Clutch engagement issue

Hey guys,

I have a 2003 Tacoma with 260k miles on it. A few months ago, the transmission was beginning to be a pain to shift and I noticed the slave cylinder was leaking pretty badly. So I replaced the slave cylinder with AISIN equivalent part. I was going to replace the master cylinder, but from a visual inspection, there were no indication of any leaks coming from it, so I decided to not replace a master cylinder to stay under my budget.

Recently, it’s gotten pretty cold outside. On a cold start, the transmission has gotten hard to shift again, but I noticed it gets better when the truck warms up. So that led me to think that there’s an air bubble in the system that I need to bleed out. I spent several hours bleeding the system this weekend with no success. I couldn’t get the slave cylinder to push the fork far enough to disengage the clutch.

I’ve been adjusted the clutch pedal. But I had to extend it out to its max and when I say max, I mean, the master cylinder push rod is hanging on by maybe one thread. If I adjust any further, the push rod disconnects from the pedal and any closer, I can’t get the pedal to disengage the clutch enough to shift gears

I am kind of at a loss of what else to do.

I also noticed that the actual clutch pedal assembly is a bit loose on the firewall but I don’t think it’s loose enough to actually be able to make a difference on such a fine margin of error of clutch engagement.

Anyone have an ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

Power bleed it, it's hard to pull air down. If that doesn't work, it may be clutch time.

 

Put a new clutch assembly in it.

 

Fire walls do indeed break as well as Clutch brackets.

Master cylinders can have internal leaks .

The rubber clutch hose can swell like a balloon with age

Air can be drawn into the hydraulic system with out fluid leaks.

All of the above at the same time.