2005 Impreza OBS- clutch woes

[Stevo F]

After we bought our 2005 OBS last February, I noticed the
manual shift would grind a little going into 4^th. I ended up
adjusting the clutch pedal so it pushes the master cylinder in a bit more,
hence should allow the clutch to fully release. After this it seemed to help
and it didn’t grind anymore.

I did notice recently, that even with the clutch adjusted,

it you pretty much have to push the pedal to the floor to fully release the
clutch. Anything less than to the floor and the car is hard to shift.

A mechanic I know recently said the clutch itself is probably

worn out and will need to be replaced (I was wondering at the time if it was
the transmission causing the hard shifting). I do not know the history of the
car for the first 129K (the car has 134K miles now), nor do I know how the
previous owner drove it, but I assume the clutch is original.

The latest thing it’s doing is the clutch pedal is sometimes

not coming fully back up to its rest position once you release the pedal (you
need to pull it all the up with your foot). I know the clutch pedal mechanism in
my old Nissan truck was spring loaded so it the pedal would always pop back
into position once you let your foot off it , but the Impreza clutch mechanism (even
when not connected to the clutch) seems to pop all the way in pop or all the
way out.

 

This morning the pedal was stuck halfway down after release it, and
only when I pulled the pedal up did it pop back into it’s normal released
position. I tried to lubricate the clutch pedal mechanism which seemed to help
a little.

So is all of this indicative of a failing clutch, or clutch pedal

mechanism, or the hydraulics (I did flush the fluid out of the hydraulics
clutch a few months back, but no change in pedal afterwards, so I assume there
no trapped air causing an issue.

[lmdew]

Clutch must likely.

People who rest their foot on hyd clutches are wearing them out early.

[forester2002s]

Sticky clutch pedal is probably due to a sticky slave-cylinder.

Replace the slave, bleed the system, and that should fix it.

[Dj7291993]

Sounds like a slave.  If the clutch is worn out, it will typically release further off the floor than normal.  If it's not coming all the way back, then it's most likely the hydraulic system, specifically the slave cylinder.

[Stevo F]

That might make sense (as for the pedal retracting). Looks like the original slave cylinder. Might as well put a new one on and see how it does.

[1 Lucky Texan]

I've read of cracked clutch forks causing some problems - but I THINK that was in older models?

[Fairtax4me]

These have a snap spring that pulls he pedal back all the way, but it also reverses when the pedal is pushed down, and helps make the pedal easier to push. About halfway of the pedal travel is the tipping point of the sprin, once past halfway it will flip and force the pedal in the direction of movement.

 

If the pedal doesn't return more than halfway, the spring will continue to hold the pedal down, which is why it seems to "stick". But all that is is a lack of pressure in the hydraulics pushing back against the pedal.

Most of the time its due to a leaking slave cylinder.

 

Pull back the rubber dust boot on the slave cylinder and see if fluid dumps out. If it does, time to replace it.

[Stevo F]

I put a new slave cylinder on tonight. I had a lot of trouble bleeding it, but ended up disconnecting the clutch pedal to let the rod that connects to the pedal link come alll the way back, so the bleeder vent is exposed. That did the trick as I was able to bleed the slave and get some pedal back.

 

It still seemed to disengage the clutch only when all the way to floor, but then while the clutch pedal linkage was disconnected I realized the pedal adjustment was way off. I adjusted it so it is engaging the clutch more and now I have all sorts of travel and the clutch released about 1/3 the way off the floor. The pedal does seem to sit a bit high up but it works smoothly and the shifts are smooth.I also don't hear the squeak from the bells housing when I push the clutch (maybe it was the slave, or maybe it will come back).

 

I'll drive it on the 80 mile round trip top work tomorrow and see how it does.