clutch royally f-ed

I drive a 97 Pathfinder SE with 4by and manual tranny. Recently, the
clutch pedal has stopped working. If the car is in gear, it is hard to
get out of gear. If it is out of gear, it is nearly impossible to get
into gear. It is as if the clutch pedal is not dis-engaging all the
way (or at all sometimes) from the flywheel. Has anybody else
expeirienced or heard of this?
The dealer reccomended that the Master Cylinder for the clutch be
replaced, but that only fixed the problem for a few days--already I
can hardly shift again!!

James wrote:
>
> I drive a 97 Pathfinder SE with 4by and manual tranny. Recently, the
> clutch pedal has stopped working. If the car is in gear, it is hard to
> get out of gear. If it is out of gear, it is nearly impossible to get
> into gear. It is as if the clutch pedal is not dis-engaging all the
> way (or at all sometimes) from the flywheel. Has anybody else
> expeirienced or heard of this?
> The dealer reccomended that the Master Cylinder for the clutch be
> replaced, but that only fixed the problem for a few days--already I
> can hardly shift again!!

There is also a slave cylinder. A bad m/c is usually indicated by fluid leaking down off the clutch pedal.

--
Roger

James wrote:
>
> I drive a 97 Pathfinder SE with 4by and manual tranny. Recently, the
> clutch pedal has stopped working. If the car is in gear, it is hard to
> get out of gear. If it is out of gear, it is nearly impossible to get
> into gear. It is as if the clutch pedal is not dis-engaging all the
> way (or at all sometimes) from the flywheel. Has anybody else
> expeirienced or heard of this?
> The dealer reccomended that the Master Cylinder for the clutch be
> replaced, but that only fixed the problem for a few days--already I
> can hardly shift again!!

There is also a slave cylinder. A bad m/c is usually indicated by fluid leaking down off the clutch pedal.

--
Roger

Roughly 1/5/04 13:18, James's monkeys randomly typed:

> I drive a 97 Pathfinder SE with 4by and manual tranny. Recently, the
> clutch pedal has stopped working. If the car is in gear, it is hard to
> get out of gear. If it is out of gear, it is nearly impossible to get
> into gear. It is as if the clutch pedal is not dis-engaging all the
> way (or at all sometimes) from the flywheel. Has anybody else
> expeirienced or heard of this?
> The dealer reccomended that the Master Cylinder for the clutch be
> replaced, but that only fixed the problem for a few days--already I
> can hardly shift again!!

Looks like they just did a guess and swap rather than a diagnosis.
It could be that they just didn't bleed it properly after replacing
the master cylinder. Or you could have a bad slave cylinder or
the clutch release itself. Once you get down in the clutch area,
is almost always cheaper to shotgun it and replace everything since
the parts are cheaper than the labor to get at them.

Still, would expect the dealer to have done at least 30 seconds
of testing before swapping anything...silly me.

--
Fan of the dumbest team in America.

Roughly 1/5/04 13:18, James's monkeys randomly typed:

> I drive a 97 Pathfinder SE with 4by and manual tranny. Recently, the
> clutch pedal has stopped working. If the car is in gear, it is hard to
> get out of gear. If it is out of gear, it is nearly impossible to get
> into gear. It is as if the clutch pedal is not dis-engaging all the
> way (or at all sometimes) from the flywheel. Has anybody else
> expeirienced or heard of this?
> The dealer reccomended that the Master Cylinder for the clutch be
> replaced, but that only fixed the problem for a few days--already I
> can hardly shift again!!

Looks like they just did a guess and swap rather than a diagnosis.
It could be that they just didn't bleed it properly after replacing
the master cylinder. Or you could have a bad slave cylinder or
the clutch release itself. Once you get down in the clutch area,
is almost always cheaper to shotgun it and replace everything since
the parts are cheaper than the labor to get at them.

Still, would expect the dealer to have done at least 30 seconds
of testing before swapping anything...silly me.

--
Fan of the dumbest team in America.

(James) wrote:
>I drive a 97 Pathfinder SE with 4by and manual tranny. Recently, the
>clutch pedal has stopped working. If the car is in gear, it is hard to
>get out of gear. If it is out of gear, it is nearly impossible to get
>into gear. It is as if the clutch pedal is not dis-engaging all the
>way (or at all sometimes) from the flywheel. Has anybody else
>expeirienced or heard of this?
>The dealer reccomended that the Master Cylinder for the clutch be
>replaced, but that only fixed the problem for a few days--already I
>can hardly shift again!!

<posted and emailed>

I'm not sure of the relevance to your situation, but I noticed a
similar behavior on my Scout (no hydraulic clutch, though). It wasn't
until I removed the flywheel inspection cover and took a close look at
the clutch pressure plate that I saw the three adjusting bolts that
control the clutch finger location/travel had backed off (even though
they were tack welded in place originally). I tightened them to bring
the finger travel back into spec and double nutted each and the
problem has not shown up since.
HTH,
Myron

(James) wrote:
>I drive a 97 Pathfinder SE with 4by and manual tranny. Recently, the
>clutch pedal has stopped working. If the car is in gear, it is hard to
>get out of gear. If it is out of gear, it is nearly impossible to get
>into gear. It is as if the clutch pedal is not dis-engaging all the
>way (or at all sometimes) from the flywheel. Has anybody else
>expeirienced or heard of this?
>The dealer reccomended that the Master Cylinder for the clutch be
>replaced, but that only fixed the problem for a few days--already I
>can hardly shift again!!

<posted and emailed>

I'm not sure of the relevance to your situation, but I noticed a
similar behavior on my Scout (no hydraulic clutch, though). It wasn't
until I removed the flywheel inspection cover and took a close look at
the clutch pressure plate that I saw the three adjusting bolts that
control the clutch finger location/travel had backed off (even though
they were tack welded in place originally). I tightened them to bring
the finger travel back into spec and double nutted each and the
problem has not shown up since.
HTH,
Myron

(James) wrote in message . com>...
> I drive a 97 Pathfinder SE with 4by and manual tranny. Recently, the
> clutch pedal has stopped working. If the car is in gear, it is hard to
> get out of gear. If it is out of gear, it is nearly impossible to get
> into gear. It is as if the clutch pedal is not dis-engaging all the
> way (or at all sometimes) from the flywheel. Has anybody else
> expeirienced or heard of this?
> The dealer reccomended that the Master Cylinder for the clutch be
> replaced, but that only fixed the problem for a few days--already I
> can hardly shift again!!

The Answer:
I got took my Pathy to the dealer yesterday and got word today that
the new master cylinder that was installed to replace the old one was
not installed properly. The mechanic bled the system and rejuiced it.
Apparently there was air in the hydraulic system that was causing the
symptoms.

(James) wrote in message . com>...
> I drive a 97 Pathfinder SE with 4by and manual tranny. Recently, the
> clutch pedal has stopped working. If the car is in gear, it is hard to
> get out of gear. If it is out of gear, it is nearly impossible to get
> into gear. It is as if the clutch pedal is not dis-engaging all the
> way (or at all sometimes) from the flywheel. Has anybody else
> expeirienced or heard of this?
> The dealer reccomended that the Master Cylinder for the clutch be
> replaced, but that only fixed the problem for a few days--already I
> can hardly shift again!!

The Answer:
I got took my Pathy to the dealer yesterday and got word today that
the new master cylinder that was installed to replace the old one was
not installed properly. The mechanic bled the system and rejuiced it.
Apparently there was air in the hydraulic system that was causing the
symptoms.