Clutch pedal pops...
 

Sitting at the gas station, getting ready to go and put the car into 1st gear, I put my foot on the clutch pedal and heard a "pop" sound. Now the friction point to disengage the clutch is nearly all the way down to the floorboard.

I got under there and looked for any obvious signs of the clutch pedal bracket weld points being damaged but couldn't see any (or didn't know enough to recognize the damage). The pedal does wiggle a bit from left to right, but I don't know if it's more than is normal. The pedal had been squeaking from time to time as well, but at the time I didn't know that that was a potential symptom of flexing of the clutch pedal bracket. As I press down on the pedal, I see the rod going through the firewall but nothing "catches" (i.e. clutch begins to disengage, pedal provides resistance) until, as I said, the pedal is almost all the way down. I was able to shift gears anyway long enough to get back home.

Does this seem more likely to be the clutch pedal bracket, the slave cylinder, or something else?

Edit : BTW I have 115,000 miles, so none of the recalls or anything will be of any use to me as far as I know. I had a very similar symptom to this about 2 years and 30,000 miles ago. Dealer said they replaced the entire clutch pedal assembly at the time -- i.e. everything on the inside of the firewall, and they didn't mess with the master/slave cylinders or anything else. The symptom is so similar this time that it makes me think that it's the same problem. Any opinions?

get up under there and tighten all the bolts.... sounds like your clutch bracket is on the verge of breaking. one tight its less likely to break. or it may already be broken since you're pushing the pedal down far enough to change the orientation of the spring it sounds like. this happened to me. you'll need a new bracket probably with a brace...... it'll run you approx 300$if you install yourself now if its not broken and the tightening fixes your problem then i suggest you just buy the brace and take some time to install it so that you don't have the problem again and maybe find some locking nuts so they don't come loose over time from clutch use

Take it from the guy who originally discovered the problem with the factory unit; your clutch pedal is broken. Get a new one and have it reinforcement-welded. Problem solved and rather inexpensive.

what he said^^
lol basically what i was rambling on about condensed

For posterity's sake, you guys were completely right. It was the clutch pedal bracket problem. I bought the complete reinforced bracket assembly from Race Roots. Got it installed, had to have the pedal adjusted (friction point was too high by default, clutch wasn't completely engaging and was slipping), and then all was perfect!

Thanks all!

I ran into a similar problem today, after shifting into second the clutch stayed down near the floor. If I tap the bottom of the pedal with my tow it pops back up but doesn't engage until right at the floor. My car is an 04 with only 45,000 miles. As with the OP I'm not sure of exactly what to look for under the dash to know if it was the bracket.

Found the broken weld and took the car to the dealership, they diagnosed the problem as the clutch pedal assembly and are replacing it under warranty.

I have a 2004 and have 51,000 Miles on it. I had the same thing happend to me today and when the clutch pedal poped, it loss half of the distance to press the clutch in for the gears to go in. I was driving like that for about a good 10 miles and then i stoped at a plaza and parked my car. When i came back i started my car up but no gears would go in. I looked at the bottom of the dash board and noticed that the clutch pedal would go all the way in but not enough to put gears in. Well i did all i could to avoid calling a tow truck but nothing worked. So i called a tow truck, he charged me $50 for a 3 mile tow. I towed it to the dealer and they are telling me that the clutch and flyweel need to be replaced because they are slipping. Oh man wait for the best part.....they are charging me $1929.09..... I dont know what to say that is pretty extreme!... Now my question is how long is the clutch suppose to last?...Like I said my car has 51,000. how many miles dose yours have and have you replaced your clutch? How much did you spend on it?.....oh let me also add that my car is also out of warranty because i got it sep 2004 and the 60 monts are long gone.