huc

Hi guys, new to the site, was hoping for some confirmation on my diagnosis because I really don't wanna drop the transmission if I don't need to. It was the first cold morning of the year yesterday (dropped below freezing) and the clutch in my 96 f150 cratered on me; tiny amount of resistance and would only partially engage, not enough to get into gear.

I didnt have time to play with it then, so I checked the master and the fluid level looked ok but i filled it to the rim and worked the clutch pedal until it built up some resistance, then 'popped' the pedal until it would shift, the fluid level hadn't dropped much if at all (otherwise known as the redneck clutch-bleed method, but hey it works). It got me to work and home and felt like it was working at about 75%. I also took a quick look at the bracket on the clutch pedal too and it seems fine so I'm hesitantly assuming the seal on the slave cylinder is the problem from the cold weather. I can't see a leak other than the fluid that overflowed when I overfilled the reservoir to pump the pedal.

Anyways, off work now, going to look everything over, maybe do a better bleed before I buy a new slave. I was hoping someone had a better idea, or anything else to check. If I start this job I'll replace the whole clutch and anything else now. The truck has about 70,000 miles. Thanks guys

Pine Barron

Mine has done that once about a year ago. Wasn't low on fluid but I pumped it up and its been fine since. Kind of struck me as odd, but I think the rubber cup in the master cylinder may have gotten stuck in the res? I've driven it about 6,000 miles since then without any more trouble.

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

If you're not getting any fluid out of the bellhousing then the slave should be fine. If you're not seeing any fluid anywhere I'd try the master before the slave so you might not have to pull the tranny, but first I would try to bleed it out.

huc

Just finished bleeding it, there was enough air in there to make me suspect something but I took a quick run down the back roads and it seems fine...well seems to be lacking a little resistance on the pedal but hopefully that's just my imagination. Strange how it went from like now to not functional overnight and then back to normal. I guess I'll keep an eye on it, hopefully its the same problem as Pine Barron had, good call on the master too, could save alot of time.

I've heard these transmissions are problematic in the cold weather, especially the slave cylinder. Any known solutions? Which MT is the best in cold weather for the pres?