I have a 1983 nissan
Dear evictoria: I can only take a few educated guesses as to your definition of the problem: 1. The clutch pedal has gone to the floor and will not come back up. If this is the case, you have run out of fluid in the clutch hydraulic reservoir located next to the brake master cylinder. If you lift the cover and it is empty, fill it with brake fluid. Get in the truck, lift the clutch pedal back up to the top and manipulate it up and down several times to see if any resistance is felt and if the pedal returns to the top rather than remaining on the floor. Remember to keep checking the reservoir for fluid. If it was a fluid loss problem, you will be able to drive the truck again, but the problem will return again unless the problem is fixed. Depending on the severity of the leak would determine if you could restore your pedal at all. Most of the time I have found that the Clutch master will start leaking before the slave cylinder does. Look up under the dash where the clutch pedal attaches to the master cylinder VIA a rod which it pushes through the fire wall. If the master cylinder is failing, you will see signs of fluid having been leaking inside the cab, down from around the rod coming out of the master cylinder.
2. If the Pressure plate has failed, it can create a problem where when you depress the clutch pedal, even though it feels as though it is releasing, some portion of the plate is still touching the disc and applying force to keep the disc from spinning freely from the flywheel. Thus it will remain engaged.
3. If the truck had been sitting a long time, sometimes a clutch will stick to both the pressure plate and flywheel and will not release when you depress the pedal. It is rare, but not unheard of.
I have never had an experience which had required my having to take the car apart to fix the problem. The method taken to get the clutch to release, is one which nothing less than an experienced and skilled driver on a road or in a large area with a few hundred yards to move in. First, the clutch pedal must feel normal in travel.
You will be starting it in gear, so be ready to pull it out of gear and shut the engine off in a split second if needed.
READY? Run the engine until it is at operationg temperature. This is to take the variables of cold running engies out of the equasion. Placing it in 1st gear, put you foot on the clutch and start the truck. It will **** and shudder briefly and then it will go without any problems. Once you are up to about 20 MPH, floor the gas pedal and let off, floor it and let off, floor it and let off. At the same time, you want to be pumping the clutch pedal. The combinations of all of the above mentioned will break the clutch free if it has seized from sitting. In my career as a Nissan tech since 1968, I have run into only a few other rare instances causing the same symptoms but they were were extremely rare. The pivot ball that the release bearing fork rides on has broken on two vehicles in the 40 years as a Nissan tech.
I hope one of these fore mentioned Items has fit you description and solved your problem. I wish you luck and hope it is the lesser of the ones I have described. If you have experienced a Clutch master cylinder failure and/or pending failure....replace both master and slave units. They are the same age and 99 out of a 100 times when only one is replaced, the other soon fails, often leaving the driver stranded. I'm the new guy on the block here at "Fixya" If I have helped you..... Your input response would greatly help me in my rankings. Thanks...mybunkey.........
