98 Subaru Legacy Wagon clutch sticks

[Lemonfraid]

I apologize in advance for my complete lack of knowledge on cars, I should have spent more time working on them... Anyway, I bought a 98 Legacy Wagon a few months back, and today while I was driving I noticed my clutch sticking when I press the pedal. I could pull it back up with my foot, but it would still stick whenever i pressed again. When I'm in gear there was no problems, but when I was at a stop it seemed like the clutch wasn't fully disengaged, so it felt like it was going to stall. I made it back to my base and turned the car off. I looked online for some help, and then checked for leakage on the master cylinder, and after pumping the clutch pedal quite a few times, i still didn't see any leaks, but the pedal felt normal again. I drove it around the parking lot to test it and everything felt normal. I suppose my question is what type of problem is most likely causing this? I'll kind of need my car in a few days because I'm driving to Pensacola. I'd just like some info before I get it checked out.

[ScottG]

I had a similar situation a month or so ago, on my 2002 Forester.  Push in clutch & it didn't come back  up.  Sometimes it came up part way.  My good friend & Subie buddy, Mike, informed me that the slave cylinder was on it's way out.  Like you, I found no external leaks.  But he assurred me that the slave cylinder was the problem. 

 

In the Forester, it's right on top of the bell housing.  You only have to remove the air box to get to it.  Don't mess with trying to rebuild it, I'm told.  A brand new cylinder is about 35 bucks, give or take.  I took the air box off & Mike had the slave cylinder changed & bled in less than 20 minutes.  Two tanks of gas later, it's still working perfectly.

 

Good luck  (I think the slave cylinder is available from NAPA, World Pack, as well the dealer & other sources).

 

ScottG

[ivans imports]

its the slave cly they get sticky at the end of there travel i have problems with thiss when i install new clutches as the slave has been in one place for long time when a new clutch is put in it runs in a different place and sticks . i have been able to clean it up and get them working again take it off push the rod in and see if it returns on its own if not that is problem

[Fairtax4me]

Slave cylinder is failing. The cup seal inside goes bad and it doesn't hold pressure. The pressure from the clutch spring pushing the plunger back into the cylinder transfers back to the master cylinder and that's what pushes the pedal back when you lift your foot off.

If the pressure in the slave cylinder leaks past the seal there is no return force in the system and the assist spring on the pedal assembly causes the pedal to stay stuck to the floor.