Clutch Problem. Slave Cylinder?

[nwjones18]

The last couple days I've been having clutch problems with my truck. The one in my signature. It has about 25k on a new clutch and slave cylinder. The problem is when I shift the truck into neutral at a stoplight it will not go back into either first or second gear. I can get it rolling in third then it will slip right into first. The truck shifts fine after you get it moving. Any Ideas?

 

[Kaie]

The only experience i have in this was a 03 VW.

In its case it eventually wouldn't go into any gear. Everything we read pointed to Slave. But when we took it in the mechanic couldn't get any fluid through the master. Replaced the master and now it drives like new.

 

[pidster]

Definitely a hydraulic problem IMO. Probably master as suggested as the slave is new but just because it's new you can't rule it out completely. I've installed new parts that were worse than the worn out parts they replaced.

Is the slave contained within the trans housing where you can't see it? It is on my Ranger, but on my old Tercel it was on the surface and you could see and measure it's travel. If the slave is being pushed a good amount the slave is bad. If it's hardly moving the master is bad.

 

[cos]

I recently read about this issue in older F-150s -

Do you have a rusty floor/firewall area? The metal flexing can cause engagement problems.

 

[fdcg27]

First resort would be a good bleeding.
If that doesn't help, either the slave or the master is bypassing.
If this happens, you would usually see some loss of brake fluid, since the fluid will leak out of the bad cylinder.
If you observe a leak of brake fluid from either cylinder, you've found your problem.

 

[mechtech2]

There are also some adjustments, even with a hydraulic system.
The total pedal travel, and the very important freeplay must be right.
Of course, the hydraulics may be faulty, or maybe just air in the system.

 

[nwjones18]

Well I have checked the firewall and it isn't flexing. I did have that problem with an 86 f-350 though. It just started working again 'magically' overnight.. So I'm just going to see how long it last.

 

[onion]

If the slave cylinder isn't leaking externally, then odds are it's good. Sounds to me like you have a bad master cylinder and/or you're getting air in the system (in which case you'd probably see a leak). So if you don't see any leaks, then I'd be willing to bet that you have a bad master cylinder.

I had the same problem about 10 years ago with my '85 F150. The clutch would still release, but the pedal didn't 'catch' until it was nearly on the floor- and sometimes it was hard to get into gear. At the time, most parts stores would only sell me a pre-filled master cylinder, line, and slave cylinder as an assembly- for $200 or so. I finally found that Checker Auto Parts sold a master cylinder separately- and they made a big deal of pointing out that there was NO WARRANTY on the thing- I guess they'd had problems with people buying them and returning them when they couldn't figure out how to bleed the system. Cost about $80 I think. It was aluminum, and looked quite different from the plastic OEM master cylinder. But I bolted it on, and it still works fine 10 years later. I don't think I've even changed the fluid in it since.

BTW- when I installed the thing, I tried to bleed the system the same way you'd bleed brakes. It kinda worked- enough that I could drive the truck- but I could tell that there was still air in the system and the slave cylinder wasn't being pushed as far as it should have. I drove it anyway, and the air worked itself out within two or three days. My brother told me that Volvo heavy trucks had similar problems when you replaced a component in the hydraulic clutch system, and their solution was to rig up a setup to pressure-bleed the system backwards... pushing brake fluid INTO the bleeder and up through the master cylinder.