Clutch pedal return

[Nitelife]

I had a strange situation tonight. I was driving home and almost immediately noticed a lack of return movement with my clutch pedal. I tried to dig the toe of my shoe under to lift it but could not accomplish while driving. I was thinking possibly my all-weather mat had slipped towards the pedal and it got caught. Clutch engagement feel deteriorated over the course of my 20-minute drive and when I tried to reverse into my parking spot I could not engage the clutch at all! I hopped out to inspect the pedal. The mat was not interfering with the pedal throw and I just pulled the pedal up into its upmost position. I manually depressed it a few times and I could feel the hydraulic pressure build up. I drove it around the development and everything was back to normal...great.

I'm not overly familiar with hydraulic clutches. I understand with the pedal stuck low it was not able to build pressure during my drive, which accounts for the degraded/failed pedal actuation. I do not understand why it was stuck in low position in the first place (and now acting normally). Is this a symptom of a faulty return spring, possibly?

 

[LilPartyBox]

This is happening to a bunch of us as the cars age. It has usually turned out to be a sign of a failing slave cylinder.

 

[MagnetiseST]

^ This. Its probably a failed / failing slave cylinder. The part itself is about $30 from Ford but you have to drop the transmission to swap it.

 

[Nitelife]

Hmmm...not good news to hear. Especially as my car is sitting at just over 34K (2016). I guess this falls under power train warranty? Or is this considered a wear item?

 

[PunkST]

Ford will say its a wear item. Every time. Even though its their crap design causing the failures.

Mine has been doing it when its hot out ( summer)

 

[Nitelife]

I just drove it around again and it's acting normal. I did pop the hood and noticed the fill reservoir is essentially empty, so I will top that up and see how it goes.

No noticeable leaks however and my car sits for extended periods of time since I am working from home.

 

[PunkST]

If the brake res. Was almost empty, (brake and clutch share fluid). not the best idea imo, they should be separate but there isnt a lot of room in these little cars. Its gotta be leaking from somewhere, probably from the slave itself and getting cooked off as your driving.

Mine also has no noticeable leak. And its my daily. I expect it to get worse again this summer.

 

[Ford ST]

That actually may be covered under warranty the clutch disc is not.
Normally the clutch disc and brake pads are under a 12-month 12,000 mi warranty, but everything else when it comes to the engine and transmission are 5-year 60,000.

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[MagnetiseST]

The slave cylinder should be covered under powertrain, the clutch itself would not.

 

[PunkST]

I was told different. Then again the dealers by me dont want to fix the cars they sell.

 

[LilPartyBox]

To give you some context, mine start doing this about a year ago. It comes and goes. I'm done pushing my luck tho and plan to drop the tranny once it warms up. May even save up for a LWFW and new clutch

 

[Zormecteon]

Mine did this too at about 65,000..as long as you have it apart, replace the clutch. Cheaper to do it all at once than to take it apart again.

In my case, I had been having a clicking at idle that went away when I pushed in the pedal. This had been going on for thousands and thousands of miles. When the car was taken apart we found that the .. is it a dual flywheel?... had been separating; the source of the clicking.

I have a friend who's car also had the pedal stick to the floor. His was under warranty and the replaced the slave and the lines, but not the clutch. It started to happen to him again after several thousand miles and he pulled that pedal up, drove it to a dealer (non ford) and traded it in. DONE

YMMV
My 2¢

 

[jessemon1106]

I'd check the clutch pedal for oil and the lines from the master to slave cylinder. They have seals on the end of the lines that goes bad. More places than just the slave can leak. Just had a leaky master that was so minor it was really hard to tell unless you inspect the area well.

 

[DBLE]

Add me to the list of clutch issues. Two weeks ago, my clutch pedal got stuck to the floor; no probing would get it back up. Had AAA tow it to a local shop that gets great reviews everywhere. They couldn't find any leaks, dropped the tranny to check the slave, etc. I had them hold the car for two extra days for testing, but they swore up and down they couldn't find anything, so they bled the system and sent me home. Fast forward to today and had to pop the clutch up with my foot. Limped home. Will have AAA tow it back to them on Monday since they warranty their work. Ugh.

 

[Nitelife]

Add me to the list of clutch issues. Two weeks ago, my clutch pedal got stuck to the floor; no probing would get it back up. Had AAA tow it to a local shop that gets great reviews everywhere. They couldn't find any leaks, dropped the tranny to check the slave, etc. I had them hold the car for two extra days for testing, but they swore up and down they couldn't find anything, so they bled the system and sent me home. Fast forward to today and had to pop the clutch up with my foot. Limped home. Will have AAA tow it back to them on Monday since they warranty their work. Ugh.

Any news??

 

[DBLE]

Any news??

Oops, sorry, so they took it for a test drive after I had it towed to the shop, and the pedal immediately failed on them in rush hour traffic. The shop inspected the hydraulics, slave, etc., and still saw no leaks; they ended up narrowing it down to the entire clutch pedal assembly needing to be replaced. Seemed fine after that. Shifted smoothly, clutch take-up felt good, etc., so I'm genuinely hoping that was the true fix. But I ended up needing to sell the car shortly after so can't report on the long-term repair success.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Oops, sorry, so they took it for a test drive after I had it towed to the shop, and the pedal immediately failed on them in rush hour traffic. [emoji14] The shop inspected the hydraulics, slave, etc., and still saw no leaks; they ended up narrowing it down to the entire clutch pedal assembly needing to be replaced. Seemed fine after that. Shifted smoothly, clutch take-up felt good, etc., so I'm genuinely hoping that was the true fix. But I ended up needing to sell the car shortly after so can't report on the long-term repair success.

Ill put money on it and internal seal was folding over causing the pedal to drop. How much did it end up being cost wise?

 

[DBLE]

Ill put money on it and internal seal was folding over causing the pedal to drop. How mush did it end up being cost wise?

Interesting. So you think an issue might’ve still been present? I was wondering myself. But between the two visits, cost just under $1,100 total. Blah.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Interesting. So you think an issue might’ve still been present? I was wondering myself. But between the two visits, cost just under $1,100 total. Blah.

Shouldn't be if they used their trouble shooting tree or critical thinking skills [emoji848].

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[Nitelife]

I'd check the clutch pedal for oil and the lines from the master to slave cylinder. They have seals on the end of the lines that goes bad. More places than just the slave can leak. Just had a leaky master that was so minor it was really hard to tell unless you inspect the area well.

I had some more "episodes" with this today. Clutch pedal was getting spongy while driving. Only going down about half-way, so able to get under it with my toe and it would be fine for a bit. Kept driving around through the day and then pulling into a parking space I felt it go spongy again and wanted to check it. Oil on the clutch pedal arm and pad, even enough to pool on my all weather floor mat a tiny bit. Guess the master cylinder has given up at 38K. I'm outside of the powertrain warranty by 1 month so not sure if I should push the issue with Ford.