My Dakota has 185,500 miles on it now and still has the original clutch, reservoir, master and slave cylinders. I never had any clutch type problems until today. I left work this afternoon, turned onto the main highway and soon as I got to about 30 mph I felt a "jerk" in the truck kind of like when you push in the clutch and let it back out real fast. Nothing changed with engine sound or RPM's, just had that hard jerk and the truck kept moving. It happened again about 5 or 6 times on the 20 mile ride home. I had no trouble at all accelerating to 50-60 mph, shifts were fine, no trouble going in or out of gear and I had no problems at all climbing a couple of long hills at 55-60 mph with the AC on. The clutch pedal does feel a bit more easy to move than it used to but I never really noticed it much until now.

I made it home OK and found the clutch reservoir was low, it was only about half way full. I got under the truck and saw that there was fluid leaking from the bottom of the slave cylinder and I had a light-colored brake fluid stain on my driveway right under the slave cylinder. I chocked the front wheels, started then engine, put it in fifth gear and let out the clutch slowly. The engine stalled and shut down. My very basic understanding of the clutch system tells me if the engine stalled and shut down then the clutch itself is OK and I need to replace the reservoir, master, slave and hose. I read up on it in my FSM and it does not look to be very difficult, especially with new sealed parts.

Am I on the right track here with replacing the hydraulics or do you guys think I am looking at a whole new clutch? I do not tow anything, never go off road and I drive the truck easy, I do not hot rod it at all, rarely ever get over 70 mph and that is only on the interstate. My truck will stay parked until I get this problem fixed.

Thanks for any info on this.

Jimmy

 

I had to get a new clutch at the 100K mark not sure why I do tend to feather my clutch probably more than I should but the 2.5 needs more rmp than a v6 or v8 so I let it out a little slower than most I think thus wearing it down faster if you don't you get a kind of hesitation and sometimes it just bogs down bad so higher rpm at takeoff is needed. Believe it or not the 2.5 has good power at takeoff its a zoomer off the line but it needs more rpm at takeoff or bad things happen.


I would get the clutch replaced IMO then you don't need to worry about it for many years.

 

Well after reading a lot online about the problem I do not think the clutch is bad. I will replace the clutch master, slave and reservoir but I think the issue is the ignition pickup sensor in the distributor. It is the only engine management sensor on my truck that has not been replaced. I found out if that sensor is bad it can definitely cause an engine miss under load in the 2000 to 3000 RPM range, which is exactly the best way to describe the problem I had on Tuesday. It was not a clutch slipping problem, it was more of a bad engine miss or misfire.

Tomorrow I will replace the pickup sensor, and since it is almost time for a tune-up again I will replace the sensor, cap, rotor, plugs and wires too. I will have to order the clutch hydraulics but do not want to do that just yet until I figure out this misfire problem. I hate to throw parts at it but there are no stored or pending codes and my fuel pressure and TPS are both OK. The ignition pickup is the next logical cause.

Jimmy

 

I would agree - it does not sound like the clutch is bad. You have not mentioned shudder when taking off, or slippage.
You did mention the slave cylinder has been leaking and that's reason enough to replace or rebuild it. What is wrong with the master cylinder?
What sounds like a misfire you intend to repair by throwing parts at it. Are the wires bad, or the plugs, or the cap and rotor? Is the pickup coil bad? Normally there are ohm values for them, but I'm not sure on these engines. Replacing it because it is the "last thing" is not diagnosis.
I'd look at the cap and rotor and see if it shows signs of tracking. You can ohm test all the wires and see if you have a bad one - they do not all go bad at the same time. Same for the spark plugs -just examine them first.

 

Im dubious in regards to the pickup coil but its cheap. Take a look at it it may be dirty or covered in metal fuzz mine was.

Now what may be going on is your PCM may be on its way to death as that was a symtom I had just before it went wacko on me

 

Nothing is wrong with the master, as far as I can tell. It is not leaking but my logic says if the slave is leaking, the master may not be far behind. I would rather replace the entire hydraulic assembly now, have a much more reliable repair and be done with it rather than replace the slave now and wind up having to replace the master in the not too distant future. Also when you replace the entire hydraulic system as a unit you do not have the hassle of trying to bleed the system.

As far as the cap and rotor I will check them both out tomorrow before doing anything else. Whether they are bad or not, it is nearly time for my next tune up anyway so I might as well replace the cap and rotor at the same time I do the pickup sensor. I would rather do all of those together now rather than replace just the sensor only to have to take it all apart again to replace the cap and rotor a few months from now. If this misfire had not happened I would still be doing my next tune up in less than 3,000 miles from now. Same with the plugs, they have about 27,000 miles on them now and I would have changed them at or before they hit 30,000 miles regardless.

I am trying to be logical about this problem and the way I fix it. I do not have the right meter for testing the pickup sensor. It is the only sensor on my truck that is still original and I have read of other people having a similar problem and the cause was the pickup or cam sensor. I may or may not replace the wires, they are not that old and are a good brand. For $22.00 though, a new set could be even more of a sure cure for the misfire. I have a lot of things to check out tomorrow but I still think I am on the right track. I have not been able to get to it until tomorrow because of work and bad weather here.

Jimmy

 

I sure hope it's not the PCM. If it is I will get a new or rebuilt one if needed. Right now the pickup coil and other tune up parts are cheaper and easier to replace. Plus it is nearly time for a tune up anyway so I would be changing those parts out anyway even if this misfire problem had not happened.

Jimmy

 

After I re read your original post thats when I thought PCM my PCM going bad is what originally got me back into working on autos. My truck started acting strange hard to start at times it would surge or drop speed like a sticking gas cable this was random not consistent on and off just acting strange. A shop looked at it said PCM is going bad replaced it all was good till all the symptoms came back a few weeks later took it to a dealership they said PCM is bad I said it was new they replaced the PCM free only labor as it was a dealership OEM new part and off I go.

That fixed the problem but at total both shops of $1.200

I forgot to say these problems would some times go away for a week or two then come back that is what made it so strange

Wow just noticed Im at 4K posts cool

 

Change the master/slave cylinder. I agree, if one goes the other isn't far behind. You can reuse the parts if the clutch itself fails without issues.

On the pickup, have you checked for codes?

 

I have no codes, Dan. None stored and none pending. I also checked the fuel trim, it was only at idle in my driveway but it all looked OK to me. TPS, IAT, MAP, all other sensors looked OK when I checked with my scanner and volt meter. I really do believe the pickup is the most logical place to start, because it is original and is the only engine management sensor that has not been replaced, and I have read of other people with a similar problem and the pickup or cam sensor was the culprit. It is hard to diagnose an intermittent problem like this but the pickup and tune up are where I am going to start.

Jimmy