I have a 2003 Eclipse RS with a manual transmission, it has 50k miles on it and I've never had any problems. Last week all of the sudden my clutch started acting up, it got extremely spongy and it wouldn't shift into gear half the time, the other half the time it would grind when attempting to shift. I found that my clutch fluid reservoir was empty, so I bled the clutch line and filled it with DOT 4 brake fluid. That helped and I didn't have any problems with it for a couple days. The clutch firmed up and it seems to be shifting alot smoother. Today it refused to go into first gear again, after pumping the clutch it was fine... but I'm worried that I have bigger problems than the clutch fluid. It doesn't appear to have a leak, at least not that I can tell. Anyone have any ideas?

 

Could just be that you have a bad clutch. Or a throw out bearing going. Has the level of clutch fluid gone down anymore?

 

Yes the fluid has gone down slightly since I bled the clutch line. I refilled it but the problem seems to be slowly getting worse again. The clutch will get spongy and loose tension but it rebuilds quickly if I pump the clutch. There doesn't seem to be a visible leak. It goes to the shop tomorrow

 

my bro had a clutch problem with his 3g it was becouyse the seal on the clutch fluid resivoir busted if that helps.

 

Thanks, I was thinking something along those lines. I think if it was the entire clutch going out then the problem wouldn't be so sporadic. It still drives and handles fine but every once in a while it acts up. I'm hoping it's something simple like that

 

yea thats how his was we jsut got a new seal and refilled and havnt had problems since

 

Thanks, hopefully that's all it is! I've been worried about how bad it might be. Like I said, sometimes it is fine and other times its just like the clutch looses all of its tension and you have to pump it back up, or else it just won't shift into first gear without pumping it. I think my car has a mind of its own

 

yea i have a 03 spyder and my clutch has been doin somewhat the same thing. gets really soft and when i get on it hard it revs up the same but doesnt have the power and makes this wierd sound like if i was driving on the side of the highway (them lines that go left to right to tell ya that your off the road). Im makin a trip to norcal really soon and was wondering the same thing..

 

Sounds like you have a couple different problems. The clutch isnt gonna make a noise. My guess is that youve got a bad clutch because its slipping when you floor it. And the second thing with the noise sounds to me like a bad wheel bearing.