Squeaky Clutch Pedal- Not caused by the spring
 

When I put the clutch in or out, I can hear a creaking sound coming from outside the car. It's definitely not the typical clutch spring issue, you can hear it standing outside the car, and I already did the linear spring conversion.

It sounds a lot like a creaky old mattress on a honeymoon. I tried replacing the clutch fluid yesterday, and the fluid that came out was dark like coffee. Based off that, I suspect that either my clutch master or clutch slave cylinders is the source of the noise.

The thing is that I have no other problems with the clutch pedal, I never lose fluid and the pedal feels as it should. I'm not willing to spend what a new oem master cylinder costs if the only problem it's giving me is a noise. Is there anything else that could be causing my problem?

This is what I do before posting on the forum. As the posts go back for 19 years.

I goto Google and search. For example:

site:toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/ squeaking clutch pedal

Lots of information in those listed threads that will help you on your quest :)



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When you push the clutch pedal that pushes a rod into the master cylinder which sends fluid to the slave cylinder which pushes the throw out bearing arm which pushes the throw out bearing against the clutch pressure plate diaphragm which releases pressure clamping the clutch to the flywheel.

Your noise could be caused by any of the moving parts after the slave cylinder as well. Use a mechanic’s stethoscope or long screwdriver/prybar to try to narrow down where the noise is coming from while someone is pushing the clutch pedal in/out.

The eternal, never-solved clutch squeak mystery:
My 97 had that same dry creaking sound for the first few years after I bought it in 2013. It now seems to have vanished. Mine still had (and still has) the original clutch pedal spring. Early on in the saga, I put moly grease on the spring contact point on the pedal (where the plastic bushing always disintegrates), and did the same to the slave cylinder pushrod where it contacts the dimple in the throwout bearing arm. But the creaking noise didn't go away immediately. It was months or maybe a year later that I realized that the clutch action had stopped squeaking.
I concluded that it was coming from inside the bellhousing, and there was no way I was going to go through the expense of taking that apart until the truck needed a clutch job.

It’s common for the contact point between the slave cylinder and the pivot arm to get dry since it’s not protected from weather. Pull the slave cylinder, apply some tacky moly grease, and reinstall. I have to do this every couple of years.

Try this, the clutch fork has several metal to metal contact points, my Tacoma had a squeak/creak like this (faint and intermittent). Turned out to be the clutch fork internal to the bellhousing. You need to get under the car with someone operating clutch to pin point it.

Since I'm not the one with the issue I'll quote you two together to make sure the OP sees this. I feel like a matchmaker :jk:

Today I went under and had someone push the pedal in, I can confidently rule out the master cylinder. It's either from the slave cylinder or where it enters the transmission.

It could be the clutch fork in the internals, it sounds just like this (no rattle like he shows later on). I'll see if I can pull back the boot and spray grease inside.

Edit: I took the boot off, wiped down some of the moving parts and sprayed a bunch of lithium grease on (as shown in video I linked). The noise has completely gone away, success!

I love a cheap fix! I’m glad you found what it was and fixed it

Glad it's fixed. Good troubleshooting to narrow down the problematic issue. :).

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