Is it my master cylinder???

[Drewe30e]

All of a sudden, on my way to work today, my clutch pedal became soft until about 3/4 of the full travel where it then engages. It almost pops down to that point (I guess that's the spring making it do that) and then becomes stiff like normal. I'm assuming its my master cylinder but I didn't think they failed that quickly. I checked the pedal box for cracks but everything looks ok.

The main thing I am worried about is whether it is going to get worse the more I drive it or can I make it home (30 minutes of stop and go traffic) to take it to a shop. I would do it myself, but I'm in school and away from most of my tools/help.

What do you guys think?

[B0ND]

By "all of a sudden" do you mean while you were driving? Or when you started the car up? If it's when you started the car, was there a pool of fluid underneath the car? If so that would indicate a slave cylinder failure. It doesn't sound like you're describing a master cylinder failure (unless there's a pool of hydraulic fluid at your feet that you somehow missed...which I doubt) It's a bit weird that it would have pressure for that last little bit...maybe there's a large pocket of air that got trapped in the line. I would recommend bleeding the system to see if that remedies the problem.

[86espowa]

bleed the system, and if that doesnt solve it you might need a new slave cylinder.

[browntown]

just replace the slave, if it's original it's time anyways. very common problem on these cars, cheap fix. Bleed after installation. Inspect lines while you're down there.

[Drewe30e]

I didn't look for a puddle when I left but that's because it was still firm then. It didn't go soft until the very end (no jokes). My guess is that it got some air in it However, after letting it sit for a while, I pumped the clutch a lot and still no change. Being at 195k miles, my guess is that some air has been able to get in there and possible corrode it.

I'm thinking of just replacing the whole system. Kind of expensive to get a shop to bleed it but I don't have any other options being that I'm without tools and friends to help. Any other quick-fix suggestions before I drop cash on it?

[B0ND]

Bleeding it is not that difficult, especially if you can get your hands on a pressure bleeder. Much cheaper than paying to replace the whole system. You'll need a 7 (? maybe 8) mm wrench to open the bleed valve, plus some new DOT 4 fluid. It can even be done without the pressure bleeder if you remove the slave cylinder (2 easy bolts), do a search.