Cold weather hates my clutch?

[DeanMoriarty]

86, I appreciate the thought. I'd totally throw beer and cash at someone who knew what they were doing to help me out.
I must admit I'm pretty damned intimidated pulling the transmission out and all that. The most involved things I've ever done before have been ball joints, brakes, things like that. I'm debating on if I want to take it somewhere or try to tackle it myself.

I don't know about the fluid contracting or expanding, I know it wasn't very low. All I do know is that the damned clutch pedal is making love to the floor in such an obscene way that the shifter wants nothing to do with either of them.

 

[86ford]

pull the trans is just grunt labor. its not particularly hard. if you get good instruction on the BEST order to pull things apart in its a 1 day job for a semi skilled backyard mechanic. with a helper i could do a clutch job on the older rbvs in 3-4 hrs since i have done 3 or 4 of them before. a newbie to it who follows instructions and has the tools should be able to do it in 8-10 hrs without any trouble.

86

 

[jimmy88]

Same problem here

Ok I have a new Master cylinder and cold days do not like my clutch. I am losing a bit of fluid and it seems to only happen when the weather is below freezing. To me the shrinking seals in the slave seems to be the real issue. Pushing clutch in to start vehicle, it seems normal. When released it has no tension/backpressure other than the spring in the master pushing the pedal up.

Once this happens, an air bubble gets trapped at the top of the master. I can pop the clutch switch off the rod, rod off the pedal, and unbolt the master cylinder in about 15 minutes. I tilt the master at an angle so the outside part is higher than the inside and pump the rod about 3 times and put it all back together and have a perfect pedal again, only if the weather is warm. Guess who is going to spend some money ????

I have over 260K miles on the truck (92 ranger) but have no idea of issues before about 230K. This is the first year I have had any problems and I have had the truck about 2-1/2 years. Wish this one had the slave cylinder external to the bell housing like my old S10. Changed the one on my S10 in about 30 minutes. This will take a bit longer I do believe.

 

[jimmy88]

pull the trans is just grunt labor.... a newbie to it who follows instructions and has the tools should be able to do it in 8-10 hrs without any trouble.

Ok I'm not a newbie. I have been working on cars about all my life... At least 35 years. You neglected to mention if your experiences included a V6 engine. Well mine did and the Exhaust pipes are required to be removed. after 20 years of starting and stopping the engine, the bolts were rusted to the manifolds... No amount of effort was going to remove these bolts without breaking something. I even used some heat and then PB Blaster. I spent 10 hours the first day trying to get the transmission on the floor. Next day I ended up cutting the exhaust pipes to clear the transmission. I spent day 2 getting everything clean and parts replaced. I did manage after 8 hours or so to re-install the transmission to a point that it would not fall out overnight. Day 3 was about 5 hours of final tightening and bleeding the system. I had a small issue with the new and improved retainer...The line kept popping loose from the slave cylinder. Apparently the new plastic sleeve was a bit longer than the old one and the locking clip would not fully engage. Once I got that figured out, it went well. Clutch worked well but I could tell there was air in the system. Popped the M/C loose and bled the air out of the high spot... Since then no problems. Cold weather does not affect my clutch any more.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Holy back from the dead thread.....