Hey guys. So I just bought this s13 hatch a couple days ago and am fairly new to driving manual. I got the hang of it by the end of the day and can do it no problem now. But this morning I was backing into my friends garage and was riding the clutch pretty hard. I stepped out the car and it smelt like burnt popcorn everywhere. An hour later I start up the car to leave for home and the clutch pedal does nothing. The car will go into gear when the engines off obviously. But I cannot put it into gear when running. I tried starting it in gear with the clutch in but it just lurches forward. It starts in neutral perfectly but I cannot get it in gear. I've been told it could be the master cylinder or slave cylinder but I'm doubting that because the pedal feels exactly the same. I'm not an expert at all so idk. I'm assuming I melted my clutch onto my flywheel but I'm not 100% sure. If you guys could help me figure out the problem and how I could fix it that would be great thanks.

Do you see any leaks on the inside of the firewall next to the clutch pedal, around the master cylinder, or the slave cylinder? Have someone press on the clutch pedal while you're under the car and look at the slave to make sure that it's actually moving as it should. It sounds like you're getting ready to learn how to do a clutch job on it. If all those things look fine, it's time to pull off the transmission and do an inspection/replacement of the clutch.

ca18det_boy wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 05, 2017 9:07 am

Have someone press on the clutch pedal while you're under the car and look at the slave to make sure that it's actually moving as it should.

I was going to mention the same thing.
The dissimilar materials between the clutch and flywheel shouldn't allow them to weld themselves together, but maybe you cooked some springs or something in your clutch disk.
If you're in a pinch, you can start it in gear, get going, and then just rev-match to shift the transmission. Just don't come to a complete stop, or you'll have to shut the car off, start it in gear again, and repeat.
Ideally, this is something you should practice BEFORE needing to use the skill, but hey, life isn't perfect sometimes

Okay thanks alot for the conformation guys. Any clue how long it would take me to do the job since it'd be my first time pulling a transmission?

I shouldn't be too hard. Pretty sure you didn't weld the clutch to the flywheel (as stated above). If you were riding the clutch too hard, the little fingers on the pressure plate could've deformed away from the release bearing. Excessive heat could cause clutch fluid (brake fluid really) that is contaminated with moisture to vaporize in the line and with nowhere else to go, it pushed the fluid back into the Master Cylinder (would most likely leak).

Yeah I'd do the easy stuff first... check the hydraulics and make sure they are working before you go and pull the trans. The trans pull and clutch swap will probably take you 2 full days to complete.

Okay so it's been a couple days since this happend. I left my car parked out front at my buddies house and decided to start it up cus why not. Minute later my friend says what if it's Ur lucky day today, try putting it in gear. AND BAM it goes on to gear and drives just like it did before. But couple hours later clutch started slipping if I tried any hard accelerations. I'm assuming it'd be a good idea to still do the clutch and check the cylinders yeah?

I'd inspect the MC and SS for leaks first. If they look ok, hen follow the FSM for making sure the clutch pedal height is properly adjusted. If it's still no better, then bleed the system. If you somehow managed to boil the fluid (not sure it's even possible in an S-chassis car), then the clutch would act wonky. BUT, it's super cheap to do and can't hurt anything. MAKE SURE YOU READ AND FOLLOW THE FSM ON THIS PROCEDURE!!! S-chassis's cars have an odd hydraulic dampener loop on the frame rail on the passenger side. If you don't bleed it right, you won't get the old fluid out of that loop and it won't gain you anything.

If that doesn't fix/change anything, then you've definitely cooked/damaged something in the clutch assembly and the transmission will need to come out and the clutch, clutch fork, and pivot bolt will all need inspected and replaced as needed.