Clutch not returning properly.....

[Johnson16]

The other day I noticed that my clutch (94 tercel) all of a sudden would return slowly after being held down for more than a couple seconds. It has gotten worse the last 2 days and I may have to park it after today. If the clutch is depressed for more than a couple seconds it the pedal basically returns very slow. In fact the clutch engages without releasing the pedal if I hold to long. I actually drove up the driveway with the cluthed depressed yesterday. Its as if the the piston in the clutch master cylinder is leaking and won't maintain the disengaged clutch? The resevior appeared to be full. Is there a main seal or something in the master cylinder that can leak? Also, I know there is a slave cylinder too. Could this be the problem? Finally, I see they offer master rebuild kits. Is it worth saving the money and rebuilding the master cylinder or should I just buy a new master cylinder? Thanks.

[MagicRat]

I think you are on the right track; the master cylinder has an internal leak.

IMO rebuilding master or slave cylinders yourself requires a cylinder hone, and does not always work. I would suggest a new or professionally rebuilt master.

[Johnson16]

Looked into it tonight and when I press the clutch down, the fluid level in the resevior comes up a little indicating a bad seal in the master I assume. If the slave cylinder was bad I assume the level would stay the same in the resevior and perhaps it would leak out of the boot on the slave?....The plan is to install a new master in about a week as I am going out of town. I will give feedback after that.

[MagicRat]

Thank you for the update. Good luck!

[Johnson16]

Just to follow up on my original post.......finally replaced the clutch master cylinder and bleed it tonight and the problems solved. The only surprise came when I found out I had to pull the booster off the firewall about 1.5 inches in order to get the cylinder out for the clutch out as it was more or less pinched between the booster and sheet metal where the shock mounts are. I was tempted to get the hammer out but just pulled the booster. I wish I would have tried pulling booster off the wall with master cylinder in place though so I would not have had to bleed the brakes as well. Not sure it would have worked. But in the end, the brake tubing on the clutch cylinder was much easier to put back on with the master cylinder out of the way.