Need Help Diagnosing Clutch/Transmission Issue

[JScar52]

Hi All,

My '96 5 speed manual functions perfectly, for the first 20 - 30 minutes of driving. It can be stop and go, surface road driving or freeway driving. After that amount of time, the clutch pedal is harder to push in, doesn't want to come back up and the gears are slower to engage. For example, after it starts acting up, I can barely get the truck to move. I've had to limp it home a few times.

If I let the truck sit and cool down for at least an hour, everything's good again and I can drive for another 20 minutes or so.

Any ideas on what the problem could be?

 

[franklin2]

What does the fluid look like in the clutch reservoir? If it's very dark brown or black, I would take a tool and suck it out and put new brake fluid in it. Then see if you can get to the bleeder and get a helper to push that new fluid down to the slave. Then fill to the correct level in the reservoir and see if that helps it.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I would say your clutch master cylinder is shot, my '97 decided to do that about 450 miles from home when we were on our way between Bakersfield CA and Salem OR, I was downshifting to go up a hill and it didn't want to engage, coasted in the shoulder for a little bit then it engaged, shifted most of the rest of the way home by matching engine speed to gear speed, at a stop you had two clutch pedal uses before it didn't engage for a few seconds.

Changing the master isn't too tough, disconnect the hose from the quick connect at the transmission, climb under the dash and get the pushrod off the pedal and take the safety switch off the pushrod, then under the hood unbolt the reservoir from the fender or firewall (don't remember) then get your arm in there and twist the master cylinder about a quarter turn and it will come out the engine side. You'll have to unclip the hose from a few things and get it untangled but it comes off without having to take the roll pin out while it's under the hood. From there once you get the new master cylinder bench bleed it (there's several videos on youtube) before assembly then there's very little gravity bleeding to do after assembly.