Koolsilver

The last few mornings I have gotten into my car to find that my clutch will not fully disengage. Trying to go into reverse is not possible without forcing it in and grinding a lot and I can get into first if am pretty forceful with the shifter and once it is in first the car will start to slowly move forward. I've tried pumping the pedal to no avail it seems the only thing that works is driving. After driving about a block or two to get out of my neighborhood everything becomes fine and normal again and usually is good for the rest of the day. It seems that the car has to be sitting over night for it to start acting up. The clutch pedal also feels as if it has much more free play near the top then normal when it doesn't want to disengage but again it goes back to norma after a bit of driving.

I'm pretty stumped on what could be going on especially since it seems to only be happening when first started in the morning. Another thing that could be relevant to the issue is I've noticed starting about two weeks ago that I hear a faint whining noise when accelerating. I first only noticed it if I was going 80+mph but now I'm starting to hear it around 40+mph. Other than that I have the good ole cement mixer transmission.

Relevant info on car: 2003 MT touring, all transmission related components are stock besides RJM clutch pedal. Flushed clutch fluid about 15k~ miles ago or about 6 months-1 year. Clutch and flywheel supposedly replaced by previous owner with OEM parts about 40k miles ago. Trans and diff fluid have about 25k on them.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Any idea if the throwout bearing or slave cylinder were replaced when the clutch and flywheel were done? Is the fluid level in the clutch master the same? Have you tried bleeding the clutch since this began happening?

Koolsilver

I'm not sure what was replaced during the clutch and flywheel replacement. The fluid level in the reservoir hasn't changed. I have not tried bleeding it yet, I don't have much time to work on the car so I haven't been able to try many things yet.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

when did you install the rjm?

Cux350z

iTrader: (162)

adjust the rjm

guitman32

iTrader: (15)

Assuming the RJM is adjusted properly, it is most likely your clutch master and/or slave cylinder failing. They can fail in funny ways, and not necessarily drop your fluid level while going out. Don't leave it for too long as this can lead to other issues if left alone (that is synchro friction moving the car slowly as you try and force it into gear, not good for them)

Aside from a bleed (which may alleviate the symptoms temporarily), you should replace both master and slave and I also recommend you replace the rubber fluid line between your reservoir and master cylinder.

Koolsilver

I've had the rjm installed for over 6 months but I'll take a look at it again. The biggest thing throwing me off is that it only happens after sitting over night at gets better within a mile of driving.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

i would start with a flush and bleed,

guitman32

iTrader: (15)

If you had said that happens only in certain gears I would for sure suspect bum synchros as is common with early model transmissions, but since it happens in all gears that likely isnt the issue.

If it was a clutch/flywheel install issue there is no way you could have gone 40k before noticing.

Your only culprits are something to do with the RJM install and the hydraulics, the latter being extremely common on this platform.

A failing master and/or slave will cause this exact issue. At its worst you wont be able to get into any gear, hot or cold. As said bleed first then see how it likes it.

Koolsilver

I'm going to try bleeding/flushing it hopefully later on this week once I have time. I just remembered another relevant issue regarding my clutch. I've noticed for quite some time now, probably at least 6 months that quite frequently when I push in the clutch to shift at higher RPMs, I would guess 5k+, I hear a squeaking/honking type of noise; the best way to describe the noise would be it sounds like a duck or goose lol.

Koolsilver

So I had time to flush the clutch fluid last week. For the flush I used JasonZya's method with a motive power bleeder and the wilwood reservoir add on. During the flush a little bit of bubbles came out at first but not much the fluid looked good; however, I did notice it was flowing slowly and I had to pump the clutch a bit to get it moving. All last week my clutch worked normally so I thought the flush had fixed it. Yesterday I did some spirited driving which involved a lot of shifting and rev matching etc. It performed well the whole time, but today after letting it sit over night I had the same issue. So now I'm leaning towards thinking I need to replace one of the cylinders. The only thing that is still confusing me is the issue that when I push in the clutch at high RPMs it makes that squeaking type of noise and this morning when I had the issue of the clutch not disengaging I heard a similar noise.

nizmo_0385

iTrader: (5)

My pedal squeaks and pops the last inch or so at the top

travlee

iTrader: (8)

you can adjust the clevis and rod some to get rid of that free play, just do it enough to where it pops it up all the way