The caller said her car’s (mid 80’s Asian econobox as I recall) clutch engaged too soon, engaged when pedal was close to floor. But it wasn’t consistent, sometimes it engaged at normal height; problem seemed to be getting more frequent. Ray thought the problem was the clutch material was disintegrating , and sometimes a piece would get jammed between two surfaces that shouldn’t have anything there, effectively engaging the clutch. What do you think, Is that the first suspect?
My first guess would be that the master or slave cylinder were failing internally.
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That’s what I was thinking too while listening to the podcast. I don’t recall which exact episode it was, sometime in the Sept/Oct/early Nov timeframe. I may be misremembering the make/model/year, maybe that particular vehicle had a well-known clutch friction material disintegration problem Ray was aware of. Or maybe the caller had a pre-show interview, which presented a clue to the cause that wasn’t aired.
Not enough information, need to know year make model, don’t know if hydraulic or cable clutch, and if hydro, internal or external slave cylinder… Plus I would want to test drive it to feel what it was doing and then check it out…
If my Corolla developed that same symptom, I try pumping the clutch pedal a couple of times to see if that improved the situation. If that consistently helped, @It_s-Me 's idea above would be my guess as well.
I got to thinking that symptom might could also be caused by a failing release bearing.