For about 9 months the clutch has gotten really hard to push into the floor, especially relative to my Dad’s new Subaru Forester. In addition, I think I am noticing the engaging point to be slowly getting farther from the floor. I usually have to lightly tap the gas as I let it up to find the sweet spot from a dead stop.
So (1) hard to press in, and (2) may be engaging farther from the floor.
Any reason to worry? These seem like mild symptoms but I’m a first time car owner (had this thing for only a year now) and I don’t want any major problems.
Could be your clutch but I’d first check the master/slave clutch cylinders.
They are supposed to make sure that the engage/disengage point remains the same, regardless of clutch wear.
It could, for instance, have a slight weep leak and it may need fixing/adding.
A clutch pedal that becomes much harder to push is often a sign of something broken or bent in the clutch ass’y. You might get lucky, and find it is only in the linkage, which usually doesn’t require removing the xmission to fix. First thing to do (after following RemcoW’s advice) is to ask your mechanic to check the clutch control linkages (those that are visible w/out removing the clutch) and see if there is anything broken or bent.
If I were a betting person, I’d guess that this is something broken inside the clutch though, a broken spring or pressure plate or something of that nature. This will require replacing the clutch.