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Odd clutch behavior

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Old 11-03-2008, 02:56 PM
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Odd clutch behavior

So I was driving on the back roads with DSC off, wanting to get a feel for my car in a more or less safe/secluded area, and experimenting a bit with dropping the clutch, nothing excessive, 3-4k RPMs max, did a donut for the hell of it too just to see what it was like, and taking corners faster than usual. It was a very open area, very flat, no trees or anyone, or anything really..

Then suddenly there was an area of the road that wasn't paved, it was hard dirt with remains of concrete here and there and occasional wet terrain, so I down shifted to see how it handled on that surface and accelerated a bit to 35mph, and all of a sudden I felt the clutch pull back by itself, roughly to the halfway mark and I had to put my foot under it and pull it forward. I wasn't able to reproduce it but wanted to see if it's happened to anyone?

It surprised me bit, didn't know it could do that. It stayed in 2nd gear just fine, there was no howling or grinding or anything, the clutch pedal just suddenly dropped away from my foot and I had to wrench it back forward.
Old 11-03-2008, 03:02 PM
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air in the clutch line ? o_O never had that happen before. Only time ive had to pry the clutch back up was bleeding 05rx8mazda's clutch
Old 11-03-2008, 04:37 PM
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dont know? try rev matching though...much safer than just downshifting and letting go of the clutch real fast....
Old 11-03-2008, 04:44 PM
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Originally Posted by dozer
dont know? try rev matching though...much safer than just downshifting and letting go of the clutch real fast....
Well that's the thing though, I was slowing down, downshifted, went into 2nd, and then was accelerating again (after fully engaging the gear and letting off the clutch fully) and then the wheels slipped a bit from the mud, and that's when the clutch pedal suddenly dropped away, and hitting the brakes made it come back up easier while I was pulling it with my foot.
Old 11-03-2008, 04:48 PM
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sounds like air,try new fluid and bleed it.good luck
Old 11-03-2008, 10:37 PM
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isnt this your second tranny? YOu have bad luck
Old 11-04-2008, 01:43 AM
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Yep, second tranny, it did it again today on the wet roads, tires spun a bit when I shifted from 1st to 2nd and suddenly clutch pedal pulled itself back and engine just spun in neutral basically. Going to swap the fluid and bleed it as advised above.

I'm hoping this isn't a sign of things to come since I'm still at 2,800miles >.>
Old 11-06-2008, 07:20 PM
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let us know if that helped at all?
Old 11-06-2008, 10:21 PM
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Check the clutch bracket. I bet you need a new one from BRH.
Old 11-06-2008, 11:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Razz1
Check the clutch bracket. I bet you need a new one from BRH.

It's only a few months old, so i doubt that's the problem.


It's starting to happen randomly when accelerating now, I was in first going at 5k, about to shift into 2nd when the clutch suddenly fell away from my foot and there was that awful clutch burning smell.

Going to take it to the dealership on Monday
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