Clutch engagement point moving, what else can it be ?

[Miles Frederick]

I recently bought a 1gb 94 fwd for something to drive around while I work on my other one, and the price was good, but it had what seemed like a clutch master or slave cylinder issue.  The slave was definitely leaking a bit, so swapped out a known good one from a 1ga which has been sitting for a year or so but clutch was working perfectly on it prior and even pedal felt perfect before pulling it.

The issue is a strange one.  Sitting with the car off, clutch feels normal resistance.  Pull out onto the road, by the 2-3 shift, the clutch pedal goes pretty much to the floor with little resistance and doesn't disengage all the way.  Releasing it while still in the same gear, then pressing it again will usually disengage it, sometimes takes 3 pumps.  This is repeatable.  The car can sit for 3 days and clutch will feel perfect, drive it and by the 2nd shift it's to the floor.  Idling previously felt similar to when the car was off, but tonight I noticed some pressure loss when idling.

After no luck swapped out the master as well.  Then replaced the line with a 1 piece ss flex from master to slave.  Using a russell speedbleeder, all air seems to be out of the system.  Even tried an extended slave rod, felt really good for the first shift   Master adjuster is out all the way as far is it will go, pedal switch backed off to give maximum travel.

So, what can it be ?  fork, throw out bearing, spring issues ?  crankwalk ?  I'd think if it were fork, tb or spring issues, it would be either consistently bad or randomly bad, but not only bad when vehicle is moving.  I tried doing left hand and right hand donuts, but no change either way. 

What's the next logical step ?

[Jason Harwood]

It all screams you're getting air in the line some how.

[Kevin Altoe]

Try bleeding the slave by pushing the rod in with the bleeder screw open.  Had the same problem.  Little pockets of air get stuck in the slave.

[John Hartman]

yea use a normal bleed procedure.

The Russels work ok to get a brake pedal back up if the fluid has boiled or to make it driveable, but they can allow air to be sucked back in sometimes.

have someone open the slave line, and someone else push the pedal all the way down.  Hold pedal down, then close bleeder screw.  repeat a few times.  I suggest you go on the slave cylinder so you can see if any air comes out.

Don't run out of fluid in the master

It could also be something oddball, such as a bending firewall or etc, but lets bleed it correctly first.

Oh and adjust the clutch rod somewhere in the middle of travel first too,so you are not bandaiding anything else, and also so that you have correct free play adjustment on your pedal in the end.

[Brett Haviland]

my guess is a faulty clutch disk, or pressure plate.

[daniel Dee]

Excessive free play in the pedal assembly??
Can you pull the pedal up with your hand after you step on the pedal and let it off??

Chase this problem in my 1gb for years (fully solved).