Strange Clutch Issue - Intermittently Won't Fully Disengage

[pxbacher]

This one's got me stumped. Just recently I've started noticing my truck creeping forward ever so slightly while I'm sitting at a red light with the clutch pedal fully depressed. It doesn't *always* do it - maybe 50% of the time.

Weird thing is when driving, the clutch seems fine. It hasn't lost fluid, engages where it always has, doesn't feel mushy, is reasonably consistent...

What gives? A search here showed a couple of threads talking about bleeding issues - given that the clutch is otherwise behaving fine, and the inconsistency, I don't buy it. Only other thing I can come up with is a bad pilot bearing, but I'm not hearing any strange sounds when this happens.

Any ideas?

-Pete

 

[Twisted_Steel]

Check for fluid drips or puddles under the truck.. assuming it is a hydraulic clutch. Could be your slave cylinder starting to take a crap on you. Mine did that before shooting a steady stream of fluid and failing completely. Are you losing fluid in the reservior?

 

[robertc1024]

In gear or in neutral?

 

[killj0y]

This one's got me stumped. Just recently I've started noticing my truck creeping forward ever so slightly while I'm sitting at a red light with the clutch pedal fully depressed. It doesn't *always* do it - maybe 50% of the time.

Weird thing is when driving, the clutch seems fine. It hasn't lost fluid, engages where it always has, doesn't feel mushy, is reasonably consistent...

What gives? A search here showed a couple of threads talking about bleeding issues - given that the clutch is otherwise behaving fine, and the inconsistency, I don't buy it. Only other thing I can come up with is a bad pilot bearing, but I'm not hearing any strange sounds when this happens.

Any ideas?

-Pete

your sitting at a light with the clutch in?.....

In gear or in neutral?

my thoughts exactly...

 

[snake]

Is it hard to get in gear and grinds when you try for reverse? That would certainly verify it isn't disengaging completely. I'd try bleeding it first, also check for leaks at the rear of the clutch master at the firewall on the inside of the truck. And shouldn't be a bad pilot, maybe a throwout sticking but not likely.

 

[pxbacher]

Yeah, always. In gear, clutch in. Exactly what everyone says not to do - I've just always done it that way. Never killed a TOB - slave always bleeds out first.

Yeah, sometimes after starting I can't get it into gear. Revving the engine a little sometimes helps. Other times I just let the clutch out, then in again and try it again and it goes right in.

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

If it's not leaking then I would say either your slave or master cylinder is malfunctioning.

 

[pxbacher]

Yeah, prolly. Both have 50k on em, which is light IMHO. Need a new tranny anyway so I'll just keep driving it like this til I'm ready to do the job and do them all then... hopefully in the spring...

 

[jsutfun]

This week, I was driving through town just fine. As I pulled into a parking lot and stopped to park, clutch in, it was stuck in 1st gear and wanting to keep going forward. I had to turn off the engine to change gears. Put it into reverse and had to feed gas as I turned the ignition, cause the clutch was still engaged and it died otherwise. Clutch pedal also felt nearly useless at this point. Towed to the garage, unloaded, and boom, it works like a champ. Drives fine rest of the week. No evident fluid leaks. My mechanic thinks clutch master cylinder is most likely bad, but I've never heard of a hydraulic clutch that healed once it broke. Sounds like we are having the same problem.

 

[sooperxtool]

I've had similar issues with my 97. Last winter it was very difficult to get in gear and would pull when stopped in gear. If taken out of first, I was forced to turn the truck off to get it back in. Also, had to be at very specific rpms to shift in 2,3,4 etc. Then like a switch the problems would disappear. Has been fine pretty much all summer. Only thing I or anyone else could think of was air in the system.

 

[snake]

Well here's a longshot- try bleeding it just to refresh the fluid. My work truck did this exact thing intermittently at about 500K and all they did was replace the fluid. It actually fixed it...

 

[DRanger024]

Master cylinder my friends. My truck started doing the same thing last winter so I dropped the trans and changed the slave. Pulled the master cylinder and lines out, bled everything and it was all better. Started doing it again a couple weeks later. Our clutch hydraulics were designed to trap air. Thanks Ford! If the quick disconnect fitting for the slave is buggered up on the MC side, you should replace the master and lines or the problem WILL come back.

 

[sooperxtool]

Master cylinder my friends. My truck started doing the same thing last winter so I dropped the trans and changed the slave. Pulled the master cylinder and lines out, bled everything and it was all better. Started doing it again a couple weeks later. Our clutch hydraulics were designed to trap air. Thanks Ford! If the quick disconnect fitting for the slave is buggered up on the MC side, you should replace the master and lines or the problem WILL come back.

Happened on the 97 and now also my 93... I guess I will be doing the MC. any idea how much this might set me back?

 

[gw33gp]

The master cylinder can leak internally and cause this problem. It can also be intermittent. When my truck was still under warranty, it had this intermittent problem. I took it to the dealer and after checking it out they said nothing was wrong with it. I continued to drive it with this intermittent problem and it slowly got worse.

One day when I was not too far from the dealer it started acting up and I drove it straight there. They finally determined it was the master cylinder. They replaced the master cylinder and the new one was also defective. Fortunately, they discovered it before returning it to me and ordered a new one to install. That was about a 130K miles ago and it is still working perfectly.

 

[sooperxtool]

Hmm... guess I'm going to give it a shot then.