clutch, master, or slave problem?

[snatiep]

Hello Everyone,

My truck left me stranded the other morning. It was -18F.

Its a 1996 Ranger, 2.3L, 5 speed manual, 2 wheel drive.

As I was shifting I could feel the clutch engaging little by little closer toward the top of the pedal. It finally got so bad the clutch was slipping and it was hard to keep the truck moving trying to get back to my driveway.

Two blocks away I had to stop for an oncoming car, that was it, the truck wouldn't move any farther. With my foot off the clutch pedal, engine running, I could move the shifter through all of the gears with no grinding.

The pedal was also noticeably hard toward the bottom half of the pedal if I tried to push the clutch down.

I called my buddy up and he came and pulled me home and pushed me in the driveway.

I climbed under the truck and pulled out the rubber inspection cover and saw the slave cylinder was not fully pushed back where it should be. I cracked the bleeder screw and the slave cylinder retracted and fluid squirted out the bleeder screw.

I topped off the reservoir and pumped the pedal a bunch of times. The first few pumps felt normal, then the pedal started getting hard to push, then it got hard enough I couldn't push it down far enough to start the engine.

Once again I climbed under to crack the bleeder screw and the slave cylinder retracted again.

I disconnected the hydraulic coupling from the slave cylinder and tried to push down on the clutch pedal and it was rock hard.

I don't like just throwing parts at something hoping to fix it. I'm not sure what could be holding the slave cylinder out, not allowing the clutch to engage?

I have a second car, so its not a priority to get the truck fixed immediately. I will do the work myself.

I thank you very much for any thoughts or comments about this problem.

Nate

 

[RonD]

If your foot is off the pedal and there is pressure at the bleeder then replace master cylinder.

Quick test is to pump the pedal 4 or 5 times then with foot off the pedal open bleeder, should just be a drip, if it spray out a bit then master check valve is bad, so replace master.

Slave has no valve, it is just a fluid in/fluid out

 

[snatiep]

Thanks RonD for the reply!

Yes, with my foot off of the pedal I cracked the slave bleeder screw and fluid did squirt out with some force. Thats also when the slave cylinder slid back.

Where in the master cylinder is the check valve? It's not at the end of the hydraulic hose where the coupling is, is it?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[RonD]

It is inside the master.
When you press the clutch pedal down the check valve prevents fluid from flowing to the reservoir.
When you release pedal, valve allows fluid back into master from slave and keeps fluid full from reservoir in case of a leak in the slave.
If it is sticking then all the fluid from slave isn't flowing back in to the Master, so slave can't close all the way.

 

[SenorNoob]

Lucky, you don't have to pull the transmission unless the slipping already burnt the clutch.