Sticky clutch pedal - what could it be?

[leehamescort]

G'day,

My clutch pedal sticks as you press it down and release it, it moves up and down notchy rather than moving freely and smoothly, making it very difficult to take off smoothly without jumping/stalling the car.

It is smooth as silk when the engine is not running but notchy as soon as the engine is started (doesnt matter if in neutral or in gear)

I've replaced/adjusted:
- gearbox (thought it was the worn spiggot that the thrust bearing carrier slides on)
- Clutch master cylinder
- Tried various positions for the clutch pivot
- tried various positions for the clutch slave pin that pushes the clutch fork.

My only thought is it must be the pressure plate as this is the only thing that would be effected by the car running or not (centrifical force??)

Its in a Toyota Surf with a standard hydraulic master and dellows specified slave.
Holden 308 using dellows adaptor
Holden pressure plate
Toyota Clutch plate
R151 gearbox.

Its driving me crazy and has made the car almost undrivable, just thought I'd ask if anyone else had a similar problem and found a solution before i spend the $$$ on a new clutch and pressure plate.

Thanks
Leeham

[its aford not a nissan]

mine was doing the exact same thing , what caused mine was a trip through deep water ( over the bonnet ) then a short drive home and not driving it for a few days , when i went to use the car again i couldnt get a gear with the motor running , so i turned off the motor , put it in gear with the clutch depressed and started it , after a loud bang i could get gears again but the clutch peddal felt the same as you described ( really rough and notchy ) i was going to spray some wd40 in through the clutch fork boot but i couldnt find any at home handy , but i did find some crc brake cleaner so i figured why not , sprayed it in there with the motor running and pumped the pedal a few times

it is now smooth as silk and been fine ever since , the clutch even grabs a bit better now aswell

although this may have been a fluke

[-Nemesis-]

Did you recently install the clutch? Did you torque up the pressure plate sequentially so the fingers are even height?

Dunno if that's it, but can't think of any solutions atm. I just installed my new clutch on the weekend, ended up needing to ditch the typical holden pressure plate because of the power I have now. Ended up getting a custom made R32 GTR pressure plate

It's hard to ride it out smoothly because of the pressure, but I've never had a notchy pedal before.

It's strange that it's when the engine is on only. Have you got under there with someone pumping it? CAn you see through the fork opening for any clues?

[mhgill]

pressure plate would be my 1st guess!! before I changed the gearbox!!

did you look at the pressure plate when the g/box was out?