93 M5od

[reno]

Why is it these transmissions will shift easy when the engine is off, but when the engine is running ever so often it does not want to go into gear. I bled the clutch, made sure there is no bubbles and there is no leak coming from the Slave. Is it possible there is still air in the line? What is the BEST method to get the air out then and to find out if there is air still left in the line?

 

[Hardwareman]

I bleed mine the old school way and have never had problems doing it that way, others swear by the bench bleeding technique though.

I run a length of vaccum hose that fits snugly over the slave cylinder bleeder screw into the reservoir and then I crack open the bleeder while an assistant pumps the pedal about 25 times or so and on the last pump I have the assistant hold the pedal down while I close the bleeder. Yes, the bleeder screw is open during this pumping process and it may take a few times. You really just have to be careful of not letting the reservoir run dry.

I use a piece of duct tape to hold the rubber vaccum hose in place. This works for me everytime! If you have any questions just ask.



Allen

 

[Ozwynn]

I use kinda the same method except I run my return hose into a bottle of brake fluid.

my Dad has some kind of thing that requires and air compressor and sucks all the air out of the lines............

 

[reno]

Well What I did, and the reason is simple as to why I bled mine is the fluid was turning dark, like it was old and dirty, I had a real hard to hold pedal, So I cracked open the bleeder valve and kept slowly pouring the fresh fluid until it ran clear at the valve. I lost the pedal pressure (no clutch), so I had my son pump the pedal 5 or 6 times and hold it just before it hit the floor, then I opened the valve and then closed it and kept doing this over and over, until I got pedal pressure back, but still does not feel right to me, but I am not used to having a Hydraulic clutch except on my motorcycle, and that clutch feels a lot stiffer than the clutch in the Ranger, of course the motorcycle is operated by hand and the Ranger is by foot.
How do you do bench bleeding with the clutch master? Oh yeah, I have the Air compressor bleeding tool also, but it pulls so much fluid so fast I don't trust it much for this application, I tried to get the fill bottle that came with it to stat put, but it fell off a couple of times on me, so I gave up. That works good on the brakes though. If this problem I asked about is air in the line, I take it, that getting all the air out of the line is a PITA, much like the Motorcycle's? I liked to never get that bled when I had to change the line

 

[Hardwareman]

When my fluid started turning black, the slave cylinder went out and I had to replace it so the clutch would work properly. Hopefully that's not your case.




Allen

 

[reno]

The fluid was not a dark black, just slightly turning. I have (I guess) a good clutch. But if I put the truck in gear, let up on the clutch for even a second, then press the clutch pedal down again and put the Transmission in Neuttral, let up on the clutch. I have a hard time putting it back into gear (any), sometimes reverse is the easiest to get into, then while still holding in on the clutch, i can easily get into 1st,2nd,3rd,4th or 5th, but have to go so I put it into 1st and it shifts just fine. Sometimes not very often though, in a 5 day work week to and from work it will have that fit of not going into gear once or twice and that is about all). Just baffles me. I watched the slave engage and it appears to be collapsing the spring teeth on the clutch like it should. Maybe it is just me.

 

[Bent Bolt]

It's a idiosyncrasy of the Ford slave cylinder clutch system. You MUST bleed the hydraulic clutch system in order for the clutch to release properly. Perform the bleed as described here. Try different methods. I once spent 3 days trying to bleed a clutch. It can be a pain in the ass somtimes.