Well yesterday I drove 7 hours back to college.. I drove 5 1/2 hours straight without stopping to piss or fill up on gas. Well when I was getting off the exit ramp I pushed my clutch in to take it out of 5th gear and I noticed the clutch felt really soft..i mean the pedal felt like there was nothing there..i could push it in very easily.. I still could get the car into gear..i let my turbo timer cool my car down while we all went to get some food...came back out..clutch felt normal again.. is this normal for it to feel so soft on a long drive or is my clutch going bad? Thanks

I know what you mean. After driving for a while or driving with a lot of people in my car, my clutch feels pretty soft too. It still engages great and I can get it into gear so I always just figured I was used to it (I know that sounds weird). I'm not sure if there is an actualy technical reason why it feels soft.

Maybe not the clutch itself, but one of the clutch cylinders (master or slave cylinder) might be starting to go. It's just a guess. Do you notice the location of where the clutch grabs (in relation to pedal movement) changing? If it's moving to the floor, then you have a problem with one of the cylinders.

Yes a clutch cylinder could be going bad, and you could have a small leak that allows air into the hydrolic clutch system... but I have another theory.

Heat: Heat of the motor heats up the brake fluid that is used in your hydrolic clutch system. If the fluid is old the temurature rating of the brake fluid may be pushing it out of it's effective tempurature range. Brake fluid should be changed every couple of years in your brake system, so should it be in your clutch system. I would try to flush and fill/bleed your clutch system and see if the symptoms go away. And get a good brake fluid. I like heavy duty Valvoline fluids, works well for me. There are other good ones out there, just don't skimp and get the cheap no name stuff.



15.9 @ 86.7mph
97 Eclipse RS

Injen CAI, 55mm TB, P&P Intake, Crower Stage 2 Cams, Hooker Header, GS-T Muffler, AFX UDP, Crane Ign Amp, S-AFC

That's what happened when my master cylinder went out.
-derek

Same here.

It only feels really soft after long drives..does that still mean my master cylinder is going out? Will I have to buy a new clutch..i think the owner repaired it like 20 or 30 miles ago..err got a new clutch.. how much will it be to fix the master cylinder or whatever.. Thanks

>It only feels really soft after long drives..does that still
>mean my master cylinder is going out?


It's possible, either that or a slave cylinder.

Will I have to buy a new
>clutch

No, not at all.

..i think the owner repaired it like 20 or 30 miles
>ago..err got a new clutch..

Then it's very possible that whoever replaced the clutch either left some bubbles (air) in the clutch fluid line or in doing the new clutch exploited an already problematic master/slave cylinder.


how much will it be to fix the
>master cylinder or whatever.. Thanks

You can try and bleed your clutch fluid first, and see if there's any air in the lines. If that doesn't work , get a new master cylinder rebuild kit. I've heard people say it costs closer to $40, but I've also heard it costs as little as $15 at Autozone. If this doesn't do the job, then replace your slave cylinder. To learn more about how these parts work, go to www.howstuffworks.com . Then go to your Chiltons or FSM to learn how to replace them.

thanks!

oh yeah one more thing..i think this might mean it's my master/slave cylinder.. whenever i push the clutch in..i hear this noise..it's nothing really noticable but it's been doing that ever since i got the car..just a small noise when i push my clutch in..

I would hope that's perhaps your throwout bearing tapping, or your shift fork, so something clutch related. Given that your clutch mechanism is largely hydraulic, there's not a whole lot of opportunity for noise making.

Otherwise, a lot of people are going to knee-jerk about the onset of crankwalk. If it happens, it happens. There's not a whole lot you can do should that be the case. I would just watch for your crankshaft flying out the side of your car hitting lightposts. That might be dangerous.

well my car has 115k miles on it..i doubt i have crankwalk.. car doesn't stall out on left turns..clutch doesn't feel soft on left turns..rpms don't rise when i press in my clutch.. and rumor has it that early 95s don't have crankwalk because they were built from existing 94 blocks..but i'm pretty sure i don't have crankwalk.. it's always been making that noise and i've had my car for about a year already so it's nothing big i suppose.. in a month and a half i go back home from college and i'm going to bleed my clutch and then repair the master/slave cylinder or whatever.. clutch feels fine..just after long long long drives..6 hours non-stop.. but now i have this like clunk clunk noise..when is tart my car the noise isn't there but when i drive for a while and my car is neutral and idleing i hear this clunk clunk sound coming from driver side engine somewhere..not sure exactly what it is.. i'm stupid