I've got a 2000 Xterra with a manual tranny. It's got 160K miles on it, and I'm gonna guess it's the original clutch. It's always shifted fine and never given me any problems. Suddenly, on Friday, after driving all over the country side with NO PROBLEM or even any SIGNS of a problem, I pushed the clutch in to downshift into 2nd to turn into my driveway and it wouldn't go into gear. So I pulled to the side of the road. Wouldn't go into any gears and the clutch was flat on the floor. I can bring it up with my toe and it springs right up, but there's no pressure.
The truck starts up fine with the clutch down. There are no weird noises coming from anywhere. It will NOT shift into any gears, regardless of whether the truck is running or shut off. When I step on the clutch, the fluid in the reservoir does go lower and lower with each time I step on it, but I can't seem to find where the fluid is going.
I am thinking that it's got to be either the clutch master cylinder or the slave cylinder... I'm HOPING it's the master since the slave is internal and I'm not comfortable going inside the transmission.
I've got a tidbit of mechanical ability from watching & helping my brothers in the garage, but I'm by far NOT a mechanic. I am mostly just looking for input at this point since money is tight and I'm trying to get an idea of cost of repairs before having to tow or haul the handsome beast to a shop. Anybody out there that can maybe enlighten me a bit would totally ROCK. PLEASE give me your thoughts on this.
Not having my truck ready and waiting for our many adventures is like my own, personal HELL! It feels like someone has cut off my left hand!!!!