enniroc wrote:it seems I now need to hold the clutch a fraction of a second longer when shifting into first.
That's subjective and easily mistaken via paranoia/hypochondria. That kind of thing happens to me sometimes. Then I wait it out, and either I forget about it and everyting's fine or it gets severely worse and I decide it needs fixing.
If it is real, it might be that the clutch got glazed. The remedy is to just drive normally until the glazed surface wears off.
One other possibility is that there is air in the clutch hydraulic fluid, maybe from bad luck, maybe from fluid boiling and fractioning off (which might be possible with the concentric release bearing in modern cars), maybe from a seal that allowed air in while it was overheated (again, might be possible with concentric release bearing). One easy solution that usually works is also a good maintenance idea either way: The no-tools fluid replacement/bleeding. It's so easy a caveman could do it. Here's how you do it:
1. Buy a 32oz bottle of DOT3 brake fluid (most clutches specify that, but do check your owner's manual). It's $6.50 at Walmart. Buy a turkey baster, $1.
2. Open the clutch reservoir. Your owner's manual will have an ilustration showing where it is, under the hood near the steering column. Use the turkey baster to remove all the fluid that you can and pour in clean fluid. (Dispose properly, please.)
3. Pump the clutch pedal 25-200 times while watching for cloudy or dirty fluid to come up, and especially watch for air bubbles to come up. If air bubbles come up visibly then you
know it needed to be bled, severely. As the cloudy/dirty fluid appears, turkey baster it out and replace with fresh fluid again until it always looks good or you're tired of doing it.
That's all there is to it.
