NOTE: Car has approx. 200,000 miles on it. The odometer is broken. To my knowledge the transmission and clutch have never been serviced. Recent work to the car includes new head gasket, new valves, new timing belt, and other electronic components.
I was driving about approx. 30MPH I felt that the clutch pedal was not popping back up as much as it usually does. Simultaneously, the BRAKE light came on. (The one to the right of the BRAKE LINING light.) I was able to slow down and get into 2nd gear and the pedal released enough for it to actually grab the 2nd gear. I pulled into an apartment complex near where I was and could not clutch it to pull it out of 2nd gear. So I forced the shifter out of gear... the car idled up and the clutch was then rendered useless.
Once I stopped the car and turned off the engine, I could then shift into every gear including reverse with no problem. I then put the shifter in neutral and started the car. This car starts without having to push the clutch. (Is that normal for this model car? It has always been like that.) Once I got the car started I reached down and manually pulled up the clutch pedal with my hand. Then I pushed it down with my foot and it had a very little amount of spring it in that quickly, almost instantly stopped and was buried to the floor once more.
I stopped the car, looked under the hood to check the brake fluid and clutch fluid. I'm not sure that the tall black cylinder was the clutch fluid or not ( not real keep on that - just got the car ) but never-the-less, it had fluid in it. It was dark, 2am, so I couldn't see if it was just low. It appeared normal as well as the brake fluid level also appeared normal. I use the term "Appeared" lightly. It was a very low light area.
I called for a ride and when I returned home, I found a large wet spot on my driveway. Smelled like DOT3 but could have been the clutch fluid. I think it's obviously from the clutch. I can't fathom what would cause this so drastically, and like I said, I just got the car out the shop after some $1200 of work done to it about two weeks ago. Car has run fine in those two weeks.
As far as engine abuse goes, I accidentally red-lined it in neutral reaching in my pocket for a cigarette lighter and foot slipped to gas pedal. Wasn't red-lined for maybe more than half a second. But I know most will say that's all it takes.
Any suggestions on where I should look for leaks, tricks I can try? I need the cheapest way first, not the easiest. I just sunk over a grand into this car and cannot afford any more major repairs. I am willing to take pictures of the engine, car, etc and upload them to an external website. I have an extremely good digital camera and the images will be 4MP as to show great detail of the target.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
NOTE: Car has approx. 200,000 miles on it. The odometer is broken. To my knowledge the transmission and clutch have never been serviced. Recent work to the car includes new head gasket, new valves, new timing belt, and other electronic components.
I was driving about approx. 30MPH I felt that the clutch pedal was not popping back up as much as it usually does. Simultaneously, the BRAKE light came on. (The one to the right of the BRAKE LINING light.) I was able to slow down and get into 2nd gear and the pedal released enough for it to actually grab the 2nd gear. I pulled into an apartment complex near where I was and could not clutch it to pull it out of 2nd gear. So I forced the shifter out of gear... the car idled up and the clutch was then rendered useless.
Once I stopped the car and turned off the engine, I could then shift into every gear including reverse with no problem. I then put the shifter in neutral and started the car. This car starts without having to push the clutch. (Is that normal for this model car? It has always been like that.) Once I got the car started I reached down and manually pulled up the clutch pedal with my hand. Then I pushed it down with my foot and it had a very little amount of spring it in that quickly, almost instantly stopped and was buried to the floor once more.
I stopped the car, looked under the hood to check the brake fluid and clutch fluid. I'm not sure that the tall black cylinder was the clutch fluid or not ( not real keep on that - just got the car ) but never-the-less, it had fluid in it. It was dark, 2am, so I couldn't see if it was just low. It appeared normal as well as the brake fluid level also appeared normal. I use the term "Appeared" lightly. It was a very low light area.
I called for a ride and when I returned home, I found a large wet spot on my driveway. Smelled like DOT3 but could have been the clutch fluid. I think it's obviously from the clutch. I can't fathom what would cause this so drastically, and like I said, I just got the car out the shop after some $1200 of work done to it about two weeks ago. Car has run fine in those two weeks.
As far as engine abuse goes, I accidentally red-lined it in neutral reaching in my pocket for a cigarette lighter and foot slipped to gas pedal. Wasn't red-lined for maybe more than half a second. But I know most will say that's all it takes.
Any suggestions on where I should look for leaks, tricks I can try? I need the cheapest way first, not the easiest. I just sunk over a grand into this car and cannot afford any more major repairs. I am willing to take pictures of the engine, car, etc and upload them to an external website. I have an extremely good digital camera and the images will be 4MP as to show great detail of the target.
Someone please help me.
- xennith, Houma, LA, US