First thing to check is if your slave cylinder is working. Find a friend, have them push down on the clutch pedal while you watch the lever on the transmission. Did it move? Hopefully. If it didn't, you probably have either a failed cylinder or more likely a leak somewhere. Hows the fluid level looking? If it moved and seemed to move enough and reliably enough, then something is up in the bell housing. Either your clutch lever is actually not connected to anything inside because that arm broke off (it happens!), your throwout bearing broke or otherwise has been compromised, or you jsut have some general "clutch problem" that will require the removal of engine or transmission.

Start by seeing if it moves and checking your fluid.

-Craig '85GL turned WESTY BOSTIG in back

On Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 8:55 AM, Stephen Cebula <sfcebula@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi all, > I have question about my clutch: > Yesterday, all of a sudden, my van quit shifting. At first it seemed to be > harder to shift into 1st and then it just quit. There we're no warning > signs. It shifts fine when the engine is off, but it stalls when I start it > in gear. The weird thing is that after trying a few times it seems to work > fine for a short time. That makes me wonder if it's a hydraulic problem. > But the pedal is still nice and firm. I didn't see any leaks. Any ideas? > Thanks again, > Steve > > > >