Auto Shift Clutch

I "auto" have known and I feel pretty stupid. About 3 months ago our cruise control and jake brake quit working. I quickly figured out that it was the clutch pedal that was sagging about an inch. Stopped at the TA West of Denver for a clutch adjustment and they told me they cannot adjust the clutch pedal on an autoshift. It was a bad spring and I would need to take it to a dealer. Took me 30 seconds to "fix" the problem with a bungie cord. About three weeks ago we noticed that it was starting to take longer to get the truck into gear. We would have to hold the clutch in for a few seconds before it would come out of neutral. It did not affect shifting at all one we got out of neutral. The problem progressively kept getting worse. Was now taking 15 to 30 seconds to go into gear and the clutch pedal felt soft. I called a number of shops and nobody could help. Truck was in to Cummins and the said they can't help. Finally came to a head Friday night 200 miles from home. Fueled in Franklin KY and could not get it into gear at all. Petrolube next door and although the guy tried to help me over the phone he was not allowed to come over. My wife asked if it could be transmission fluid and I explained (feeling very superior) that it is a manual transmission that is shifted by the computer. After an hour it somehow went into gear and we drove straight to the gate of the Volvo dealer in Chattanooga. Waited until they opened at 7 am and went in and they were their typical completely useless selves Can't get me in till midweek. I went to the parts counter and bought the $5 spring. We are heading to Seattle and the Kenworth dealer there has been awesome. I figured we would try to make it. I called on Monday afternoon and made an appointment at Kenworth for Friday. The mechanic says "that is a hydraulic clutch and it sounds like it is out of fluid" tells me the reservoir should be on the firewall. I am driving to the store to buy brake fluid, at a stop light and I cannot disengage the clutch, the engine dies. I walk across the street to a gas station, buy a $2.59 can of brake fluid, pout about 3/4 of a cup into the tiny, empty, resevoir on the firewall and the dang thing is fixed. Why did this not occur to me (or any of the five mechanics I talked to) earlier. I think the main problem was I assumed the bad clutch spring and the shift lag were connected.