pedal assembley.

I'm serious about the cracks, they are near impossibe to see or find. Try looking with a good flashlight and have a friend press the clutch for you, that may help. Good Luck,

Lamm

 

They wear out slowly, like he said it was harder to shift early in the day and then later it would not go at all. Same thing happened to me. I was coming home from school and it was shifting funny, go to work without thinking anything and then when i get off at like 10 i cant get it into gear and there is no pressure on the clutch.

 

When the slave went in my Corolla, it didn't make any noise, the pedal went straight to the floor and stayed there.

When the clutch pedal plate broke in my 4Runner, it made a loud pop and then it was very difficult to drive. I'd say check that plate while you're in there, can't hurt and will save you more downtime.

 

Yes but the same thing also happened to me when the bracket broke. Every press of the clutch bent it a little further out of whack. If you know a lot about the pedal assembly (you may, don't know) then you would know how incredibly sensitive it is. Only a one thread differece on the pushrod makes it feel a lot different.

I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything, but if he's accuretly describing the problem, it is an exact match of what I have suggested, It occured to me only weeks ago. Time will tell i guess...

Lamm

 

yeah sounds good, just similar to the slave too.

 

Well it hasnt gone limp to the floor, and we checked the slave cylinder or whatever its called, and there was still fluid my friend thought it could have lost fluid, Im thinking its that Bracket, could you tell me where i can find it? My guess would be up near the clutch where it goes into the engine compartment? Sorry if its a bad description, its late and I had a lil to much to drink earlier

 

Is this bracket you're talking about under the dash, attached to the pedal? Or is it on the clutch assembly in the bell housing?

 

Latest Development in my Never Ending Shifting Story....

Friday 10:27am: Went out to see what I could find, Its really hard to wiggle into that spot between the seat and the dash, but somehow i managed. Got up to looking in there and pushed the clutch in and out. First thing i noticed was This (see attached picture)... I believe it has somehow gotten loose and that is causing my problems? Im assuming they are supposed to be connected, when i release the clutch they butt up right next to each other, but when i push it down, the clutch moves away. The metal ummm rod? is threaded so im guessing that its supposed to be threaded into the whole? Could this be whats causing my probs?

 

kinda hard to tell from that picture, i can't quite get oriented..

anyway, my first thought when i read the original post was either the spring or the bracket on the clutch pedal..

if it is the spring or the bracket, it can be easily fixed (without replacing the bracket) by replacing the torsion spring with a linear spring from home depot... there's a thread around here somewhere..

-Russell

 

Could it be the clutch release fork that is broken or has come off of the pivot point in the bellhousing? The slave cylinder is moving correctly but there is nothing holding the clutch fork to it. This is the fork that is attached to the throwout bearing. I've seen these forks break(but not on a 4R) and also the clip that holds it to the pivot point. See if the lever is wobbling freely. Take the rubber boot off of it and you may be able to see inside.

It may also be the plate under the dash. My brothers 90 4runner had that happen. He was going to replace it before it got totaled.

Paul

 

I had to have the clutch pedal bracket replaced in Feb - $400.

 

Well me and my friend, went down to a Dismantler and picked up a new Clutch Slave Cylinder: $25 some Dot 3 Brake Fluid: $2. Went home put the new Slave Cylinder in, bled the lines, and Adjusted the clutch a bit, It runs better then it did before now. Thanks for all the help guys. Only took us about 30mins to install it and bleed the lines. Took 45mins for the guy at the dismantler to unbolt the 2 screws that hold it in... Think he had a lil to much before work...