I'm not gonna be great at explaining this...but pleasepleaseplease bear with me!

This morning, I get in my car to drive to school, and realize that my clutch now starts to dis-engage only after I push it half-way through its travel. The clutch pedal moves completely freely through the first half of its travel, and then meets the resistance (i.e. the clutch disengaging). This is not how it worked before the weekend. Before, I would feel the clutch start to dis-engage after about one quarter,if not less of the clutch pedal's travel.

The clutch also engages very close to the bottom of its travel, as in i barely lift off my foot and the car starts to chatter. Once again, this is not how it worked before the weekend. Before, it would start to engage at about the same place it is now, but with MUCH less force.

In summary, the clutch works, but all of its pedal action (?? i dunno what to call it) is now in the lower half of the clutch pedal travel.

What is this?!? How could my clutch change its behaviour like this over the weekend? I will drive my dad's CB9 when i get off school for reference, but I'm worried that the clutch might crap-out on me...and I neeeeedneedneeeed a functioning vehicle cause I have a job interview tomorrow.

Thanks In Advance To Anyone Who Has Any Ideas!!!

 

I bet you either have a slave cylinder or clutch master cylinder leaking. Look at the inside of the firewall above the clutch pedal itself and see if there is a fluid trail coming down to your carpet. Then look at your slave cylinder and pull back the boot to see if it's leaking there. If none of the above then bleed it out with some fresh fluid.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.
So is it safe to drive? Or is the clutch gonna seize or something?

 

the clutch won't "sieze", but if you run out of fluid you won't be able to disengage the clutch.

Try doing what MooGoCow3 said, it'll only take like 5-10min tops to look at those two parts for leaking.

I had a similar problem on my Accord, it was the clutch master cyclinder, I had fluid leaking inside the car by the clutch pedal. A neighbor had a similar problem on his Del Sol and it was his slave cyclinder, you could see with each pump of the clutch, fluid was seeping out from behind the boot.

 

UPDATE
............................

I checked the master cylinder, and the slave cylinder, and generaly looked over the visible parts of the clutch system.

The master cylinder isn't leaking anything down onto the carpet, but it does have a little bit of gunky, grease resembling, stuff coming outta it.
I checked my dad's perfect, dealer maintained, CB9 and it has pretty much the same thing going on. Is this normal?

The slave cylinder also appears to be dry. Then I checked the clutch overflow reservoir thingy-ma-bob...empty!
So I purchased a bottle of D.O.T. 3 brake fluid, and tried toping it up....but my fears were realized: there is now an air pocket in the lines, and so toping the fluid up just results in the overflow reservoir to fill, but not get any actual brake fluid into the lines...or whatever.

Bleeding the system seems like the appropriate course of action?? No?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cats_on_ice &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Bleeding the system seems like the appropriate course of action?? No?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes, go ahead and bleed the system.

-Attach a hose to the bleeder screw, have something at the end of the hose to catch the fluid.
-Make sure there is enough fluid in the clutch master cylinder, then slowly pump the clutch pedal until no more air bubbles are seen in the bleeder hose.
-Refill the clutch master cylinder with DOT 3 or 4 fluid.

After you have bleed the system, recheck those same parts as before and see if they have started to leak anything or not.

 

Just got back in from bleeding the clutch. I bought a brake bleeding kit (1 hose with a one-way valve) and had to "modify" it with an exact-o knife to fit the bleeder valve thingy. It took waayy longer than I thought it would to get all the bubbles out, but they're out....for now...but the clutch is back in fighting form!!!

I appreciate the tips guys. You were right on the money. Thanks!
My next step: find the leak!

 

np, good to hear.

 

glad you got it worked out. Come back when you have another question.