wrote:
> OK, guys, here is a question. Mazda 626 with manual transmission has
> the clutch pedal that does not always come back (seems to just stay
> stuck).
>
> A bit of background. The winter before the last one the clutch pedal
> would get very difficult to press, while it was the freezing
> temperature outside. After the car warmed up, the clutch became normal.
> The winter before that one there was no higher resistence, things
> worked the same regardless of the temperature. Last summer at some
> point the clutch stopped operating, it turned out that all that the
> fluid had leaked out. Once I added the fluid, things normalized after
> few tens of pedal presses. Then, the past winter the clutch would be
> first normal (while the car is cold), and then once it warmed up the
> resistance to the initial pedal movement would decrease. Eventually,
> the pedal started to get stuck more and more, and it depended on either
> that was the early presses, or the later ones once the car was started.
> There is also some fluid visible on the left of the clutch pedal inside
> the car, kind of on the carpet near the vertical wall that is the
> continuation of the driver's door toward the engine compartment.
>
> Is this sufficient info to say what needs to be replaced?
>
> Thanks!
> Mike

sounds like you have a hydraulic clutch, and at least the master
cylinder (and possibly the slave) needs to be replaced. Unless they're
prohibitively expensive, I'd do both because when one fails the other
usually isn't in much better condition.

good luck,

nate