MrMark52
TJ Enthusiast
Well once I can get this into my neighbors shop we plan on replacing all the parts in the clutch system.
Got some replies on the Subaru forum and they feel it might be a bad slave cylinder. So just replace the master at the same time just to CYA.
Yeah, after how you described the original failure I sure would have looked deeper into a linkage issue - and this one was further complicated by the hydraulic clutch components.
I would strongly urge that when you pull the clutch master and slave cylinders that you take them apart to see if you can figure if they were sticking - otherwise you may not have identified the real culprit (although I suspect you have).
And I assume your replacing the pressure plate and throw-out bearing, plus checking the yoke fork for free movement in the bell housing while applying angular forces against it (you never know which direction the slave cylinder is actually coming from, even thought at a glance one would think it is being applied in the direction of rod travel.
I was also check for any odd wear patterns on the yoke fork as well as in the bell housing opening.
Or, as I had in my old Volkswagen's as well as a Kubota tractor I had to replace a clutch/pressure plate/throw-out bearing in about 10 years ago - neither had a yoke fork to support the throw-out bearing, but a rod that went through the bell housing.
I never had an issue with any of the VW's I worked on, but for the tractor, that rod was frozen up inside the bell housing. We had to heat the heavy mass of the tractor housing and beat it out with a hand sledge.
FWIW - if you've never worked on a tractor - for most farm-like tractors, the engine, transmission, rear axle are all a part of bolted together assembly that also make up the frame of the tractor. To work on any one of those assemblies requires splitting the tractor in two - not an easy task without the right kind of shop equipment (overhead hoist, transmission jack, hydraulic car jack).
The pictures you provided of pulling the Subaru engine to do the clutch work were somewhat reminiscent of working on that tractor.
And finally, because this happened when she had just started the car and was letting it warm up - I suspect this is a clutch start car (you must depress the clutch to start the car to insure you don't try to start it with the transmission in gear) - that really, really leads me to believe there is either a hydraulic cylinder problem or mechanical issue in the linkage as described above - all while keeping in mind that if at various times while driving the clutch is only partially engaged, it is starting to glaze and getting hot. Something that may not be realized by a novice driver or someone who is not mechanically sensitive to the sounds and smells of a partially engaged clutch.