Is a funky clutch pedal a disaster waiting to happen?

Hi,

First of all, I want to say that it's been a *long* time since I've been
here, and it was great to see Leon's and Lanny's names when the list
window opened! :-)

My car: '99 Miata with just under 20K miles (oh, how embarrassing).

My clutch pedal just got wiggy on me: there's a lot of play before the
pedal has resistance, which occurs when it is not too far from the
floor. I can shift OK when the clutch pedal is in all of the way. (For
now, anyway...)

Is this an indication that something dire is about to happen and the
next place I drive to should be a repair facility? I can't get my car
in for service until next week, and there are a few places I need to go
in the meantime. Also, the dealer* is miles away across the Golden Gate
Bridge, and I'm concerned that my car might not make it all the way
there. (There is a dealer in the city, but they have a bad reputation,
and I would like to avoid taking my care there, if possible.)

*I am lacking a good mechanic in San Francisco. If anyone can recommend
a good one, I'm all ears.

I know this is difficult for anyone to guess, but ... how cautious do I
need to be? I have an appointment in the city in about 30 minutes that
I need to drive to, so hopefully I'll make that round trip OK. Should I
stop driving after that until I can go for service?

Thanks very much in advance for any info you can provide.

Elizabeth

On 2005-10-14, elizabeth friedman > wrote:

> My clutch pedal just got wiggy on me: there's a lot of play before the
> pedal has resistance, which occurs when it is not too far from the
> floor. I can shift OK when the clutch pedal is in all of the way. (For
> now, anyway...)

Have you checked the clutch fluid level?

--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! Yow! I want my nose
at in lights!
visi.com

If it's clutch pedal side to side play by all means get things checked.
Otherwise, it's likely the usual slave cylinder leaking problem.
(Which should also be checked, since the clutch may stop working, and leave
you stranded.)

"elizabeth friedman" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> First of all, I want to say that it's been a *long* time since I've been
> here, and it was great to see Leon's and Lanny's names when the list
> window opened! :-)
>
> My car: '99 Miata with just under 20K miles (oh, how embarrassing).
>
> My clutch pedal just got wiggy on me: there's a lot of play before the
> pedal has resistance, which occurs when it is not too far from the
> floor. I can shift OK when the clutch pedal is in all of the way. (For
> now, anyway...)
>
> Is this an indication that something dire is about to happen and the
> next place I drive to should be a repair facility? I can't get my car
> in for service until next week, and there are a few places I need to go
> in the meantime. Also, the dealer* is miles away across the Golden Gate
> Bridge, and I'm concerned that my car might not make it all the way
> there. (There is a dealer in the city, but they have a bad reputation,
> and I would like to avoid taking my care there, if possible.)
>
> *I am lacking a good mechanic in San Francisco. If anyone can recommend
> a good one, I'm all ears.
>
> I know this is difficult for anyone to guess, but ... how cautious do I
> need to be? I have an appointment in the city in about 30 minutes that
> I need to drive to, so hopefully I'll make that round trip OK. Should I
> stop driving after that until I can go for service?
>
> Thanks very much in advance for any info you can provide.
>
> Elizabeth