clutch sounds sticky
 

i was wondering if sombody could help me i have a 1999 pro, and when i put the clutch in, it sounds like i can hear the cable moving, i feels kinda sticky, like the cable is caught or something. i was wondering if anyone had any ideas.
thanx Ben

From what I remember, Protege's don't have cable clutches like Nissan's. I believe we have a single dry-plate, diaphram-spring type clutch. The entire system is actuated by hydraulic pressure. When you press the pedal down hydraulic pressure is exerted against the clutch release lever by means of a slave cylinder. This is most likely where the noise is coming from.

First make sure you have plenty of brake fluid in your master cylinder reservoir. Your clutch and brakes both opperate off the same fluid reservoir. If the fluid level is below the plastic "tub" you get to have a great time bleeding the system. I am not going to go into how to do that until you reply back, because you would be suffering poor brake performance as well as clutch spongyness.


Open the hood, and remove the intakes snorkel that is located above the radiator. (this is assuming you have the 1.8 or 2.0L enignes, if not remove anything in the way of the top front portion of your gearbox's bell housing) have someone press the clutch pedal down while you are outside the car. look for the black cylinder that will push toward the front bumper and press a lever that travels at an angle into the gearbox. If you see or hear any binding or creaking there it could be any number of the those components which are slave cylinder, clutch release lever, throw out bearing(which is inside the gearbox). It could also be any of the internal parts to your clutch such as the diaphram spring itselff or the pressure plate. I don't really have any answers on what to do other than replace the faulty part once you find it. Most of the clutch components are not fixable and need to simply be replace once the wear out. If you have to remove the gearbox and service any parts in the actual clutch itself, it would be a good idea just to replace the whole assembly. The parts are not terribly expensive, just a pain in the ass to get to.

Reply back with what is going on and let us know if it is just simply air in your hydraulic system. if that is the case i can give you a step by step process right out of a repair manual to bleed your clutch system and brake system

First, it's not the cable because all modern Mazdas have hydraulic clutches. :)

I had this same problem, traced it to the clutch master cylinder, and cured it by bleeding the clutch hydraulics. After bleeding, it took a few weeks for the problem to go away. The clutch still sticks a *little* but not as badly as before.

I recommend bleeding the clutch hydraulics every 30k miles, just to be safe.

CLUTCH
 

the clutch doesnt feel sticky it just sounds it. it kinda creeks when you push it. it drives fine.just annoying noise. my fluid was alittle low. i had to add some because when i would brake hard the brake light would come on. it would trip the sensor. so i added some brake fluid. and the light stopped coming on when i broke hard. maybe their is air in the system. any ideas?

Yep, do what the man said! Make sure youve got a torque wrench though! You'll need it to tighten the lugnuts for the wheels properly. Oh, and youll need the specs too. Check the FAQ, although I aint sure if theres any help for this there or not (been a while since I list checked it.).

my advice would also be to get some speed bleeders for your lines. Pep Boys sells some for a good price but not sure if theyll fit or not. Anyone know where to get some good ones at? Lastly, make SURE you buy some GOOD brake fluid like Motul 5.1 or Motul RBF600 or if youre rich, then get (from a motorcycle shop) Castrol SRF. Its the most expensive though, but itll last longer than the others out there. Has the highest we boiling point ive ever seen.

c/j

You shouldn't need to remove the wheels to bleed the brakes on a Pro. The bleeder screws are pretty easy to reach with the wheels installed. Also, you don't need to remove anything the bleed the clutch because the slave cylinder is under the hood, behind the radiator. :)

Also, IMHO Motul or Castrol SRF brake fluid is overkill for a street-driven Pro. Ford DOT 3 (refer to the FAQ) is 90% as good for 50% of the cost, and Castrol GT-LMA or Valvoline Synthetic are 80% as good for 30% of the cost. :D Unless you go road racing, track driving, or do some *really* insane country road driving, you will NEVER boil fresh GT-LMA in a Pro. Our cars are not heavy enough or fast enough to overheat the brakes this much. :D