95 Toyota 4Runner, standard transmission, clutch issue

Hi. My clutch has been malfunctioning lately with increasing regularity. Sometimes I push in the clutch, and cannot shift. Sometimes the clutch pedal stays at the bottom, and I cannot shift. I tap it and it pops back up. Then works. I left it unused for a few days, and the pedal had dropped to the floor. I tapped it a bit, and it came up and worked fine. Could cause a dangerous driving issue. I checked the clutch cylinder on the firewall, the fluid was down about an inch. I refilled with brake fluid, but the next time I used it, it worked fine for a short while, then the pedal went to the floor, I couldn't shift, shut off the engine, tapped the pedal, it popped up and worked fine. I looked under the dash and it looks (to me) like everything looks ok. I cannot find a leak on white papers I put beneath it. From a brief on line search, I'm wondering that it may be a particulate that clogs the line (?), and it may need to be bleeded and possibly the cylinder replaced. Please comment. Thank you. Roger

 

Hi. My first 4Runner was a 1991 4WD V6 manual transmission. Bought it new way back when. Kept it for around 9 years. My clutch had similar symptoms around year 8. Took it to Toyota and was told the clutch master cylinder was leaking within itself and needed replacing. In other words, pushing the clutch in wasn’t creating enough pressure in the hydraulic system to actuate the throwout bearing. They replaced it and flushed the system and it worked fine up until I sold it the following year. I don’t know if this is what’s happening to your rig but some of your symptoms sound similar to what I was experiencing back then. You might try bleeding the system and see if you’re getting good pressure. Also, you might have air in your system too. Good luck.

 

4RF seems to be on to something. I had my clutch pedal go to the floor and it turned out to be a leaking line. Try replacing the master cylinder, but I would also check the flexible hose part of the line that runs down the right side of the engine bay as it probably needs replacing and it's only like $20. If you do need access to the slave cylinder, turn the steering wheel all the way to the left. It creates a lot of space to sit inside the wheel well while you work on the SC.

 

Sounds like a hydraulic issue to me as well. I'd suspect the clutch master cylinder. Take a real good look at all linkage pivot points under the dash, too. On other vehicles these holes often elongate from years of wear. You generally can't see it until it's apart and then what should be a round hole is an oval or the beginnings of a slot