i have had this happen about 3 times now....basically when i am rolling through a stop sign and pulling away in second gear, the truck goes, then kind of "skips" for lack of a better term. basically there is a pause like it feels like the clutch was pushed in for a second then let out. no wild revving, nothing that feels like a slipping clutch, it just skips a beat. all other driving is normal. is this the first sign that my clutch is going?

its a 98 runner, 5 spd. i have no idea how many miles are on this clutch, but the truck has 144,000 miles on it.

 

at 144k, chances are it is original clutch. FWIW my original brake pads lasted that long and at 189k on my tacoma, I still have my original clutch. I get that "bucking" from my truck from time to time, but im not convinced its the clutch doing that.

 

One way to tell is if you are driving with the truck in gear push in your clutch a tiny bit past the resistance (and past the play in the pedal which you should have) at the same time push on the gas a little. If your RPMs go up, your clutch is almost out. This is how I test drive a car I am thinking about buying that has a clutch. I can feel how much is left on the clutch buy pushing very slowly on the pedal. I can feel the play, clutch depth, and the throw out bearing in the pedal even if it is a hydrolic clutch.

 

Riddle me this??? If it's hydraulic would it not be self adjusting? So telling how far gone it is would be a bit difficult? Hmmmmm

Is it just hesitates a wee bit...RPM's don't change at all? Try doing something like this in 3rd and see if you get the same results. How long have you had the truck?

Mine used to slip a wee bit hitting 4th, I'd shift and you could hear it revup a bit before it caught then it would be fine. You could watch the RPM's drop as it would catch. After driving it for a while this quit, I'm thinking the PO could not drive a 5spd well and glazed the clutch. Donno

 

Play does not = clutch thickness. It matters what happens past the play. The play in the pedal is just the distance from the top of the pedal to disengauge the clutch. The distance between the top of the play and where is starts to slip is the clutch thickness, reguardless of how much play you have. I think that with a "glazed" clutch it will actually stick sometimes too. Like you will push in the pedal and nothing will happen for a second.
If the clutch pedal is all the way out and the RPMs are still falling when you step on the gas, the clutch is bad. Time to replace it, along with your throwout bearing and pilot bearing (sometimes this one is on the inside in which case you wouldn't replace it).
I learned something new today. I didn't know if the 5spd manual in the Yotas were hydrolic. I understand what you are saying about that.

Ahh, yes it is best to perform this test at about 40 miles per hour in 4th or 5th gear.