96 Ranger clutch binding in warm weather

[wooky1971]

1996 Ford Ranger 2.3L 5 speed with 50K miles

At about 25K the clutch pedal started hanging up. It would stick in various positions and would eventually pop back up on its own engaging the clutch. The truck got parked for 4 or 5 years and when I went to driving it again I replaced the clutch master and the slave popped from years of corrosion and I pulled the trans and replaced it. All good for about a year and it started hanging again. Internet search tells me the pivot point of the clutch pedal rusts up and binds so I replace the whole brake/clutch pedal assembly. That works for about a year. Internet search tells me it might be heat related and I go back through my timeline and notice that it is happening during the hottest months and when Im driving in city traffic. Internet search tells me it could be the rod from the pedal to the master needs lubrication. That didnt work. I added a return spring on the clutch pedal. That got the pedal to return correctly but not the actual clutch. 3 days ago it stranded me on the side of the road. The clutch assembly started hanging up and then popping loose in various positions until it hung up in the fully disengaged position. The pedal was working correctly, probably due to the return spring i added but the clutch itself was bound up and would not engage. So with my foot completely off the clutch pedal and it all the way up where is should be I could shift into all the gears and the cluch was hung and would not engage. I had it towed home and 2 days later jump in it and now its working like it should. One last note is that mine is a 2.3L so all my exhaust is on the passenger side so there is no heat source close to the clutch system. I have found multiple posts of people having the same problem but none that tell me what the solution is. To sum up what I have done. New master, slave, pedal assembly, return spring, and lubed the master to pedal rod. Anyone know a solution?

 

[scotts90ranger]

The only time I've had that was the master cylinder, I changed that like 5 years ago and it's been going fine since... you could have gotten a bad master cylinder or just have an air pocket in the master cylinder that made the rubber sticky on the piston or something strange. It pretty much has to be the piston in the master cylinder sticking.

 

[SenorNoob]

Sounds like something is off with you're pressure plate to me. I can't imagine the hydraulics sticking hard enough to hold the pedal down. Guess it's possible.

 

[wooky1971]

The only time I've had that was the master cylinder, I changed that like 5 years ago and it's been going fine since... you could have gotten a bad master cylinder or just have an air pocket in the master cylinder that made the rubber sticky on the piston or something strange. It pretty much has to be the piston in the master cylinder sticking.

Im not going to rule anything out. At $60 I may just get another one and swap it out. I do find it hard to believe the stock factory one was doing it at 25K and the replacement started doing it within a year or so. I bench bled it really well. Another thing is that the 1996 model had no kind of return spring on the clutch till I installed one a few weeks ago. That means the feel I got from the pedal was all master cylinder and not influenced by a spring. It NEVER had any kind of spongy or soft pedal. The pedal has always felt perfectly normal.

 

[wooky1971]

Sounds like something is off with you're pressure plate to me. I can't imagine the hydraulics sticking hard enough to hold the pedal down. Guess it's possible.

The 96 model had no kind of return spring on the clutch pedal. I added one a few weeks ago. The pedal relied solely on the master pressure to push it back up. The question is does the slave have something inside that pulls it back or does it rely on the pressure plate to push it back. Before I added the return spring the pedal would stick on the floor and the clutch would be disengaged. After I added the spring the pedal was functioning normally but the clutch was disengaged. I looked at the reservoir, and it was full so the fluid used to fill the master back up had to come from the slave. By the time I got someone to push the pedal in for me while I looked through the inspection hole the clutch had popped loose and everything was working normally again.