Hard clutch pedal

2005 4cyl 4wd 130k miles

I have a friends truck I’m doing some work to and I noticed the clutch pedal is very hard to push down. Not inoperable, but I’ve driven a lot of Tacomas and this is hardest one to depress. From my experience, a bad clutch would create a softer pedal. I lubed up the pedal to no avail.

The slave cylinder is squeaky (not the pedal) With that said, I’m guessing the slave cylinder is going bad? Any suggestions?

 

do a fluid change
insert rag to soak up most in reservoir
fill and see how it is after

dont recall if there is a bleeder or not so can do gravity drain maybe too

 

There's a bleeder but I'd imagine bad fluid or air in the system would create a softer more spongy pedal. OP, is it the factory oem clutch or after market?

 

I would agree that air would create a spongy pedal. I’m going to change the fluid and give that a try since it is the easiest thing to do and it seems it has never been done before.

 

Wouldn't hurt..Idk about the 05 4cyl but on my 07 6 cylinder the clutch shares a reservoir with the brakes.

 

Update: I changed the fluid with Valvoline 75w90 Synthetic. Oil was very dark. Gears feel like they shift better but no change in the clutch pedal stiffness. The more I think about it, the clutch pedal and slave cylinder work on a different system than the gears inside the transmission. I’m guessing the issue is a slave cylinder.

 

Since it is an 05 it may have had the clutch replaced with a stiffer aftermarket pressure plate.

 

+1 hydraulic issues don’t make sense with these symptoms unless fluid is gone. Could also be broken arms on pressure plate or something causing the throw out bearing to be hanging up on the input shaft.

 

maybe somebody roasted the clutch...alot of times that will heat up the springs on the pressure plate and make it more difficult to engage the clutch...or as suggested maybe the clutch was upgraded to a heavier duty.

 

The clutch in my 4cyl has always been meh to me. It's heavy, hardly any feedback and has always squeaked.
Bought the truck just under 100k, has just under 200k now. Still original clutch. Guy I bought it from told me it was always like that.