camaro_junkie

Today I was driving to work and coming up to a red light, I put the clutch in and heard a popping sound. So I put it in neutral, let the clutch out, put it back in and it seemed fine. I went to take off and something snapped on the pedal, the pedal "went limp" and of course, the car stalled. The pedal has been squeaking for a while now. I'm 99% sure it's something between the pedal and the master cylinder and it's not the slave cylinder or clutch fork or anything below the car. The fluid level is still where it always is.

Now, I haven't had time to take the access panel off, but has this ever happened to anyone? Or does someone know if something in the area is prone to breaking?

TKOPerformance

If the pedal is hanging then the only thing I can think of is that the pushrod broke, or the stud on the pedal broke. Either way it's gonna suck.

I wouldn't hold my breath on the 5th gen. I'm disgusted with GM right now. They seem to feel that RWD performance cars are either for the rich or those who drive trucks. The GTO had such potential, instead it's an overpriced faceless car. I have to double check that it is a GTO, and not just another Grand Am or Grand Prix. Meanwhile they bring a new Impala SS and Monte Carlo SS into the lineup with FWD, even though the new Monte is slated for V8 power. They seem stuck in the same mentality as Chrysler in the 80s.

Meanwhile back at the ranch Ford builds a retro styled Mustang (the best looking car they've turned out since 1970 in my opinion) with a 300HP base V8 in the GT, a live rear axel, and an availble 5-speed. The base GT can be had for about $25,000. They are selling the crap out of them. If GM doesn't think that it could sell a ton of retro styled Camaros reminiscent of the '67-'69 body style with an LS2 and a T56 they either have dog poo between their ears or blinders on.

camaro_junkie

I agree with every single word you said. About the clutch, about GM, and about Ford. Except I do like the GTO, although maybe they really shouldn't call it a GTO.

In terms of the clutch, I was looking at the assembly drawing last night and I'm sure it must be the master cylinder piston rod (push rod as you called it) or the mounting of the rod to the pedal. I'll find out tomorrow and get back on that. It doesn't look like too bad a job to replace the master cylinder though and only about $50. Except then I have to do my least favourite thing: bleeding hydraulics.

TKOPerformance

The whole assembly is $100 brand new from GM. It's prebled and bolts right in. Just a thought. My times worth a lot lately...

camaro_junkie

Turns out it was just the plastic retaining clip that holds the master cylinder rod onto the clutch pedal. Cost me $45: $40 to have my car towed from the middle of traffic, $5 for some circlips to replace the plastic clip because I couldn't find the plastic clip at a parts store. Case closed!

TKOPerformance

That's good. $40 for a tow isn't bad though. That always sucks though, when the $5 part cripples the entire car. I had my car towed once because it wouldn't start. It cranked over fine, had spark, had fuel, it just wouldn't start. I had it towed, and wouldn't you know that the next day when the tow truck showed up the car started right up. I drove it onto the tow truck and had it towed anyway because I didn't want to take any chances. When I got it home I wen through everything, and you know what I found? Nothing. Not a damn thing. It never did it again either. It's almost like something wanted to keep me from driving it that night. Frustrating and spooky at the same time.

camaro_junkie

I parked my car for a month last summer because it didn't start properly one day. I don't know what was wrong with, I just started it up a month later and haven't had the problem since. It may have been that the fuel pump relay was stuck, who knows...

TKOPerformance

It was the strangest thing. The engine cranked over freely, not a bit of hesitation. It didn't choke up like it was loading up with fuel either. I pulled a plug boot to be sure it was firing and sure enough, good strong arc. I though okay, maybe it's fuel. I could hear the pump cycle on when I turned the key, so that ruled out that. I checked the schrader valve on the rail and had plenty of fuel pressure. It just wouldn't fire. The only thing I could think of was that the injectors weren't firing, but even then it should start up momentarily on the cold start injector alone (I only know that because I had an injector problem with the car when I first bought it as a non-running heap with a new engine). I had no way to check the injectors or ECU, so I called my wife and got a ride home. There was a big snow storm that night, so I couldn't get it towed until the next day. When I went to meet the tow truck driver he said give it a try and see if it starts. Third crank and it was up and running. Never did it again, and every diagnostic I ran on it came back negative. Just plain odd.

f355bird

iTrader: (2)

We sale the little clip u need at Oreilly's. Its an assortmant of clips for the clutch pedal. Its in the help section. If any of your local auto parts stores have a help section u will find what u need.

camaro_junkie

That's funny because I couldn't find it in the HELP section. The counter guy also looked through the catalog and couldn't find it and I looked on the HELP website and couldn't find it. If you could throw a part number my way, that would be awesome.

Thanks.

edit: Nevermind. I found it on the HELP website (www.rbinc.com). Strange, because I searched for 15 minutes on the website yesterday. I must have overlooked it. For anybody who's interested, the number is 14041.