Hey everyone. I've posted here a few times, but I'm still fairly new to the forum. I have a noticeable, abrupt change/problem with my clutch pedal feel during engagement/disengagement.

Quick history: I'm the third owner of my 2009 Fit sport 5M/T. Had 39,000 miles on it when I bought it. Now has 137,000. I'm a moderately aggressive driver and often take the car on roads near my house like Tail of the Dragon, Cherohala Skyway and Devil's Triangle, and do not take them leisurely. Car is still running on original clutch, flywheel, and trans. Replaced master cylinder and slave cylinder about a year ago. Oh, I have also taught about 5-6 people with zero prior stick shift experience how to drive stick on my car in my time of ownership. Some have been much better right out of the box than others.

Now I'll get straight into it. While driving (not determinant on pace) the clutch engages seemingly close to the bottom of the pedal travel--I'd estimate about 1.5 - 2 inches above the floor. Throughout the 4.5 years I've been driving this car, since day one I could very well FEEL the disengagement/engagement point of the clutch. It had a very noticeable bite to it. Just a few weeks ago my roommate (still a beginner stick shift driver) was driving my car when he stopped on a steep hill. To compensate for rolling backward he gave it a lotta revs and just sat there trying to find the bite point, but was just slipping and burning up the clutch instead. The next day I felt a noticeable difference, a loss of clutch feel. Since then I have driven it pretty hard a couple of times and it has become worse. Incredibly vague. Being someone who has driven the same manual transmission car practically every single day for the past 4.5 years and suddenly NOT being able to judge the clutch's bite points is extremely odd, at best.

The top third (approximately 2 inches) of the pedal travel requires about 3 or 4 times less pressure to depress than the rest of the pedal travel.

When letting the pedal back up (disengaging the clutch) it seems to have consistent push back force until your foot gets to the same point in the travel as mentioned in the previous paragraph. (So, that would be about the last 2 inches of pedal travel when letting out the clutch).

Another thing is that the first 2 inches of pedal travel when depressing the clutch (or the last 2 inches of travel when letting out the clutch, depending on which way the pedal is being moved) makes a hissing sound as you apply pressure to the pedal quickly. It sounds like the master cylinder is trying to compress something but there is air (or some sort of gas) escaping. The sound I'm describing lasts very little time; it matches the speed of your foot's input speed on the pedal. Again, that only happens when the clutch is depressed quickly, and lasts only through the first ~2 inches of pedal travel.

So, knowing that my clutch feel is absurdly numb and that I have many other strange clutch pedal issues, what would you recommend I check? ALSO what kind of professional should I ask to check all of these things for me who I know I can trust 100%?

 

great detailed description of problem. Eager to hear from those who know about such things.

 

Problem is either mechanical or hydraulic......Clutch fluid is still full?


Doesn't quite sound like just worn out friction material unless it's balled up and become wads of cat fur (gotten fatter with compressible material)....or maybe a damaged throwout bearing or something along those lines.

Probably will need to pull the trans and clutch to find out what happened, and plan on a clutch job complete.

 

He likely glazed your clutch disk, and your flywheel and likely boiled the fluid in the slave depending on how long it slipped.

If you put the car in 4th gear at idle and in a parking lot let the pedal out smoothly the engine should instantly stall. If it bucks and slips its likely glazed. There should be an inspection piece that comes off the bottom to see in the clutch area..

 

Checked the clutch fluid. It's just under half full. When the clutch is depressed the level of the fluid rises about a millimeter. Is this normal?

 

An inspection piece on the physical transmission casing?

 

Probably. ...