...The problem itself is not odd, as about two weeks ago i noticed that shifts had become a bit notchy, and the clutch pedal wouldn't spring back up completely, after having been fine since i bought the car in late june. '97 SE 5-speed with about 150k on it. I took it to my mechanic and i manned the clutch while he bled the line after topping the fluid off slightly. Got the Redline MT90 put in while I was there as well. He said that if the shifts got notchy again to bring it back and he'd have to find where air was getting in from and obviously replace it, and that it would be something with the master or slave cylinder(s) and/or lines, which sounds right from what I've read on the .org in the past.

Well, for the rest of that day, the shifts were buttery smooth like they should be. Then the next day they were a little notchy, then the next day a little worse, and the pedal wasn't coming up completely again, and so i was planning on taking it back in.

Then the other night I got out of work and when I hoppd in the car, to my horror the clutch pedal was flat on the floor. I thought I was SOL and would be getting it towed, but when I put my foot under the pedal and pulled it up, just to be sure it was dead... it sprang up completely. Like I said, it hadn't been fully functional like that since the week before when we bled the line. Now, however, the clutch was perfectly springy and she shifted great during the drive home.

However, the next day it was back to notchy shifting and a half-rising pedal. I'm still planning on taking it in to get looked at/fixed soon, but the way it just randomly worked perfect the other night boggles my mind. Any ideas what would have caused that? Last thing, this is only when the car is running... if the car is off, the shifter slides right through the gears again like it should.

 

Maybe a bad slave cylinder or even the master cylinder maybe the piston is getting stuck did you check the fluid also any leaks?

 

check for leaks in the hose and also check the master and slave sylinder,i swear that this is clutch season.

 

If you have fluid in the resevoir, and it's not leaking, you have a bad slave or master clutch cylinder.

I am guessing there is a way to check one or the other, but that is what the search function is for.....