I have a 1993 Saturn SL1 clutch issue

You have eeither a pressure plate or disc failure. It may need a new clutch.

Make sure the fluid is full and the slave cylinder is moving the arm.

Roy

If the pedal feels different, then the slave or clutch master may be the issue. I would have that checked first before replacing the clutch.

Roy

Good luck

Roy

That was me that said that but anyway, the slave on the side of the transaxle assembly. I tis a small round cylinder and has a boot on the end and you will see an arm, small, that is coming out of it. It is short and may be covered by a rubber boot. If you dont see it, go to a shop and have them check it for you.

Roy

Make sure you bleed it or you will still have no pedal.

Roy

Just to add to this one if your going to change it make sure you buy the clutch slave/master as a complete seal system not the two pieces seperately. Saturn only sells it as a complete sealed system.I used to have people call me at the saturn dealer asking me how to bleed the system because they tried everything to bleeed it. Even shops called because they only replaced the master or slave or both seperately and couldnt get it to bleed right. Iam going to tell you the same thing buy it as a complete system already bleed. Also the two things that happen on those cars that cause the transmission hard to shift into every gear is a bad clutch master/slave cylinder. Also a bad pressure plate what happens on the ones I have seen is the fingers of the pressure plate where the throw out bearing ride wear unevenly so only part of the pressure plate release when pushing in the clutch causing the hard to get into gear. The hard to get into all the gears has nothing to do with the clutch slipping. Just the opposite the clutch isnt fully releasing cause it hard to get into all the gears. As far as seeing anything moving on the clutch master or slave when pushing the clutch in the only thing you can see move while pushing the pedal is the clutch master shaft inside the car and its attached to the clutch pedal. The clutch slave you cant see anything move becauce the pin that moves is inside the clutch bell housing. What I do when iam having a problem with it hard to go into all the gears is first see if the clutch pedal has hard pressure all the way to the floor. That it doesnt drop down some before its creates a hard firm pedal if it doesnt then I know the clutch master/slave is good. Then I know I have a clutch pressure plate issue and I have to replace the whole clutch pressure plate clutch disc and throw out bearing. Also make sure there is nothing under the clutch pedal like a floor mat etc keeping the clutch from fulky releasing.

If you have no pressure on the clutch pedal with everything hooked up bad clutch master/slave assembly. Also the clip your talking about has nothing to do with the operation of the clutch slave cylinder. That is there unbroken when the slave cylinder is brand new what it does is keeps that pin in place and aligned. That way when the clutch slave is installed the pin is aligned to the clutch fork on the first try installing it. Then the first time the clutch is pressed the clip breaks and it has done its job. Replace the clutch master/slave cylinder as a complete sealed assembly and see how it shifts let me know what you find.

Your not bugging me thats what iam here for to help people fix there cars. The rod might be moving out when the slave cylinder isnt installed but when it has to over come the pressure of the pressure plate thats a different story. With everything installed the clutch pedal should have a hard firm pedal all the way to the floor if it doesnt like I said replace the clutch master/slave cylinder sealed assembly and see how it shifts then.