Alison_G

Hi, I am hoping you guys can help me with a problem I have with my Mondeo. Its a 2.0 TDci 130. It started about last October with just the clutch pedal sticking and once the car warmed up it was fine. Over time it became more and more difficult to put the car into gear when it was cold, often gears 2 and 3 were the only ones I could get, but it was still getting easier as the car warmed up and eventually disappearing. Researching the problem via various ford forums all pointed to dirt at the end of the cables and I was told to jack the car up, WD the ends and repack them with grease, which I never got around to doing as then I started to get clutch drag as well, which made me wonder if the cables were at fault after all. I'd have my foot firmly to the floor on the clutch pedal but the car would still want to creep forward. So I got told that I need to remove the inspection cover on the clutch and clean that up as well. Only I don't have an inspection cover on my clutch. And eventually over time the pedal has stopped fully returning even when the car is warm although the gear change vastly improves. So I gave the car to a mechanic friend of mine who reckons I should change the clutch master cylinder. He did say there appears to be fluid leaking from under the car, but I couldn't see anything when I crawled under it. I've been researching this and the symptoms do seem to fit except for the fact that things improve when the car warms up, which is confusing me a little to be honest. I don't want to waste time chasing through everything just because... but I do really need to do something now. I can only put the car into gear when its cold by turning the engine off, or pulling away in second gear, (sometimes I can't even get that) neither of which is good, especially in rush hour traffic. Its got that bad now that if I try to start the car in any gear from stone cold now, I get the battery light on and I have no throttle at all. I now have to warm the car up for 10 minutes before even attempting to go anywhere. I see there is a red sensor or switch on the clutch pedal (not sure which it is) not sure if this the reason why it does that.

I ought to mention as well that in 2011 I had the clutch, slave cylinder, DMF and starter all replaced. The fluid levels in the reservoir seem fine.

Any thoughts anyone? Before I start spending more money on it...

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Could be plenty of things, master cylinder or slave cylinder, air in the system, contaminated brake fluid (the clutch shares the brake fluid reservoir), clutch release bearing failed, pressure plate worn out or broken, dual mass flywheel issues, gear selector cables out of alignment or stretched just to name a few.

Really needs to have a mechanic look at it. You say there was a leak somewhere, get that rectified first, get the clutch re-bled and the selector cables checked. Then go from there.

Alison_G

Cheers for the quick reply Richie

My mechanic friend said he saw fluid under the car when he checked it. I have never seen any despite crawling under the car a few times now and there has never been any on the road or left wherever I've parked it. He couldn't tell me what the fluid was so I'm none the wiser about that. I've had someone pump the pedal with the top off the reservoir and the level has stayed exactly the same so it looks to me as if there is no air in the system. The DMF, clutch and slave cylinder all have only about 9k on them. I know that's no guarantee there isn't a problem there but there is no slippage on the clutch only drag when cold, it disappears when the car's warmed up. I've come across the piston in the slave cylinder becoming slightly skewed and causing some similar problems (I changed my sister-in-laws clutch & slave for her a couple of years ago) but that problem was constant and didn't disappear when the car was warmed up. My first instinct when this all started was the cables but now I have the clutch drag to take into account I can't see how the gear selector cables could be responsible for that, it has to be on the hydraulic side. Its quite feasible I have more than one issue going on I guess but I am kind of hoping that someone on here has had similar issues and can point me in the best direction...

Anyway, I've made a decision this afternoon. Given that this all started with a sticky pedal, I'm going to change the master cylinder. Just ordered a new one, so will see how it goes At the same time I will flush the system and replace the fluid. Fingers crossed...