My '95 Escort Wagon, w/manual 5-speed, has been giving me shifting problems. Had the car for 2 yrs. Runs great. Recently, the clutch pedal has gradually (two days period) gone to the floor with little clutch action, making it difficult to shift. Only seems to do this after the car is warm.

Not seeing any leaks in the hydraulics, I was really at a loss on the problem. The master clutch cyl. was replaced by the previous owner at 85k miles. Currently there are 105k miles. Thinking the replacement part could have been a cheap replacement item, I replaced both the master and slave cylinders to rule out both as problems.

The issue went away and the shifting has been fine for over a week, but now it is back this morning. By the time I got to work, (7 miles) the shifting was so bad, I couldn't get out of reverse when parking....just turned off the engine to stop the car.


Coming home was no better. In my drive, I checked the position of the shift fork when the clutch was depressed and it just isn't moving much at all. I gave the clutch pedal 5 to 6 pumps and the hydraulics improved and the clutch disengaged as it should.


When the system responds to the pedal pumping, that seems to me to be a hydraulic problem with the master and/or slave cylinders. Could the problem be within the clutch housing itself? There are no fluid leaks and the master and slave cyl. were both replaced.


Has anyone experienced this before?

 

Who's replacement parts are you using?.

It certainly sounds like the clutch master. If the slave was an issue it would pump up but would have to have a leak. Same with the fluid line. Clutch master can bleed internal pressures off, and pumping generally will stand/stack the pedal up. Being it worked fine for weeks should rule out trapped air unless the system fluid level dropped.

If the pedal is pumped up, held at the floor and bleeds away pedal travel, it would have to be the master..

 

I tend to agree (arggg). Thanks for the backup and confirmation. One will bleed the line again today, just to be sure it is air-free.
One test I was going to try is clamping the rubber brake fluid inlet hose. The brakes and clutch use the same reservoir. A rubber line provides fluid to the brake master cyl.
I was thinking, if the master is bleeding off fluid pressure and there is no leak, it seems to me the fluid would only have one place to go, and that's back up into the reservoir. Clamping off the hose, should provide evidence of this with a more consistent and harder pedal.

I really hate doing work twice because of bad parts, e.g. Master cyl.

 

I'd have to agree with Hayapower. The original Ford number on this thing was F1CZ-7A543-A but it has since been made obsolete. I did a scan of all dealers in the US and its completely gone in the OEM part number. I did find a dorman version on Amazon though:

 

Thanks for the reply and parts info.
I was going to check with the local Ford parts dep't., but now I won't bother. I have greased the tracks with AdvanceAuto to return the "used" part after I remove it.
.
I guess I'll try one more master cyl part, but maybe from a different source/manufacturer.
I'm also thinking possibly trying to adapt a later model Escort master cyl. I know some use an independent fluid reservoir, but if the base template is similar or even close to being the same, I think it may be feasible with some pedal play adjustment.
.

 

You have at least 3 opinions plus your own that agree the problem is with the clutch master cyl. You shouldn't have to do this , but if you open up the master you may find that an expander (metal disc) that is sometimes found in other cyls between the spring and the rubber cup may help keep the cup from leaking and losing pressure. This would be a last resort if a quality replacement is not found.

 

Well, I think I found the trouble after installing a new clutch master cylinder (MC) by a different vendor.
When installing the new MC I clamped off the fill tube from the brake fluid reservoir. When installing the new MC, I was careful to bench bleed the new unit, actually removing the plunger and filling the MC with fluid. I had connected a spare brake line and an flexible fill hose to act as over flow tubes and allow me to maintain as much brake fluid in the MC as possible during the installation and connection process.
When I connected the hose from the brake fluid reservoir, I purged the air at the end of the tubed connecting to the MC. Nothing came out.... no fluid at all.


I ran the tube between my fingers to squeeze out the air, and the brake fluid had turned to a jell consistency essentially blocking the tube and preventing flow to the MC. I have never seen this before. This had to be the problem with the other new MC, and possibly the original MC.
I test drove the car and took it to work today. The clutch seem to be working fine now.
I'll definitely watch out for this problem in the future.
What would cause the brake fluid to turn into a jell-like substance within the connector tube from the reservoir to the MC?

 

There is obviously some sort of contamination within the total system by this time.
The best move would be to completely flush both systems. It will be a lot of work, but there is no room for hope with something that involves the brake system. Do it right and do it once.

 

I agree.
I pumped about 10 oz of new fluid through the system, after everything was clean and solid. I'm wondering if there was something in the "new" tubing I got from the parts store. It provides the fluid connection between the brake and clutch systems.
I'll keep an eye on this for reoccurring problems.