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Help me understand how my clutch pedal failed...

daveprice7

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Here's the scenario: Clutch pedal lost all hydraulic pressure (no resistance, wouldn't actuate the clutch). My vehicle did not yet have the first recall performed (though the dealer had three appointments to do it and didn't, for whatever reason). However, my hose never had the clip attached to it, so it shouldn't have needed the sleeve anyway. My Jeep is garage-kept and there has never been evidence of any fluids on my garage floor.

My Jeep was towed to the dealership, where it has been for the last THREE WEEKS. I get it back today and the only work performed was the recall (I now have a sleeve on my still-unclipped hose), as well as the required bleeding and refilling of the hydraulic system. The clutch pedal works again, though it's weird - the pedal has zero resistance for the first bit of travel, and I can't feel any bite point at all. It feels even more like a worn-out honda than it did before. That being said, I can tell it's much more forgiving than it used to be; I was able to shift smoothly without having to do little tricks like rev the engine a little to prevent it from shifting jerky. So.. improvement? maybe? or is all of this just going to lead to premature clutch failure?

What the hell is really going on here? Any ideas?
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OldGuyNewJeep

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Any ideas?
I would take it to another dealer.

My 2018 with 36,000 miles feels perfect (resistance all the way through) and always has. What youā€™re describing is not normal.

@JeepCares can help get you an appointment. Thereā€™s a brand new recall you need done, anyway (itā€™s a software flash).
 
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daveprice7

daveprice7

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I would take it to another dealer.

My 2018 with 36,000 miles feels perfect (resistance all the way through) and always has. What youā€™re describing is not normal.

@JeepCares can help get you an appointment. Thereā€™s a brand new recall you need done, anyway (itā€™s a software flash).
Mine's got 13.5K and it's always been difficult to shift smoothly, like.. the bite point isn't predictable or something... maybe related, maybe unrelated, I'm not sure. I was hopeful that it was just a bad master cylinder or something and replacing it would fix it, but instead, I ended up with nothing replaced and this new weirdness. I've been rowing gears since '93, cars and trucks, and this Jeep has just been an odd one.
 

OldGuyNewJeep

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Mine's got 13.5K and it's always been difficult to shift smoothly, like.. the bite point isn't predictable or something... maybe related, maybe unrelated, I'm not sure. I was hopeful that it was just a bad master cylinder or something and replacing it would fix it, but instead, I ended up with nothing replaced and this new weirdness. I've been rowing gears since '93, cars and trucks, and this Jeep has just been an odd one.
That sucks, and youā€™re not alone. Lots of people post here about bad clutch feel. I think most of it is down to improper bleeding, but thatā€™s just me speculating.

I really would recommend contacting JeepCares and letting them set you up with a different dealership.
 

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Mine's got 13.5K and it's always been difficult to shift smoothly, like.. the bite point isn't predictable or something... maybe related, maybe unrelated, I'm not sure. I was hopeful that it was just a bad master cylinder or something and replacing it would fix it, but instead, I ended up with nothing replaced and this new weirdness. I've been rowing gears since '93, cars and trucks, and this Jeep has just been an odd one.
Hello, are you planning on going into the dealership to have them take a look? Let us know if we can help with anything.

Kaitlin
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daveprice7

daveprice7

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Yeah, I drove it around yesterday and the clutch actuation isn't just weird, it's not working right. It was very apparent when I was reversing out of the garage and it jumped back without much pedal travel. Either it got worse or I just didn't notice it as much the day before, but the pedal is basically doing nothing until the bottom 15-20% of pedal travel. Back to the shop it goes again. I wonder if it's safe to drive like this.....
 

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Sounds kind of similar to my issue I had when my master cylinder went out after 10 mo of ownership. One day suddenly no pressure in clutch and it was stuck on the floor. I pulled it back up and half way would work. Then nothing.
 
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daveprice7

daveprice7

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After service appointment #2, all they did was bleed & refill the hydraulics. It was working ok for 100 miles or so, then, right in the middle of the road, the clutch pedal went straight to the floor and wouldn't move, couldn't shift into gear. Fortunately, I was on a slow speed residential road and I was able to push it over to the side of the road and call for the 2nd tow for the same problem.

It'll have been in the shop for nearly a month for this problem so far and still isn't fixed.
 

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what a shame. they probably made it worse with the recall. all they do is bleed the system and then cycle the pedal 50 times.... its a load of crap the recall and not the correct way to fix the real problems. i hope they replace the master and slave cylinder of your clutch system. they should be change the friction plate and flywheel at the same time under recall as you dont know how much damage this caused to the friction if the pedal has been half working you could have cause major wear on some thing that wasn't your fault. best of luck! i would ask for pictures of the friction plate if they did replace the master cylinder
 
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daveprice7

daveprice7

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Master and slave replaced. Seems to shift better than it has in the past, though, hard to tell for sure. I feel like previously the bite point was towards the end of the pedal travel previously and it's nearer to the start of the pedal travel now. If that's true (I have no idea why it would be?), then it may explain why it feels less weird to shift now, and easier to not lurch it.

@Maverick909 - I was half expecting them to just bleed the system again, it almost came as a shock when they said they replaced the cylinders, too late to get photos now I suppose. I am having some serious reservations about keeping it when the lease it up though, which was my plan. With all the problems that the MT seems to be having, and as nice as the AT is in my wife's Jeep, I may go to the dark side.
 

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Master and slave replaced. Seems to shift better than it has in the past, though, hard to tell for sure. I feel like previously the bite point was towards the end of the pedal travel previously and it's nearer to the start of the pedal travel now. If that's true (I have no idea why it would be?), then it may explain why it feels less weird to shift now, and easier to not lurch it.

@Maverick909 - I was half expecting them to just bleed the system again, it almost came as a shock when they said they replaced the cylinders, too late to get photos now I suppose. I am having some serious reservations about keeping it when the lease it up though, which was my plan. With all the problems that the MT seems to be having, and as nice as the AT is in my wife's Jeep, I may go to the dark side.
glad they got the m/s cylinders changed out. My pedal is about 1/4-1/2 through the stroke since day one. Have the time I
Donā€™t even notice that Iā€™m not fully using the clutch and more or less rev matching unless I am off roading
 

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Jeep Wrangler JL Help me understand how my clutch pedal failed... will_poulter


You guys are getting resistance in your clutch pedals?

My 2021 JL and the one 2020 JT I drove all felt dead with no resistance what so ever. I've driven a fair amount of manual transmission cars and I've never felt a pedal so dead. Pretty sure my gas pedal has more resistance than the clutch
 
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daveprice7

daveprice7

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Jeep Wrangler JL Help me understand how my clutch pedal failed... will_poulter


You guys are getting resistance in your clutch pedals?

My 2021 JL and the one 2020 JT I drove all felt dead with no resistance what so ever. I've driven a fair amount of manual transmission cars and I've never felt a pedal so dead. Pretty sure my gas pedal has more resistance than the clutch
It is very light, but it was noticably lighter when it started to crap out... enough so that I didn't make it more than a few blocks before I immediately turned around back home.
 

JLTraveler

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you guys are making me nervous - I am expecting delivery of my JLUR MT any day now....
 
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daveprice7

daveprice7

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you guys are making me nervous - I am expecting delivery of my JLUR MT any day now....
If it makes you feel any better, the automatic is terrific, and you haven't signed any papers yet!

I prefer manuals, but I enjoy driving my wife's AT Willys much more than I do rowing gears with this screwball clutch. Maybe I'm just weird about how I shift... but so too are plenty of other JL owners it seems :(
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