1994 F-150 4.9L 4x4. Originally an automatic trans but someone swapped it to a M5OD.

Last week on a cold morning I pushed the clutch and felt some resistance. Pressed a little harder and pedal went to the floor. Checked master cylinder and saw it was out of fluid. The hydraulic line connecting to the slave cylinder had popped apart and all the fluid leaked out. I figured out how to reconnect the line and found instructions on bleeding the system. Here's where I'm stuck.

The clutch pedal will not return from the floor. I can pull it back up by hand and it stays up. I started bleeding it (a real pain to do by yourself) and noticed a little bit of normal pedal feel after a few rounds. I heard some air come out of the bleeder the first couple of times, but fluid never came out. Now I notice as I add fluid to the master and start to bleed it, fluid is leaking from between the rear of the engine and front of the bell housing (and maybe other places, hard to tell). At this point from my reading it seems that it could be a bad slave cylinder inside the bell housing, right? Should I get more fluid and try to keep bleeding it, or is the fact it's leaking somewhere mean it's too late and the trans needs to be dropped?

Thank you guys for any help.

 

If you are sure that the hydraulic line is secure it sounds like the slave cylinder to me.The slave cylinder probably stiffened (or something beyond that locked up) and your pushing in the clutch caused the line to pop off.It is unfortunate that after 1987, Ford decided to start putting the slave cylinder IN the bell housing instead of it be external.You might as well plan on a clutch kit as well.

 

I double checked today after everything dried out. Now it looks like it’s only leaking at the disconnect fitting. No idea how to fix that though. The white sliding collar is on the line side and the clip is on there. When I get a helper to bleed it again I’ll see if it’ll hold enough fluid to be drivable.

Anyone know of a remedy for a leaky fitting?

 

Finally got a helper today and was able to get this clutch issue resolved. The leak at the disconnect was due to the metal clip not being inserted all the way. I found a couple of pictures of the clip & disconnect on this forum and it was pretty clear after that. Once the leak was sealed I started bleeding it. Got a bunch of air the first two times, then dirty fluid and finally clear new fluid. Once a good stream of new fluid was coming out of the slave cylinder bleeder the pedal still wouldn't return on its own. Had to pump it probably 50 times or so and slowly but surely it started building some resistance in the pedal.

Drove it around my property and shifting seems normal. The pedal grabs pretty low to the floor now though, which is new. It used to grab around halfway through the travel. I think I read somewhere that it's 'self adjusting' and maybe after putting some miles on it that will change.

Not sure why the hydraulic line popped off in the first place. It was 30F that morning, could something have frozen if the old brake fluid was contaminated with water? It was gross looking and I'm sure hadn't been changed in several years.

 

A hydraulic clutch doesn't "adjust" itself. You still have air in system or pedal box issues.

 

It is, but not for that problem. Read this page:

(click this text)
It'll get worse.Yes, it does. That's part of the reason for hydraulic linkage instead of mechanical. But it only adjusts itself for clutch wear - not pedal wear.

 

Thanks for the info, Steve. At first glance I wouldn't have thought a worn pedal shaft bushing is causing the low pedal since it was normal before popping the hydraulic line. But you're the expert so I'll take your word and check it out. The truck has 160k miles so I wouldn't be surprised at all for annoying things like that bushing to be worn down.

And good to know about how/why the self-adjusting clutch works. Makes sense that it would adjust over time to account for wear. I had a 1982 F-150 many years ago with the mechanical clutch and definitely don't miss that. I like the feel of the hydraulic (when it was working!)

 

Hey Steve - check out the vertical play in this bracket when actuating the clutch pedal (here's a short YouTube link). Seems to me the part circled in red should not move at all and it's likely that bushing is worn down. I plan to order the F3TZ-2C342-A bushing kit to fix this. The master cylinder pushrod seems to be level and lined up properly so hoping new bushings will fix the low pedal engagement. I did verify the clutch pedal arm is positioned correctly and resting against the bump stop at the top position. Am I missing anything?

I read through all of your instructions - only part I'm not totally clear on is how the splined shaft connects to the lever. They are lined up now so is there anything more to this than just installing the bushing and then reconnecting the shaft to the lever in its original position?

I am hoping to get the bushings I need before taking everything apart. Can't leave the truck in my garage all week and trying to avoid taking everything apart, reassembling, then re-doing it next weekend.

 

It's not the pedal arm that matters - it's the lever for the pushrod. But it can't be checked until EVERYTHING else is assembled correctly, without any worn/bent/damaged parts.The nut pushes the lever over the splines, cutting them in, and setting the lever's position.That's when you'd check the lever-to-pushrod alignment, and replace the lever if necessary.

 

Thanks for the info, Steve. Replaced the bushings and clutch pedal is back to normal now. Thankfully none of the metal was damaged, just one bushing was worn through.