clutch pedal problem, soft, comes up slow Options

[hurley97]

so I get my car back from the body shop and first thing I notice is the clutch pedal feels different. heres what happens...

so when I'm at a stop light I keep it in gear with my foot on the clutch. after a few seconds
- revs drop 200 or so rpm
- can't pull it out of gear
- let off the brake it moves forward like an auto
- when I give it gas and try to start normally the pedal stays on the floor and comes up really slowly

more specifics:
- does not happen when the clutch is in and its NOT in gear
- driving normally it feels fine, a little soft at the top sometimes but not all the time
- if I pump the clutch pedal it starts to feel normal again (not soft at the top)
- last two times I drove in reverse I couldn't get it out of reverse to go forward, had to turn the car off and start it again
- checked the fluid and it looks fine, no bubbles or anything abnormal

only thing I could think of was that its needs to be bled but it still seems a little weird. how does air get into the fluid lines without touching them (I assume the body shop didn't touch them since they were just supposed to paint the car). if bleeding doesn't do the trick what else should I check? what else could it be?

[vsideboy]

aye, mine is starting to do it.

If you hold it in gear just before the biting point after a few seconds the pedal will sink to the floor and the biting point becomes almost immediately off the floor rather than the usual inch from the floor.

I think its one of the cyclinders letting fluid leak from one side to the other rather than leaking externally, so you might not see any leaked fluid hurley as its probably leaking internally.

Not sure yet how to fix it other than a total strip down.