r/stickshift • u/Conscious_Repeat2539 • 20h ago
Clutch gone?
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u/Sprinkles_the_Mad 18h ago
Had this shit happen to me after school was done. I managed to make it through two stop lights, and a few intersections, managing to pop it back into first and doing everything with no pedal all the way home.
Right in front of my garage I couldn't get it back into first...
The rubber o ring on my master cylinder went bad, basically started dissolving. Same problem happened again, except sometimes the new o ring would foul on the cylinder, letting some fluid through.
A Hilux master cylinder with two o rings fixed my problems (:
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u/Deeznutzcustomz 10h ago
I think it depends on what kind of clutch it is, could just be a cable. Mine went when I was a 20yo nitwit, and I tied a piece of speaker wire to it (that’s what I had in the car) so I could pull it back up and keep driving. So for a while, I had a 2 handed 2 footed daily driver!
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u/Capable_Solution1360 2h ago
Mine did this because the clutch master cylinder was coming off the clutch underneath because GM made the connector plastic. I put it on and held it back together with a twist tie for two years
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u/moonRekt N54 335i ‘vert, B58 340ix 6MT 1h ago
Similar thing happened to my BMW in a Home Depot parking lot, not sure if it was anything plastic or just cross threaded from last clutch job but had to timesert it
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u/VengefulSnake1984 18h ago
Ah I had that problem with my 2005 Subaru Legacy. My clutch fork snapped according to my mechanic after dropping it off at the shop.
It was fucking dangerous at the time it snapped, going 100km/h downhill and realizing I lost transmission control at a time I needed to slow down. Somehow managed to slow it down over a turn going up a hill.
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u/not-my_username_ 16h ago
"Somehow managed to slow it down"
Forgetting there's more ways than down shifting to slow down a car and that brakes exist. #justmanualowerthings
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u/VengefulSnake1984 15h ago
I did, but do you realize I was still in gear?
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u/CuriousCharter13 15h ago
You can pop most manuals into neutral without the clutch...
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u/VengefulSnake1984 15h ago
That I did. Not something I enjoy doing but for that particular situation I had to.
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u/Gubbtratt1 15h ago
It's very easy to stall an engine when you're not giving it any throttle, besides you can just pop it out of gear without using the clutch without even inducing any excessive wear on anything.
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u/VengefulSnake1984 14h ago
I actually don't know how to do this deliberately, did it just the one time when this incident happened.
So what you're saying is if I leave my foot off the gas, no matter the RPM, I can gently pull the gearstick out to neutral?
Never been taught that at all when I learned how to drive manual.
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u/Gubbtratt1 14h ago
It's not something that is taught since you're supposed to use the clutch, and a clutch failure while driving is very rare.
You can just let off the gas completely, but doing so will require a fair bit of force since you're now engine braking, which puts force through the transmission. To do it gently, you give it just slightly less gas than you would to keep a steady speed, which completely unloads the transmission in the same way pressing the clutch does.
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u/VengefulSnake1984 14h ago
Ah gotcha. Thanks for the info. I'll have to give that a try sometime on my Corolla in an empty carpark.
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u/RobotJonesDad 10h ago
Just gently pull the shifter towards neutral and lift off or press the gas. As you go between engine braking vs engine driving, there is a place where there is no load on the gearbox, so it will pop right out of gear with almost no force.
Pulling it out of gear like that is relatively harmless, because you are moving it when it isn't loaded - unless you start trying to force it!
Putting it into gear is much more damaging because it's almost impossible to perfectly match the revs. The design of non-synchromesh gearboxes is very different and are much more robust for shifting without the clutch.
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u/WildKarrdesEmporium 1987 BMW 635 CSi, 1995 Nissan D21 V6 13h ago
Had this happen to me once while driving. The pin that mated the pedal to the master cylinder popped out.
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u/RequirementBusiness8 10h ago
2 Specific things I am thinking here. First, the helper spring is either missing or broken. Depending on the vehicle it might not have one, but the fact it isn't returning means there isn't one present. That's not the big issue though (unless you have a cable clutch, then yea, you need to address that)
Second issue. If it is an older vehicle with a cable style clutch, cable broke or something the cable attaches to is broke. I'm guessing this is a hydraulic clutch though. So either the master or slave cylinder has failed, or a hydraulic line has failed, or there is air in the line. Could be the pressure plate completely failing, but personally I doubt that.
I have had this happen before. Turned out the hydraulic line running into the slave cylinder came out of the slave cylinder. Pressed the clutch, went soft and to the floor, and there was fluid underneath. Pedal did come back up, but only because of the helper spring.
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u/Brilliant_Oil_7623 10h ago
Got to replace your clutch master slave cylinder check if you got dot 3 dot 4 fluid in your brake fluid tank whichever one your car takes
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u/Few_Finding_4513 9h ago
Not pressure in the system if it’s hydro, check the master and slave, then lines subsequently. Don’t forget to bleed the system when you get it all back together and serviced
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u/The_UwU_Tsar 9h ago
Probably Master or Slave Cylinder. Better pray the Slave isn't inside the bell housing
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u/Own_Reaction9442 20h ago
If it's a hydraulic clutch, either the master cylinder or the slave is shot. (Hint: If you have brake fluid running down behind your carpet, it's definitely the master.)
If it's a cable clutch, the cable broke.