Strange Clutch Problem on 2003 Protege

[elcordovez]

When I start the car- I push in the clutch and...start the car...ok- then the clutch doesn't come back up! If I shut the car off then restart again...no problem-just like new! This has happened every day this week so it's not just a one-off. Any ideas, anyone? I've never hard of this before, and no there's no obstruction- the clutch is not geting stuck on the floor mat...It goes to the floor and stays there- you can't "pull" it back up until you restart the car then it works normally...any help would be greatly appreciated!
Alex

(and no, you can't shift with the clutch pedal stuck in the fully depressed position like this...) when you restart the car-fine- no problems!

 

[tweety2300]

You mean you can't pull it up by hand?

 

[Installshield 2]

yeah, can you not lift it by hand?...

if the pedal moves up and down with little resistance...its air in the clutch line, or lack of fluid, or both (could mean a leak or the reservoir was too low; the clutch cylinder will pull air in before the brake lines do)...If you physically cannot lift the pedal off the floor by hand until after you restart the car or something, well thats the first time i've ever heard of something like that...could be a damaged clutch master cylinder in either case though, or the pedal is binding up on something?...those are places to start looking, the clutch disengagement system is actually very simple...and there are only like 3 parts to get screwed up...anything else and its something with the clutch itself.

 

[Evil MSP]

^ +1