Odd clutch issues.

[mendyourline]

So I've been a dormant yet active reader of this site for a while after purchasing my 2000 base model 2.7 with a manual transmission just to pass time while in class. About five minutes ago however, my clutch pedal began sticking down and the engagement point varying slightly just about every shift, even going so far as to sticking all the way down a couple of times to the point where I had to pull it up with my foot.I'm very mechanically inclined and have done a few master and slave cylinder replacements in the past and initially I believed that was the problem, but upon further inspection, I found my fluid levels and everything to be completely fine. The pedal has squeaked a bit since I bought the car so my second thought was that somehow the spring had jammed or come loose or something but that checked out as well. The thing squeaks pretty bad and I was intending on addressing the bushings once spring rolled around, but that is hopefully beside the point. My question is what could be causing this? Can a Master or slave cylinder fail without leaking? What else could possibly be causing this? I have a 12 hour drive to make for holiday travels coming up and would like to get it figured out before I leave . Any input is appreciated!
thanks in advance.
Zach

 

[davidch]

Examine the clutch arm at the "squeak point". Has that odd Toyota spring - I call it a hairpin spring because it resembles the hairpin valve spring once used - worn its way into the clutch arm? As this happens the symptoms you explain might happen. I've seen grooves over 1/2" deeper than they should be. The arm is soft, the spring much harder, so it's the arm, its groove really, that is mostly worn away. Take a photo - dare we call it an updash photo? - and post it.

Yours may be a candidate for the simple #40 hardware store spring fix. I've done that on a 4Runner and a Tacoma with good, and inexpensive, results.

 

[mendyourline]

Edit!
So I just went outside and did a few shifts just rocking the car between first and reverse and the engagement goes lower and lower before finally the pedal sucks to the floor and I have to pull it up again and it's fine. I can pump it as much as I want while the car is in neutral but the second I start to rock it in gear the same thing happens. The fluid level in the master is also moving upwards slightly when the pedal jams, from the max mark to the top of the reservoir to the point where a little fluid oozes from the button on the rubber cap. The spring and everything under the dash looks fine aside from the obvious destroyed bushings... Again, no fluid loss. Quite confused here.

 

[mendyourline]

Thanks for the reply
There is some wear on the clutch arm but not anywhere near as bad as some of the pictures I've seen posted elsewhere. I'm unfortunately thinking this is some sort of hydraulic issue, although nothing has obviously failed from what I can tell. Pretty stumped here!

 

[mendyourline]

Double edit (can you tell I'm new to this? )
I saat out and depressed the clutch repeatedly with my hand hoping to consistently recreate something and as I was holding it in what I would call the "halfway point" it went from being completely solid to slowly losing pressure and sinking to the floor... Unfortunately, once I pulled it up, it went right back to normal and I could not get it to do it again. Hmm

 

[mendyourline]

Solution.
I could find no signs of failure on either the slave or master cylinders (in fact, the master looks to have been replaced at some point fairly recently) but decided to start there to knock that off of a list of possibilities. I started with the master, dropped it in, new fluid and viola. Clutch regained pressure after completely sucking to the floor. It still doesn't feel right to me, IE engagement point seems to fluctuate randomly, pedal feel seems to change, etc. But for now, the rig is back up and shifting just as well as it did before. I'll be keeping a close eye on it for the time being.