I recently got a 99 dakota that has been sitting for 4 years.
It runs good, but the clutch pedal stays down when pressed.
So, I replaced the Clutch Master Cylinder, Slave Cylinder and reservoir (1 piece, pre-bled closed system)
But the pedal still does not return.

I thought the clutch was frozen to the flywheel, but...
The clutch engages and disengages if I lift the pedal with my foot, I can drive it, but that's not very convenient.
There is no return spring on the pedal, from what I can see, there is not supposed to be one.

Any ideas? I'm puzzled at the way the clutch engages and disengages fine.

thanks

 

I think it should have a spring if not maybe the pivot point is gummed up by something.

I will look at mine in the morning.

 

I believe that the spring in the pressure plate is what provides the force to return the pedal to it's normal position. There may also be a return spring inside the master cylinder, I can't remember for sure.

When I did my 5 speed conversion, the first throwout bearing I bought didn't fit very well on the input shaft of the trans and it would rock sideways as I pushed the pedal. This caused a lot of extra drag but the new pressure plate always had enough force to return it to it's normal position. I'm wondering if your throwout bearing is hanging up on the shaft somehow. I would pull the inspection cover and see if you can get a scope camera up in there to get a better view of what is happening when you release the clutch pedal.

I will go check my parts bin to see if I still have the old master cylinder to see if it has a return spring in it. If it does, then you have something wrong with the part or something is not right with the way it is hooked up.

EDIT: I threw it out.. Stupid spring cleaning.

where is your clutch engagement point? at the top of the pedal travel or is it closer to the bottom?

 

Thank you for the responses.
I think my clutch engagement is toward the top of the pedal travel, I'll double check in few hours.
I believe there is a spring in the master cylinder and the slave, from what I have seen in diagrams? but I can tear apart my old one to check.

I have wondered about throwout bearing. It seems like I'll be doing a new clutch since it's not that much more to just do whole job, if I'm in there to replace the bearing.

thanks

 

The reason I asked about the pedal height at engagement is because I suspect there may be something wrong with the pressure plate fingers being bent or broken, or possibly the throwout bearing contact surface has worn through( I saw this on a junkyard truck once, it wasn't pretty). If your pedal height is low, that could be a possibility. But if it is at normal height and the clutch is operating normally, I haven't got a clue.

When you lift your foot off the pedal, does it come back up until the clutch is engaged then stop? Or does it take manually lifting the pedal up to get the clutch to engage? If it's the latter, then I think your pressure plate is toast. Either the springs are too weak or they are rusted up.

 

The pedal requires me to lift it manually all the way. I believe that the pressure plate fingers are toast. A new clutch kit is about $100, so I think I'll just order a new kit. thank you all for your help.