Help is my clutch toasted?

[thatphysicsguy]

So I'm on a roadtrip from NY to LA. Everything has been going swimmingly until today.
Pulling out of a rest stop, I work my way through the gears and once I hit 5th I notice that it's a bit difficult to get into gear but it notches in in fine and I keep driving without any indication anything is wrong (no clutch smell, no weird noises etc.)

Several hours of hilly highway driving later I go to downshift to pull off the highway and notice my clutch pedal is about halfway depressed already just chilling there. I manage to pull into the gas station and the clutch is still halfway in.

I fill up and lift the clutch up/toward me with my foot and it pops back into its normal place, but now the clutch engages wayyyy up the pedal travel. As if it bites right before I lift my foot off the clutch.

Pedal feel is still good. Did I just unintentionally drive hundreds of miles with my clutch stuck halfway in? or is this some kind of master/slave cylinder issue?

Is my clutch fucked now?

I just replaced the clutch less than 10 k ago too...

[EatsHondas]

I haven't had any e30 clutch problems to date, but I was driving a friend's Mazda 626 a few years back when suddenly the clutch stayed matted to the floor after a gear change. The mechanic that fixed it said the slave cylinder had failed. Could be a similar issue for you. I would check the hydraulics first like you mentioned.

[lcoleman]

What's the fluid level? If low, find the leak.

[AndrewBird]

Yeah, sounds like a clutch master or slave failure. Any leaks? How is the fluid level?

[thatphysicsguy]

Fluid level is fine, slave is fine. Car is driving seemingly normal now. if the slave went, my pedal would feel mushier and mushier as time went on and that isn't the case.

it seems that the master got stuck or something and caused me to run with the clutch slightly out, wearing away material. once i popped it back into place, the master hasn't given me issue and the car shifts as normal but just without a lot of clutch meat.

someone on the r3v fb mentioned a spring in the pedal assembly that sometimes breaks and prevents the pedal from returning to the top. I'm looking into that today.

[MR 325]

The clutch pedal wouldn't get "stuck" in place for no reason. Your master is probably taking a dump.

I really doubt it's a clutch spring issue. I've owned 2 E30's with no spring at all and no issues.

[thatphysicsguy]

The clutch pedal wouldn't get "stuck" in place for no reason. Your master is probably taking a dump.

I really doubt it's a clutch spring issue. I've owned 2 E30's with no spring at all and no issues.

That's what I feared. the master should be fairly new (less than 10k miles)

is it that common for them to fail so young?