clutch problem, help please

I'm sort of a newbie at this so its a newbie question haha

About a week ago or so I gradually lost all pressure in my clutch pedal. I thought it was a minor temporary flaw so I ignored it which was my fault.:banghead: Now it only starts in neutral. I was thinking either the clutch cable or it needs tranny oil? But I'm not sure if oil builds the pressure or what? I hope the whole clutch isnt shot though, please tell me it doesnt sound that way

I searched before I posted with no results of a clear answer so if anyone as any input on this situation, thanks a lot in advance.

Oh btw, its a '95 Rodeo 3.2 V6

I'm sort of a newbie at this so its a newbie question haha

About a week ago or so I gradually lost all pressure in my clutch pedal. I thought it was a minor temporary flaw so I ignored it which was my fault.:banghead: Now it only starts in neutral. I was thinking either the clutch cable or it needs tranny oil? But I'm not sure if oil builds the pressure or what? I hope the whole clutch isnt shot though, please tell me it doesnt sound that way

I searched before I posted with no results of a clear answer so if anyone as any input on this situation, thanks a lot in advance.

Oh btw, its a '95 Rodeo 3.2 V6


The closest thing that I can think of is that you need to replace your clutch. The clutch peddle has a safety switch that prevent you from starting while the vehicle is in gear. This is probably why you can't start it in gear (only in nuetual).

It you happen to have a hydralic clutch check the oil level.

You are, although, probably going to have to take into the shop to fix.

Sorry to give you the bad news.

well, i was hoping someone with a manual transmission your model etc would chime in and clue you in on what is going on. and yes you *are* a noobie at this. and no nothing wrong with that, but there is a lot to cover to explain from the get go.
the short story is -- you have a hydraulic operated clutch. this means it works similar to brakes. you have a clutch master cylinder and a clutch slave cylinder, with connecting lines and pressure hoses inbetween. when you press your clutch pedal, it pushes on the clutch master cylinder, pressures the hydraulic fluid (brake fluid like) which transfers that pressure to the clutch slave cylinder, which essentially engages your clutch.

now, if the hydraulic system is 'breached' and you no longer have a self-contained system, the fluid leaks out, air gets in and there isn't enough pressure to operate the clutch release.

in your case, since it seemed to happen almost all at once, you probably have one of three things: a bad slave cylinder; a bad master cylinder; and/or a line or hose that's ruptured.

if you look at the master cylinder reservoir, where you check and refill the fluid, yours is probably empty. if you crawl under the truck you probably can find, because it will be yucky with old fluid, where the leak is (was).

here's an illustration of the system. (it's not necessarily your year and model). if you google < hydraulic clutch > or some such you will find somewhere a basic explanation of this.

the clutch master cylinder is in the engine compartment against the firewall in the area of the clutch pedal; the clutch slave cylinder is attached down there where the engine and transmission connect at the trans bell housing.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a281/trooperbc/39027ca5.jpg

the "good" news is the hydraulics are really quite seperate from the clutch mechanism itself, so assuming there's nothing else wrong, you won't be looking at pulling the transmission. also, this hydraulic system has nothing to do with the trans fluid, either.

since it doesn't sound like you are going to do this work yourself, call shop(s) you trust, give them the symptoms and see what they say.

if you decide you really want to do this yourself, from what you've written, you really need to get educated on things 'car', and i'd suggest you get the expensive factory manuals from www.helminc.com (http://www.helminc.com)

hope this helps a little

EDIT ADD: send a PM personal message to Gizmo42 on this board. he has a manual rodeo and also has some online manual, iirc. he also likes to help ! ! ! !

//bc

I'm a "newbie" too . . . but you've come to the right place. Lots of great advice to be had from some very helpful folks from what I've seen.

We also had a '95 5-speed (Passport) with a similar set of problems. Had to add clutch fluid when the clutch got "soft" a couple times. But we never did find a leak--not that we looked real hard since it lost fluid very, very slowly.

Then we ended up with a similar problem to yours . . . would not start in gear or at least it would really fight it. If we pushed the clutch to the floor as far as we could, we could get it to "catch" and start for awhile. Finally it ended up like you--only really started in neutral.

The good news was, in our case, it was just the clutch cable. Much less $$ than a new clutch. Hopefully that's all you have.

Trooper, many thanks to you on the info. Tomorrow I'm going to check out if there is a leak like you say there might be. My uncle owns a motorcycle shop and I went up today to ask him what the deal might be and he said the same as you did basically.

I did however check the resivour and it is in fact almost empty. Im assuming filling it back wont fix the problem, Ill check it out and come back with questions if I need them.

By the way, Ive been browsing the site, very informative, Im ashamed of not finding a source like this earlier. :frown: