Clutch not disengaging

[chrismeats]

I have a 2000 4cyl 2.5 Ford Ranger.
I have been having problems with the clutch disengaging. It started off everyone once and awhile just with 1st and reverse and progressively has gotten worse to the point now that if I dont have it in first before I stop I have to shut it off and put it in first. its disengaging part of the way and if I match my RPM's I can get it shift through all the gears but not the way it should be.

My transmission fluid/brake fluid level has not gone down any and I did not see any brake fluid in the bell housing when I pulled off the cover. The truck only has 50,000 miles on it.

I described this to a mechanic friend and he said it sounded like the clutch diaphragm was loose. but to do that I will probably have to drop the tranny in which case I mighten as well put in a new clutch.

Does anyone have any ideas what could be wrong here?

 

[03FX4]

YES!

Same problem as me. I have a 2003 4.0 4wd and when i bought the truck i noticed the master cylinder was replaced about a month earlier. a week into having the truck, the shifting got progressively worse and it was almost impossible to shift into first and reverse.

Had it taken in, replaced master cyl again. Was good for about a month then it started happening again. All my gears are harder to shift into, but now i DO have to turn it off to shift it into first and reverse it really sucks, same thing as you.

I took it somewhere and they seemed to say it was either my slave or my whole clutch needed to be replaced which is what they were saying, its probably the pressure plate but they are gonna do the throwout bearing and slave too..

but yeah. shifts fine while off which rules out the possibility of the shift fork being bad, which is what alot of people told me.

master being replaced twice only flowed more fluid to my clutch which basically covered up my problem for a little while. Ive also had clutch line replaced and had it bled like 5 times which is not the problem.

but no leakage was noticed in my slave last time so they think its probably not them problem, and since eitherway the tranny is going to have to be dropped, they are just gonna do the clutch.. but ive been through so much with this problem and am having it fixed on friday and by then i will have a clear knowledge of what the exact problem was and will be able to let you know.

but my clutch engages very close off the floor. does yours?
there is also no difference of feeling in the pedal, and sometimes it's random and will decide to be able to shift into 1/R, but barely.

let me know some more details and we can compare

 

[ati190]

Try bleeding the clutch... You may have a sticky pilot bearing (which is a likely cause), or a bad slave cylinder.

 

[RangerAndrew1989]

couldnt be a sticky pilot bearing, it has nothing to do with the disengagement of the clutch. it only supports the input shaft of the trans. could possibly be the throw out bearing or aka the release bearing

 

[chrismeats]

03FX4, it sounds like the EXACT same thing that is going on with yours. I will be very interested to see what you find out when you take it in on Friday. my clutch is also very close to the floor. and sometimes 1/r will work just fine. other times I can drop it in 2nd or 3rd and then get it to go into 1st just fine, and other times I just have to turn it off. I have gotten pretty good at throwing it in 2nd and back up into 1st.

I had talked to a mechanic about this and he said the clutch diaphragm or clutch plate is lose causing one of the fingers to stick or something like that. he said he might be able to get to it from the peep hole in the bell housing... but will probably have to drop the clutch. in which case I'm just going to change he clutch.

again I'm very interested to hear what you find out and hopefully some of my info will help you as well.

 

[03FX4]

Well they can't get it done till monday..

but at the moment i can barely get 2nd. I have to let up a bit on the clutch to let it slip in..

is your slave leaking anything at all? because mine wasnt previously and hasnt been checked in a while but from what im hearing most people think its gonna be the slave..

but since it may not be just replacing that would be a waste of time and they are gonna do the whole clutch as well. i'll ask them for the old parts and ill know what was wrong exactly i hope.. so ill let you know..

 

[chrismeats]

I havent checked my slave per say. However, my fluid has not gone down any and there wasnt any fluid in the bell housing. I assumed this means that the slave isnt leaking? I'm not the most mechanically inclined however my friend that I live with is a good mechanic so we are going to fix it ourselves.

I'm really interested as to what they say is wrong with yours. Thanks for all the help.

 

[SPIDERS]

I had a similar problem with my Ranger. It ended up being tiny bubbles in the clutch hydraulic system. I didn't think that this was the problem since I bled the crap out of it, however I ended up taking it to a trusted local tranny shop and they informed me that the system on the Ranger is difficult to bleed completely. Apparently there are areas in the clutch hyd syst that air bubbles get trapped in. Try tapping the hydraulic line with a handle of a screw driver er something to get the bubbles to break loose and then bleed again. If this doesn't work, they suggested that I let the vehicle set overnight and I would have one shot at getting the offending bubble out. Push down on the clutch pedal and crack the bleeder open. If you do this many times in a short amount of time, the bubble foams up in the clutch master cylinder. Good Luck!

 

[chrismeats]

Spiders, Did re-bleeding fix your problem?

 

[chrismeats]

03FX4, did they ever get your clutch fixed?

 

[03FX4]

yeah i did get it fixed. the slave cylinder was bad, and was redirecting fluid back up the hydraulic line into the reservoir. the slave was not leaking but was not working right. it works like a champ now.

id check to see if your reservoir is leaking or when you open it a bunch of fluid comes out because there is probably some pressure in there.