Hi guys, my dad finally turned over the keys to the ranger we have been working on for a while, and since i got my lic. now he gave me the keys...

It's a 97 4L 5 speed single cab 2 wheel drive

The problem i have been having is that it started getting harder and harder to shift (I actually had to turn it of sometimes to shift) and now after about 3 weeks of this I got into the truck this morning after not useing it a few days
and I turned it on and HELL it started driving forward!!! by itself,

Is this a clutch issue or throw-out bearing issue (if it has one) my dads not in town and I don't want to call him ( I don't have any service manuals or info to reference)

CAN SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE!?!?!?!?!

Thanks

 

Thanks, the fluid was changed out about a week ago.

So I can't see the slave cylinder fron the outside?

Thanks

 

you can pull the inspection cover on the bottom of the tranny and look for fkuid, or have someone pumo it while you watch it push on the clutch.

mine is gone again, 4th time now. and its the exact same symptoms.

 

well my dad was able to drive it home this afternoon, he RPM shifted...
Clutch does not work at all (luckly he didn't get any red light and ran 1 stop slowly)

He hasn't had a chance to look at it, but he thinks it's the slave cyl. (throw out bearing).

??What type of trany fluid does it take, He looked at it and it looks like regular "AUTOMATIC TRANY FLUID" NOT GEAR OIL?? please advise

P.S. My dad noticed that the trany was covered in fluid, I remembered that when I had the oil changed, the guy said that since I had changed the stock shifter to a short shifter it created more PRESURE in the trany, and A small releaf hole should be drilled (which he did) my dad went BALISTIC, which explains why the trany is now covered in fluid CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF THIS IS TRUE ABOUT THE HOLE/PRESURE THING. My dad said what the hell were these people doing and why did I let them drill a hole in the trany.

If it is the throw out bearing/ slave cyl. how do u tell for sure and how hard is it to change out.

PLEASE ANYONE HELP ME!!!!

Thanks

 

you syptoms are tell tell signs of a shot slave cylinder. get under the truck, pull the inspection cover. have someone start it up, and push in the clutch. the slave should push the plate in quite a bit. if the slave doesnt move at all, it means it not holding the pressure, and has failed.

 

ok, well start with the hole in the tranny, that shop should be charged with buying you a new transmission as you should NEVER drill holes in your transmission. and yes the transmission uses mercon ATF.

as for the clutch not releasing, it is a hydraulic clutch system and your slave cylinder has a leak. Check the clutch fluid reservior under the hood on the firewall next to the brake booster, chances are its empty. This uses DOT 3 brake fluid just like the brake systems. The slave cylinder is concentric inside of the bellhousing, meaning you have to slide the transmission back about 12 inchs from the engine in order to change the slave cylinder. This would be a good time to drop it out and clean it up and look into sealing the hole that was drilled into it with some JB Weld or an epoxy putty of some sort. after replacing the slave cylinder and bolting hte tranny back to the engine and hooking the hydraulic line back up the entire system needs to be bled to get all the air out of it...

 

what he said^^^^

i just finished doing mine a few minutes ago. get a factory ford part if you can. i can definately feel a difference in pedal response over the 3 previous autozone ones i have put in. did it in about 3 hours with two people, and hand tools. and both of us have injured body parts right now in which its hard to do somethings the easy way.

 

thanks

My dads back tomorrow night or thursday sometime.

Today it checked on some costs (parts only) man there pricy
The cheapest for the following items was $465.00 canadian
-clutch
-presure plate
-throw out bearing
-slave cylinder
- and a guide bearing

(did i forget any parts???

P.S today I filled the clutch reservior with fluid to see if i could get the pedal up...
NOTHING HAPPENED AT ALL. What does that mean. I'm trying to learn stuff fast so I can at least give my dad some input.

thanks

 

just because you filled it up doesnt mean it will respnd immediately. youll need to bleed it to get fluid throughout the whole clutch system, as im sure there is some air in there if there wasnt any fluid in the resivor.

 

hmmm bleed it...
I thought about that but don't know where to start to do that.

i just pumped on the pedal a bunchof times

 

just like doing brakes. pump pedal, hold, open and close bleeder screw on slave, repeat. continuely check level of fluid in resivoir and keep full.

 

where is it located on the slave (I thought the slave was in the bell housing)...

 

it is. get under the truck. look on the drivers side of the bell housing and youlld see a line going into the tranny. right above it will be a bleeder screw. this line will prove to be a pain to remove your first time removing the tranny/slave.

 

k i will check tomorrow if i get home rom school early

thanks again

 

no prob.

just an fyi on tools needed. 13mm socket/wrench for bellhousing and starter. 12mm 12 point socket for drive shaft. 15mm and 18mm for tranny crossmember bolts. 18mm for tranny mount nuts. and that freakin line with a white collar on it that will need to be slid into the slave with the line at the same time. then youll have to keep the collar in as you pull out the line. kinda tricky, but youll get it. 10mm for the bolts on the slave.

as for the clutch and flywheel, it forgot those. the others are on my mind because i judt did mine last night.

 

thanks for the tool info, how about the little tool clip (to take out the slave)

 

there is a tool. but i never got it, or know what it looks like.

 

well my dad cam home and had to leave a few days after ( meaning he left again today), but he did jump right on fixing the ranger for me while I was at school.
he had it back together when I go home.
He got my mom to help him bleed the clutch, but he was not happy with it, thinks because it was run dry it will be a pain in the A$$ to bleed out. The pedal is somewhat soft and does not come up fully.

Since he wil be out of town, can any of u recommend any thing to me

 

ok well if you drained all the fluid out of the clutch then your going to need to bleed the clutch master cylinder. Its attachted to the clutch pedal. What you need to do (its the easiest way even though it may seem like a pain) is unhook the line going into the tranmission, undo the clutch master cylinder from the clutch pedal and from the fire wall (there is a clip holding on the rod that connects to the pedal. You need to get that off, then you need to take a clip that runs length wise off the shaft that touches the firewall. You need to pull it up while pressing the sides of it in. You should be able to get what I'm saying when you see it. when you go to take the clutch master cylinder out you need to twist it to get it unhooked from the firewall and pull it through the firewall from the engine bay), then unbolt the resivor from the fender well. All of it should be together just like it is when its in the car.

Turn the master cylinder upside down and pump it and at the end where you put the line into the transmission just push that in and then let it go and the air should all come out just like that. Here is a picture of what I'm talking about .



Yes I've done this twice and that was two times more than enough.

 

Crap... I don't know anything about this... and don't understand
wish I paied more attention to dad, when he was doing stuff.

I'm so confused now.

 

it doesn't work like that, there is air caught in the master cylinder and it won't come out.

 

FIRST OFF I WANT TO THANK EVERYONE THAT HAS HELPED OUT HERE
VERY MUCH APPRECIATED, THANKS AGIAN!!! GREAT BUNCH OF GUYS, IF I WAS CLOSER TO YOU GUYS AND OLD ENOUGH TO DRINK I WOULD OF BOUGHT YOU A BEER OR TWO.

I came home from school today and my dad came home early and the truck was ALL SET UP AND WORKING. GOT LOVE MY DAD

Thanks

Daniel