my car is at evanston subaru right now, since last thursday when i had to get it towed there. car has txs stealthback, grb BOV, eibach springs, morettes, turbo timer, air/fuel and boost gauge, and rstb. ~30K miles

turn back to last week. last wednesday after our freakin' cold weather settles in, i get off shift at 7pm and i go to start my 2002 wrx wagon. i noticed that the clutch was REALLY soft. i thought nothing of it because for as long as i owned the car, the clutch would be really soft on cold mornings/ nights when i first start it up. it would then lose it's mushiness as i drove the car. this time it didn't happen. i drive ~6 miles home with no problems other than the soft clutch.

next morning 5:30AM. i start up the car and the same thing. Mushy clutch. being hopeful, i thought the problem will fix itself. NOPE! i drive ~8 miles, in which 6 of those were highway, and the clutch remained mushy. this is when things start to go wrong. i get off the highway and proceed to a red light. i push the clutch in to go into neutral, then the clutch doesn't come back up. so i tapped it hard with my foot and it popped back up. thank god i was only 1 mile away from work. so i continue to drive. to make sure the clutch didn't stick inbetween shifts i tapped it hard inbetween shifts. it worked until i got to my work parking lot. at a stop, i pushed the clutch in to get into first gear and it GRINDED. i was like ***!!! this time tapping the clutch to make it come back up didn't work. i had to lift it up with my foot. i tried 2 or 3 more times to get into 1st but it kept grinding; and i had to lift my clutch up with my foot. so i decided to try second gear, and it worked. i got to park my car, but still had to lift my clutch up with my foot. 8 hours later, i go to start my car. the clutch stays down, and my car wouldn't go into ANY gear. so i had it towed to Evanston Subaru. my thoughts/ guesses on the problem as i left my car at the dealer were: clutch, pressure plate, or synchros.

Friday afternoon i get a call from a service writer. he tells me that my clutch master cylinder was empty, they filled it, and the clutch is fine. i asked them what may have caused it to be empty if i never noticed a leak in my garage or work parking spots. they had no answer for me; and told me my car was ready to be picked up. well, i told them that i wouldn't be able to pick up the car until tuesday. and they said that was fine. i asked them if it was covered under warranty. he said yeah, but to bring $52.xx. i was too happy to ask what for and just decided to fight it when i picked up the car.

Today i go to the dealer to pick up my car. the service writer tells me that when they went to move my car yesterday the clutch stayed down again. they checked for leaks and didn't find any. so he searched and found a service bulletin for some-type of hose. the hose is supposed to come in today. he "hopes" this is the fix. i asked if this is under warranty, he said "don't know."

my question for everyone here: have you had or heard of this problem?

Sounds to me like the seals in the slave cylinder are bad. Exact same thing happened to my co-workers Corraddo, I replaced the cylinders for him and the clutch works great now.

WAIT
Before you spend a ton of cash, Unless you know 100% that the seals went bad, try bleading it first! You'll need a second set of hands to help, but the process is quite simple and any auto-parts store should have a bleader kit although if you get a power bleader which applys suction the whole thing goes way faster I've experienced this first hand and the problem can sometimes be fixed by a simple bleading, if there is just air-bubbles in the system. I hope this helps and it's not your seals remember to check your master cylinder cause if you starve it for fluid You'll have to start the whole thing over!

Cheers
Kincaid

spoke to the service writer about an hour ago. he told me the hose is in, but they won't be able to work on the car til later tonite or tomorrow morning the latest. i'll bring up the slave cylinder issue to him if i talk to him later tonite.

now, do you think this is under my warranty? i've had all but my first oil change done at this dealer. they've also done my 15k and 30k maintenance.

I get that it's under 36K miles, but how old is it?

The fluid has to be going some where! :huh: THEY HAVE TO KNOW where the fluid is going.. it has to be wet and w/ dirt sticking on it.
Yeah, I mean there is the clutchmaster, clutch hardline-to-rubber hose portion, and clutch slave. Pretty frickin easy to diagnose. Perhaps they have had a problem w/ a crimp-fitting going bad on the rubber portion.

But, if the frickin service writer doesnt know if its warranty, I think you need to know if you have to pay. Point Blank!
I think they're jerking ya! :furious:
Cant think of anything to void your warranty for any of the clutch system components.

Absubtle
PA

there is a tsb for the hose which goes from the clutch master cylinder to slave cylinder - the symptoms are a spongy feeling clutch pedal or a pedal which doesn't return when released - here's a link to the tsb on scoobymods.

http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5046

Since it's a tsb, since you are probably outside of the 3/36k warranty, they sometimes charge for the repair

my car is at evanston subaru right now, since last thursday when i had to get it towed there. car has txs stealthback, grb BOV, eibach springs, morettes, turbo timer, air/fuel and boost gauge, and rstb. ~30K miles

turn back to last week. last wednesday after our freakin' cold weather settles in, i get off shift at 7pm and i go to start my 2002 wrx wagon. i noticed that the clutch was REALLY soft. i thought nothing of it because for as long as i owned the car, the clutch would be really soft on cold mornings/ nights when i first start it up. it would then lose it's mushiness as i drove the car. this time it didn't happen. i drive ~6 miles home with no problems other than the soft clutch.

next morning 5:30AM. i start up the car and the same thing. Mushy clutch. being hopeful, i thought the problem will fix itself. NOPE! i drive ~8 miles, in which 6 of those were highway, and the clutch remained mushy. this is when things start to go wrong. i get off the highway and proceed to a red light. i push the clutch in to go into neutral, then the clutch doesn't come back up. so i tapped it hard with my foot and it popped back up. thank god i was only 1 mile away from work. so i continue to drive. to make sure the clutch didn't stick inbetween shifts i tapped it hard inbetween shifts. it worked until i got to my work parking lot. at a stop, i pushed the clutch in to get into first gear and it GRINDED. i was like ***!!! this time tapping the clutch to make it come back up didn't work. i had to lift it up with my foot. i tried 2 or 3 more times to get into 1st but it kept grinding; and i had to lift my clutch up with my foot. so i decided to try second gear, and it worked. i got to park my car, but still had to lift my clutch up with my foot. 8 hours later, i go to start my car. the clutch stays down, and my car wouldn't go into ANY gear. so i had it towed to Evanston Subaru. my thoughts/ guesses on the problem as i left my car at the dealer were: clutch, pressure plate, or synchros.

Friday afternoon i get a call from a service writer. he tells me that my clutch master cylinder was empty, they filled it, and the clutch is fine. i asked them what may have caused it to be empty if i never noticed a leak in my garage or work parking spots. they had no answer for me; and told me my car was ready to be picked up. well, i told them that i wouldn't be able to pick up the car until tuesday. and they said that was fine. i asked them if it was covered under warranty. he said yeah, but to bring $52.xx. i was too happy to ask what for and just decided to fight it when i picked up the car.

Today i go to the dealer to pick up my car. the service writer tells me that when they went to move my car yesterday the clutch stayed down again. they checked for leaks and didn't find any. so he searched and found a service bulletin for some-type of hose. the hose is supposed to come in today. he "hopes" this is the fix. i asked if this is under warranty, he said "don't know."

my question for everyone here: have you had or heard of this problem?


2 things,

First off, never drive a car which has a problem, thinking the problem will "fix" itself.

Second, you're in need of a new clutch, my aunt's did the same thing when I was learning stick on her 1991 318i BMW. Soft as hell, usually didn't grip. Then she got a new clutch, after 120k miles, and now her car is truly a "sports sedan" :D

It's all on driveability, launching, etc. If you poorly shift/learned/taught someone stick driving on that car, or you just launched one too many times, you're due for a new clutch :D

Dunno if warranty covers that, though. If I were you, however, i'd get an aftermarket better clutch, for a mere 3-400.

That problem has nothing to do with the clutch or tranny... im quite confident.

If I was you id change the master cylinder. Those very commonly break in the winter, on all kinds of cars.

If your clutch was going it woudl be a more gradual depreciation of grip not just....one cold day and its done...

Plus is there was a problem with the clutch, or it is gone, your car would have never moved, if the clutch is ****ed then why would it choose to work sometimes and not others?

Trust me get them to change your clutch master cylinder and double check for any leaks in that system...

If you run a clutch with no fluid it can do some damage to the master cylinder.

But ya like Audi TT said, you should NEVER drive a car that has a problem, especially one of that nature, you can do some serious damage that way.

That problem has nothing to do with the clutch or tranny... im quite confident.

If I was you id change the master cylinder. Those very commonly break in the winter, on all kinds of cars.

Trust me get them to change your clutch master cylinder and double check for any leaks in that system...

If you run a clutch with no fluid it can do some damage to the master cylinder.



DING DING DING DING DING!!!!

we have the correct answer :disco: :banana:

spoke to the service writer today and he told me they replaced the master cylinder and took care of the tsb for the hose. clutch is working fine now. fix is covered under warranty and nothing comes out of my pocket :D due to my hectic work schedules, i pick the car up on saturday. that means it has 3 days to act up :rolleyes:

thanks guys/gals for all your help. have a safe and happy thanksgiving holdiay. :)