Truck stuck at work

[ranger1943]

96 Ford Ranger, 5sp, 2.3L:

Yesterday I drove my truck to work and when I arrived I noticed it started to get difficult to get the truck into gear. I parked and went in to work. Upon leaving 9 hours later, the trucked started up as usual but the clutch pedal was very spongy and basically had no pressure. Checked the reservoir and it had fluid in it, no leaks anywhere on the truck, linkage looks ok. A year or so ago I replaced a leaking slave cylinder and clutch. Have been driving it everyday since with no issues. Would this indicate the master cylinder? Can it fail without having a leak? Is it possible to have introduced air into the system?

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[1986fordranger]

it could be your master cylinder, before doing anything else I would check to make sure the diaphragm under the master cylinder reservoir cap is not sucked down in and separating fluid from getting through the system, I've had it happen on a f250 and a few other's

 

[ranger1943]

Thanks I'll check it out as soon as I can get through all the snow.

 

[ranger1943]

no luck

Figured it wouldn't be that easy but thanks for the suggestion. Slave cylinder covered in fluid and the clutch won't disengage. Looks like a new slave cylinder and clutch again. Just changed them about two years ago.

 

[ranger1943]

Fixed..........mostly

Slave cylinder did the trick, went OEM this time hopefully will get more mileage out of it. However, gears seem a little stiff at times when shifting on the fly or parked and pedal still seems a little soft. Thinking I might need to bleed it again? Slave cylinder looks like it is traveling quite a bit with the pedal movement and clutch/pressure plate is only about two or three years old and didn't look worn.

Thoughts?

 

[ranger1943]

Resolved

Removed the master cylinder and bench bled like perfection suggested in the sticky post at the start of this forum. Re-installed cylinder and bled the system like the haynes manual stated. Seems like I have good pedal now.