Usually when my car gives trouble I come around the forum. Thought I'd share a problem/solution I recently experienced so that it might help give someone else a point of reference if they have the same thing happen:

My car is '01 and has 160k miles on it. On my way home one night I feel my clutch pedal getting really soft. I knew something wasn't right. After several shifts it finally went to the floor for the last time and didn't return.

I make it to my brother's house and I leave it. I notice the clutch reservoir is empty. We bleed it next day so that I can get it home...barely make it. I find that it looks like the clutch slave cylinder hose is a little oily/grungy and so I go buy the part and put it on. Not too hard. Try to bleed it and never could get it bled. We spent hours on it over the course of several nights trying to get it bled! It was engaging and disengaging the clutch, but the pedal was super soft. I drove it to work, but it got worse as I got to work. I called the dealer and asked how much to bleed the clutch. "We usually charge around $50." Sounds good to me. Take it in, they bleed it and keep it under pressure for couple of hours and notice the master cylinder is pushing air into the system through the pedal?? I never saw much air coming out of the bleeder valves, so that wasn't obvious to me. Anyway, they ended up replacing the master and suggested replacing the slave. I gave the the go ahead and everything is good. Cost $495 which I didn't think was too bad.

I know some people have gotten away with just replacing the hose, but don't be surprised if one of the cylinders goes out. Hopefully the pedal is good for another 160k.

 

Yeah, could've told ya in the was a cylinder :P

My slave literally doesn't do anything lol. Sometimes my clutch goes to the floor, sometimes it's good. I'm too lazy to replace them.

 

replace it, trust me. i just got stuck with a busted slave and now i gotta get it fixed cuz it wont go in gear. after getting it towed btw.

 

It's a pretty easy job though. Just get it done and forget about it.

 

Cmon now, if I replace them (might as well do master too) what's the point of me being a professional procrastinator?

 

got my replaced and it still goes to the floor. goes into gear again, but i only have about 2 inches of pedal travel down by the floor to slip the clutch

 

I guess you have an oxygen tank in your lines haha

 

I was getting a dead pedal every few days then I would have to pump the pedal a few times at stop lights to get the pedal to get pressure back. I bought a new slave cylinder $34.00 and master cylinder $45.00. I put the slave cylinder on the car and it fixed the problem immediately. I am going to get a new clutch hose and change the master cylinder next time I change the oil.

By the way it is super easy to change the slave cylinder, you will spend more time bleeding the clutch then changing the part.

 

I was having the same problem 2 years ago and replaced slave, then master and slave 9 months later after pedal was going to floor and reservoir was draining.
Now I am having a similar problem when I have been driving, the pedal gets soft, but the reservoir is still max. Does this mean the clutch is going, or possibly I need to put a new cable (will SS cable fix?)

 

I have the same problem brought it to the shop and said it was the line from the slave cylinder. Part was 77 from dealer and said it would come to 250 with labor. That sound about right?

 

I am going to try over the winter to put a SS clutch line to see if that helps the soft feeling when it gets really hot out or when I drive for a long time.

 

I had the compete opposite happen to my clutch pedal today. While sitting in a ton of XMas traffic and using the clutch like made, the pedal began to get harder to push in. It's never done this in heavy traffic before so now I'm wondering what's going on?