[craigerk]

So I did some searching on here and found a little bit of info on the master cylinder which I think is the problem, but haven't found anyone with the same symptoms.

Last week my girlfriend called me and as she was pulling into her work her clutch was stuck to the floor when she shifted. She could pull it back up with her foot and use it. But it wouldn't spring back up. After work it worked fine so I just thought it was because it was cold out and didn't think anything of it. When she got home I it had pressure and I didn't notice any problem.
(edit: while writing this she just told me after she had the problem it would spring back up, and it had pressure but there was a crunching/popping feeling that she felt on her foot when using it [she said it's very hard to describe] it did it the whole time till this bigger problem)

Sunday she went to work and she was almost there her pedal went to the floor and wouldn't come back up again. She could pull it up with her foot again but there was no pressure to it. After a second push it got stuck to the floor and she couldn't pull it up unless she wiggled the shifter.

We got it towed to her parents house which luckily was less than 5 miles away. Me and my friend went there and picked it up, he drove it home for me so we could look at it at my garage. But the clutch still didn't have any pressure. We think it's the master cylinder. I ordered one today, will be in tomorrow (only place that had it was ford, no other place can even get a price or order it from there distributers). I was just wondering if we made the right assumption? Any ideas?

One more question, master cylinder was $63.45 and the slave is like $110. I was always told the slave would be cheaper then the master, is the slave cylinder integrated with something else?

Thanks in advance.

 

[viney266]

Check the slave cyl. for leaks. They have been known to go out on our cars. Look inside the footwell under the pedal for a wet spot.

 

[mlbbaseball]

beat me to it!!^^^

 

[viney266]

Fast on the draw tonight !

 

[jetrinka]

If the slave was leaking it wouldn't be seen on the floorboards. That would be a master problem. The slave is housed inside the transmission and the only real way to see if its leaking is to get in there and tear the transmission out.

 

[craigerk]

Thanks guys. I'll look today for it. Can the master go and not spit out fluid? Cause she didn't notice any fluid on her feet/legs or the ground. But obviously we weren't really looking for it.

 

[jetrinka]

Check the return spring located at the base of the pedal as well. If this goes out it can cause the pedal to not return. Its been known to break on our cars.

 

[craigerk]

So i replaced the master last night. Went to bleed it and the bleeder was stripped from the factory! Came out wicked hard so we took it completely out and looked at the threads, there was metal in the threads from the female side! So we did our best not to strip it. So we bled themm over and over and couldn't figure out why we were using so much fluid and why nothing was coming out. I had to go downtown to get more and when I got home my truck's lights were shining off the ground under the focus. Turns out the whole time it was leaking out from the bottom of the tranny. He thinks it's the slave cylinder because it's just leaking thru down to the bottom and out. Does that sound right? We ordered it today and it'll be in tomorrow. Just want to check before I put another part in and it's still not it. The clutch works fine, we can sync the gears and move it and it worked fine up until this happened. Also, any links to replacing the slave cylinder? I will be seraching in a bit. Just need t finish work up.

Thanks.

 

[craigerk]

Slave came in this AM, girlfriend is picking it up after work. Last ngiht me and my friend started taking the tranny down so we won't ahve to do as much in one night. (I get home around 7pm, so we end up working till 1am or whatever whenever we do projects, and I have to get up at 740 to get to work)

We took the battery and tray out, cold air, unplugged wires, linkage, hoses, put it on jack stands, chocked it, front wheels off, axle nuts off (who the hell thought of putting 4 nuts in one? How stupid! BTW hint for anyone that's going to take out the axles for anything, DO NOT undo the clips on the nuts. we did on one side thinking it was a locking clip. It actually keeps 4 different size nuts together to make one nut), took out the intake tray - motor/tranny mount, amd started taking a few bolts out of the bell housing.

Doing this we see that someone has already been in there before. Atleast two of the bolts were cross threaded and were in there so badly that one head broke off, so I'll have to drill that out and get a new bolt.

So am I on the right path so far? I'm picking up a shop/repair manual today. My friends has swapped trannies, done clutches, etc. but never on a focus or any ford for that matter. He's done VW, Honda, Chevy, etc. so we're just taking that experience so far and relating it to what we're doing now until I get the shop manual today after work.

 

[craigerk]

Finally got some time to work on it....

Wow, talk about a shitty job to do on the damn focus. What was ford thinking making the slave and throw out bearing one piece??

Well, got it out, changed the slave, got the tranny in place, jsut have to conect rest of the wires, hoses, intake, battery box, axles, wheels, etc. etc.

Great job Ford [rolleyes]

 

[craigerk]

All done, so glad it's done. Had to get a few more parts when I was putting it back together, so it took a bit. But done. Feels so much better now too.