clutch issues with my 1999 tacoma

the gears engage with pedel very close to the floor. At times it almost seems the gear stays engaged even with pedel to the floor.

My first thought aws to check the pedel height adjustment but that is OK. When checking the pedal I found something odd. I push the pedel to the floor with engine off and when lifted slowly, after about only and inch of travel, I loose pressure in the pedal and it wants to sink back down.

I fear a master cylinder replacement is what is needed but I havent worked on cars since the 80s and no very little about my truck.
Mybe another valve somewhere? Maybe just bleeding the system? How to?

HELP PEASE?

 

check the clutch fluid level first. I will bet it is black/brown. Should be clear. Suck all that old stuff out and put in new DOT 3 and bleed the system and see if the pedal acts normal. If the pedal acts normal and the free play adjustment hasn't been tinkered with then the clutch disk is thin and needs to be replaced.

there are many videos on how to bleed a clutch, much easier to watch than me explaining it.

 

Hey guys. I've been having clutch issues this past week. I assumed it was only the notorious spring problem returning to haunt me, so I put it off for a few days. Well, things got suddenly worse when I found myself unable to disengage the clutch with the pedal fully down on the floor. I replaced the Slave Cylinder this evening and it seems to have helped somewhat, now I can shift again, but the truck still isn't driveable because the clutch engages about 1 cm from the floor and feels like it might be slipping.

Having a really difficult time figuring out my next move. Any advice?

 

usually engagement that close to the mat is a sign of a worn disk.

 

So you think it's time for a new clutch disk? I have about 200k on this one.

The original problem I encountered last week was the pedal was sticking fully to the floor mat and I had to lift it back up with my foot after each time I used the pedal. I wasn't having any issues with slippage until the thing stopped disengaging. Now it feels more like an adjustment issue.

 

It’s your clutch pedal return spring. It’s a goofy coil spring. The plastic bushings on it wear out, and then the slot in the clutch pedal that it rides in wears. Pop the coil spring out and replace it with a brake pedal return spring. It’s a linear spring. Here is a thread about ithttps://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/clutch-pedal-truffle-shuffle.499079/

 

Thank you for your reply, but that's not it. I replaced my worn out clutch pedal assembly 2 years ago. I initially thought it was the spring so I took the torsion spring out yesterday. I thought Slave Cylinder was bad because I was able to shift without pressing the pedal in this morning.

 

imho, yes. When the disk gets thin this translates into the fingers on the pressure plate laying almost flat. The T/O bearing rides against this plate and it being a hyraulic clutch (ie, no adjustment except for free play) there is no "throw" so it engages almost immedialty. Before you take you old PP off look at the fingers and when you put the new disk/PP on look to see just how much farther the fingers are angled. Hopefully she isnt a 4X4 so you dont have to wrestle with that off center weight...

additional unsolicited advice... take the flywheel and the seperator plate off and examine the 2 block core plugs, it just might save you from having to do this job a second time.

 

I just adjusted the pedal height, per FSM recommendations. It was about 1.5" too low. It seems to have improved the clutch engagement point, but now I'm able to shift without the pedal depressed at all.

I'm really not sure what I'm doing.

 

I'm thinking I must have done a poor job bleeding the lines after installing the Slave Cylinder. Clutch Engagement seems to be all over the place when I drove around the neighborhood. Clutch engagement started out at the bottom of the pedal stroke, then moved to the top of the stroke, and one time it got stuck in gear and wouldn't release.

 

I'm going to replace the Clutch Master Cylinder tomorrow and re-bleed the lines and see if that changes anything.

 

OK, so I drove the truck around town today, about 75 miles and had some occasional strange action in the clutch. I had completely removed the original torsion spring yesterday and was waiting for the special order linear spring to come in to Toyota today. Once I installed the new spring the variable action seems to have cleared up and I think I'm back in business. I am going to heed Glamisman's advice though... I think I am near the end of the life of this clutch disk, so I'm going to shop around to have a new one put in.

 

OK Team, I'm still trying to figure this one out. Had some more of that funky clutch action today while reversing. When I press and hold the clutch pedal to the floor the (new) slave cylinder fully extends, then after 2-3 seconds it retracts to about half mast - the push rod won't stay at full length (I swear, if any of you quote me on this...!). Does this mean my (old) master cylinder is leaking-by?

Edit: The effect this has on driving is: as long as I shift quickly it drives fine, but if I ever need to go slow (like while backing out) the clutch disk starts to engage on its own and it's hard to take it out of gear.

 

I can't think of anything else it could be. Good news is aftermarket master cylinders are pretty inexpensive, and also pretty easy to instal.

 

so you've changed both master and slave clutch cylinders? did you make sure they are bled correctly?

 

Actually, I've only replaced the slave cylinder at this point. One of my earlier posts said I was going to do it "tomorrow" and I ended up convincing myself it wasn't needed. Now that I'm having essentially clutch hydraulic E.D. I'm going to go ahead and replace the Master cylinder too.

I re-bled the system today after work using a MityVac and it didn't improve the situation, but I can confirm there's no air in the lines.

 

Camelback Toyota wants $126 for a clutch master cylinder. Rockauto wants $34 for an Aisin OE spec. Anyone else pay the extra $80 for one from Toyota?

 

No, I bought the Aisin one from rock auto (with the Aisin slave cyl as well) all mated with an Aisin clutch kit and have zero issues for 1k miles now

 

I bought this one

Centric Parts 137.44310 Clutch Master Cylinder

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EQ00AU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It lasted a little over a year, and then started leaking around the shaft. I still had my original OEM one on a shelf and put it back on. I saved the original one because I wasn't sure it was bad when I replaced it. I was having trouble with clutch pedal return, and was throwing parts at it. Turned out to be my return spring.

 

One last post to wrap up this thread. I replaced the master cylinder (Aisin, Rock Auto, $34) this morning and the truck drives flawlessly now. The clutch engages at the top of the pedal stroke and the action is consistent and smooth. Now that I know what a failing master cylinder feels like I think I could diagnose it much easier next time. I've been putting up with a harsh clutch for well over a year now, and only got the motivation to fix it when it became undrivable. I wish I had known enough to do the replacement before I had a breakdown.

I also have a spare reservoir cap if anyone needs.