I have had the system re bled several times now and still seems to be losing pedal. Worse, there is no way to tell where the air is getting in because it is not showing signs of leakage, which means I will have to replace both slave and master and probably not get any replacement under warranty as no evidence of leakage unless we can visibly see a problem with the parts removed from the truck. I am done with so called Genuine Ford junk. I need to find a high end after market manufacturer, but my shop tells me it won't help because there is no way to know where this stuff is made. The mechanic said he has seen new Fords that lost and would not keep pedal.
Need quality clutch master and/or slave cylinder
- Thread starter TallPaul
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I hear the get OEM parts mantra all the time. I bought the Rat figuring that I'd just swap a clutch. After a battle to get the M5od out, I replace everything. It was about 50/50 between AZ and on line parts. So far so good.
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Save some shekels and get the real OEM part, you'll sleep real nice at night and it will add to the car's value if you decide to sell. "I used real OEM parts!"
That is what I did. Genuine Ford blue strip from the dealer, not Motorcraft. Still get junk.
Save some shekels and get the real OEM part, you'll sleep real nice at night and it will add to the car's value if you decide to sell. "I used real OEM parts!"
That is what I did. Genuine Ford blue strip from the dealer, not Motorcraft. Still get junk.
I have had it with Genuine Ford parts! Junk!
So I had Mike at the other shop (not where the work was done) bleed it again. He said there are aluminum particles/shavings in the master cylinder. You can see a lot of tiny bright metallic things in the bottom of the reservoir. He has seen this before, said that the manufacturing debris is not properly cleaned out (attributes to made in Mexico and lack of quality control). Mike said he has seen this before. It happens with genuine parts and more with aftermarket parts. He says that if he installs clutch hydaulics he drains the parts, flushes them, then refills and bleeds them, even though they come pre bled and ready to run from the manufacturer. So, presumably the whole system is polluted with these metal scraps, and so I am in for another complete R&R. The parts are under a 1-year warranty (lot of good a warranty is when the parts are garbage), but it will be extra for the flush and bleed, and frankly, the shop that did the original work is not that competent with this stuff, so I would rather have Mike do it. Maybe I should abandon Genuine Ford parts and go with the LUK parts. That company is supposed to be excellent. More costly not getting warranty replacement parts, but better to get it done right.
So I had Mike at the other shop (not where the work was done) bleed it again. He said there are aluminum particles/shavings in the master cylinder. You can see a lot of tiny bright metallic things in the bottom of the reservoir. He has seen this before, said that the manufacturing debris is not properly cleaned out (attributes to made in Mexico and lack of quality control). Mike said he has seen this before. It happens with genuine parts and more with aftermarket parts. He says that if he installs clutch hydaulics he drains the parts, flushes them, then refills and bleeds them, even though they come pre bled and ready to run from the manufacturer. So, presumably the whole system is polluted with these metal scraps, and so I am in for another complete R&R. The parts are under a 1-year warranty (lot of good a warranty is when the parts are garbage), but it will be extra for the flush and bleed, and frankly, the shop that did the original work is not that competent with this stuff, so I would rather have Mike do it. Maybe I should abandon Genuine Ford parts and go with the LUK parts. That company is supposed to be excellent. More costly not getting warranty replacement parts, but better to get it done right.
Ford parts have a 2 year, unlimited mile warranty assuming they were purchased since October of 2013.
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Ford parts have a 2 year, unlimited mile warranty assuming they were purchased since October of 2013.
Yeah, well I hope I can get a refund through the original shop and just return the parts as I want to have the new guy do the work. He is much better at this stuff. This guy can bleed it quick and to a very good pedal. The other shop is variable on how the bleed comes out. I plan to buy the LUK parts. Don't want any more of the Ford parts and chance the same problem again.
But first I should have the pedal assembly checked for alignment to be sure it is not driving the piston at an angle that would cause the piston to shave the cylinder and create these shavings. The first shop said the pedal assembly is good but I'll ask the new shop to double check it.
Ford parts have a 2 year, unlimited mile warranty assuming they were purchased since October of 2013.
Yeah, well I hope I can get a refund through the original shop and just return the parts as I want to have the new guy do the work. He is much better at this stuff. This guy can bleed it quick and to a very good pedal. The other shop is variable on how the bleed comes out. I plan to buy the LUK parts. Don't want any more of the Ford parts and chance the same problem again.
But first I should have the pedal assembly checked for alignment to be sure it is not driving the piston at an angle that would cause the piston to shave the cylinder and create these shavings. The first shop said the pedal assembly is good but I'll ask the new shop to double check it.
TallPaul, I've had the best luck with the absolute cheapest Slave and Master you can get for a Ranger, the Brute Power line at Rockauto.com. Got tired of the "good stuff" going out every 20k miles so I took a gamble and went with the cheapest Rockauto parts I could get, and surprisingly I'm on 100k miles almost 4 years later. I'm a very happy Brute Power fan.
I changed the original clutch kit in my '04 Ranger 3.0 around 2011. I bought the replacement clutch kit from Napa. It was actually a Luk-branded unit in the box (throw-out/slave cylinder, pressure plate, etc). I spend 5 hours pulling the OEM one out (front y-pipe with cats in the way) to find out the factory one is also a Luk unit. It actually was dual branded - Ford logo and Luk stamped on the friction plate. Go figure.
True, the slave cylinder and master cylinder setup on the Rangers is horrible. It will trap air in the master cylinder. Impossible to get all the air out unless you bench bleed the master first with the line attached, then bleed the slave cylinder after installed on the truck.
True, the slave cylinder and master cylinder setup on the Rangers is horrible. It will trap air in the master cylinder. Impossible to get all the air out unless you bench bleed the master first with the line attached, then bleed the slave cylinder after installed on the truck.
Originally Posted By: delaware74b
I changed the original clutch kit in my '04 Ranger 3.0 around 2011. I bought the replacement clutch kit from Napa. It was actually a Luk-branded unit in the box (throw-out/slave cylinder, pressure plate, etc). I spend 5 hours pulling the OEM one out (front y-pipe with cats in the way) to find out the factory one is also a Luk unit. It actually was dual branded - Ford logo and Luk stamped on the friction plate. Go figure.
True, the slave cylinder and master cylinder setup on the Rangers is horrible. It will trap air in the master cylinder. Impossible to get all the air out unless you bench bleed the master first with the line attached, then bleed the slave cylinder after installed on the truck.
Whelp, I am hopeful. It is now three weeks since they bled it. They actually stood the Ranger up nearly onto the back bumper and bled it that way and the clutch is still working beautifully. There was a slight loss of pedal at first but it seems to have settled out, and I am not having any problems shifting.
It's still early, but seems maybe they finally got all the air out. So the problem seems to be, as you say, getting them bled, not poor manufacturing.
And I am not so sure there is metal shavings in the reservoir. It may be a lube that is silvery colored and a small amount broke up and ended up in the reservoir.
As for Ford using Luk, I wonder if that is assembly line only and both Motorcraft and Genuine Ford blue stripe are other brands.
I changed the original clutch kit in my '04 Ranger 3.0 around 2011. I bought the replacement clutch kit from Napa. It was actually a Luk-branded unit in the box (throw-out/slave cylinder, pressure plate, etc). I spend 5 hours pulling the OEM one out (front y-pipe with cats in the way) to find out the factory one is also a Luk unit. It actually was dual branded - Ford logo and Luk stamped on the friction plate. Go figure.
True, the slave cylinder and master cylinder setup on the Rangers is horrible. It will trap air in the master cylinder. Impossible to get all the air out unless you bench bleed the master first with the line attached, then bleed the slave cylinder after installed on the truck.
Whelp, I am hopeful. It is now three weeks since they bled it. They actually stood the Ranger up nearly onto the back bumper and bled it that way and the clutch is still working beautifully. There was a slight loss of pedal at first but it seems to have settled out, and I am not having any problems shifting.
It's still early, but seems maybe they finally got all the air out. So the problem seems to be, as you say, getting them bled, not poor manufacturing.
And I am not so sure there is metal shavings in the reservoir. It may be a lube that is silvery colored and a small amount broke up and ended up in the reservoir.
As for Ford using Luk, I wonder if that is assembly line only and both Motorcraft and Genuine Ford blue stripe are other brands.
Originally Posted By: TallPaul
It's still early, but seems maybe they finally got all the air out. So the problem seems to be, as you say, getting them bled, not poor manufacturing.
I seem to recall a brand sold on RockAuto that is pre-bled, although I currently can't recall the brand and have not ever tried it.
I've also heard of people hanging the components on the wall to prebleed them, but I guess I've been lucky and haven't had to do that either.
It's still early, but seems maybe they finally got all the air out. So the problem seems to be, as you say, getting them bled, not poor manufacturing.
I seem to recall a brand sold on RockAuto that is pre-bled, although I currently can't recall the brand and have not ever tried it.
I've also heard of people hanging the components on the wall to prebleed them, but I guess I've been lucky and haven't had to do that either.
Originally Posted By: Kruse
Originally Posted By: TallPaul
It's still early, but seems maybe they finally got all the air out. So the problem seems to be, as you say, getting them bled, not poor manufacturing.
I seem to recall a brand sold on RockAuto that is pre-bled, although I currently can't recall the brand and have not ever tried it.
I've also heard of people hanging the components on the wall to prebleed them, but I guess I've been lucky and haven't had to do that either.
The shop that did the install told me the parts came pre-bled and when I picked it up in February it had extremely good pedal reserve. In fact, there was no free play at the top which concerned me, but then the pedal began to sink. There also is bench bleeding before installation. Luk said to pull the master and hold it horizontally while someone pushes the slave back 10 times and my problem would be solved. We did not try that, though pushing the slave back like that while the master is still in the firewall did produce bubbles in the reservoir and improve the pedal.
Originally Posted By: TallPaul
It's still early, but seems maybe they finally got all the air out. So the problem seems to be, as you say, getting them bled, not poor manufacturing.
I seem to recall a brand sold on RockAuto that is pre-bled, although I currently can't recall the brand and have not ever tried it.
I've also heard of people hanging the components on the wall to prebleed them, but I guess I've been lucky and haven't had to do that either.
The shop that did the install told me the parts came pre-bled and when I picked it up in February it had extremely good pedal reserve. In fact, there was no free play at the top which concerned me, but then the pedal began to sink. There also is bench bleeding before installation. Luk said to pull the master and hold it horizontally while someone pushes the slave back 10 times and my problem would be solved. We did not try that, though pushing the slave back like that while the master is still in the firewall did produce bubbles in the reservoir and improve the pedal.
Have you tried vacuum bleeding it yourself??? I vacuum bled my Corolla and whoaaaaaaa, it made the clutch system perform great! Nice firm pedal and easy engagement. All I did was use a Liquivac from Lowes.
Fixed it! Got rid of the Ranger back in October and bought my son's 2001 Chevy S10 5-speed manual. The clutch in the S10 works great. I notice where the Ranger has the clutch master cylinder in a near vertical position, the S10 clutch master is dead level. There is going to be a much easier bleed if and when the day comes to replace it.
I'm losing brake fluid in my van's clutch master cylinder. I have an ill feeling it is the slave cylinder, since there is no trace of brake fluid anywhere. It is most likely slowly leaking into the bell housing and will sooner or later start appearing on the ground. Next warm day I'll pull the rubber inspection plug and have a look. All the parts have been sitting in my basement for years now in anticipation of a clutch/slave cylinder job. Truth be told I'm not looking forward to it, all I need to do is get through the winter with it. It takes a few months before I have to top it up, but that can change real fast.
What van do you have, demarpaint? From what you have stated it sounds like a concentric slave and the tranny has to come out. It is a fair bit of work to pull the tranny out working on your back without an automotive lift.
I did that on my Sierra because I was careless and broke the bleeder fitting on the slave.
I did that on my Sierra because I was careless and broke the bleeder fitting on the slave.
Originally Posted By: George7941
What van do you have, demarpaint? From what you have stated it sounds like a concentric slave and the tranny has to come out. It is a fair bit of work to pull the tranny out working on your back without an automotive lift.
I did that on my Sierra because I was careless and broke the bleeder fitting on the slave.
I have an 88 E-150 with the M5OD transmission, it has to come out. I did it about 27+ years ago for the same issue, a leaking slave cylinder. While I was in there it got a new clutch, etc. I see no point in not doing it once everything is apart.
Sitting in the basement is a new 11" Centerforce II clutch, pressure plate, TOB, pilot bearing, OE slave cylinder, OE flywheel, RMS, and front and rear transmission seals. I'm waiting for the warmer weather and a few other things. It is a lousy on your back project, and being almost 30 years older doesn't help matters.
What van do you have, demarpaint? From what you have stated it sounds like a concentric slave and the tranny has to come out. It is a fair bit of work to pull the tranny out working on your back without an automotive lift.
I did that on my Sierra because I was careless and broke the bleeder fitting on the slave.
I have an 88 E-150 with the M5OD transmission, it has to come out. I did it about 27+ years ago for the same issue, a leaking slave cylinder. While I was in there it got a new clutch, etc. I see no point in not doing it once everything is apart.
Sitting in the basement is a new 11" Centerforce II clutch, pressure plate, TOB, pilot bearing, OE slave cylinder, OE flywheel, RMS, and front and rear transmission seals. I'm waiting for the warmer weather and a few other things. It is a lousy on your back project, and being almost 30 years older doesn't help matters.
It is surprising a 30 year old van in New York state has managed to survive the ravages of road salt. Do you drive it in the winter much?
Miss my first truck with hydraulic clutch linkage which was a 1984 F150. It had the slave on the outside of the tranny. I changed out the clutch and didn't even have to bleed it. Just removed if from the mount and put it back when I was done. I had some 170,000 miles on that truck when I sold it and never had to do anything to the clutch hydraulics. My boss bought it and drove it for another 70,000 or more miles and never had any trouble with the hydraulics either.
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