bgates1654

I am not absolutely sure but I have reason to beleive that my E-brake is sticking. I noticed it about a week ago or so. I was leaving work at 11:30 and the temp had dropped below freezing. When I started driving I noticed the car was not picking up like it should and when I pushed in the clutch the car was slowing down much more quickly than when I usually coast. Also I was getting the feeling of being held back so to speak. After 10min or so it had subsided to the point of being no longer noticeable. Just friday night it dropped below freezing again. This time it was much more noticeeable. When I released the parking brake and went to reverse out of my parking spot the car front end hunched down and moved much slower than I expected. I have felt this "hunching down of the front end" before when I accidentily left the parking brake engaged and tried to reverse out of a parking spot. It also came to a stop much quicker than expected when I pushed in the clutch. At this point I decided it was most likely the E-brake sticking and hypothesized that it was happening when it is below freezing. However today (it was about 35-40 F today) when I visited my parents I had went inside to drop some things off and came out 5-10min later to grab the rest and smelled an odor similar to a clutch burning (Heh I learned to drive stick on this car and I smelled that once or twice.) From my knowledge a clutch is similar to a brake in the way it works, so I am assuming they smell similar when they are abused. Can anyone confirm my guess?

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Also I have noticed lately that while I am driving to work about halfway there I get a rattle or a groan when I release the clutch and it was not quite a perfect shift. I have heard of a clutch rattle TSB but is that for the 02-03? Has anyone experienced that for an 03? Oddly enough I did not hear it again today. Hopefully the problem has fixed itself.

I apologize for writing a book.