clutch drama please help!
 

Hi, I have a 96 ranger 4.0 5 sp with 268,000 miles. I love the truck. It is my daily driver and still runs like new. uses no oil, and i haven't ever really had any problems besides the current clutch issue. I have been having this problem for over a year now. The clutch pedal gets soft and it will not change gears properly(very stiff), eventually it would leak down and not go into gear at all. I could bleed the clutch and it would have perfectly tight pedal and work great for about 3-4 days, then the pedal would go "mushy" again. The funny thing is it never lost fluid! So anyways just got my tax money and had new clutch slave throwout bearing clutch etc(all motorcraft parts) installed hoping it would take care of my problem. It was fine for about a week then it started again! So I bought a clutch master and installed it thinking it had to solve the problem. Bench bled the master installed back in truck then bled the slave. It worked perfect again for about a week, now i have a spungy pedal again! So here I am $700 later and its not a bit better than it was. I have replaced everything besides the black line from the master to the slave. could this be the problem? Getting very frustrated Please Help!

WOW.......268k?? Is that on the origonal bottom end>>??? Your clutch problem....I have no clue. You should probably consider that plastic line from the master to the slave.....they stretch like brakes lines stretch. I'm absolutely stumped.

well when you bleed the clutch master cylinder did you do it in the truck or outside?

I don't know how those year rangers bleed.....but bleeding mine is a two person job....one inside the cab, and one on their back turning the bleeder. 1. Let fluid just drain out. 2. pump clutch 5 times slowly, release bleeder. repete. 3. repete until satisfied.

well on my 96 taking it out (takes like 10-20 minutes at most) bench bleeding it (5 minutes) and then putting it back in (20 minutes at most) and your done. So much easier.

WOW....you lucky guys with your external slave cylinders!!! Mines in the bell housing, around the input shaft to the trans. I learned something today.

as far as i know, all rangers have internal slave cylinders. :eek13:

I took that following quote as external.......20 mins??? wtf??? Please explain Dagger.

Yes that is on the original bottom end. I have took very good care of the truck and it still runs great. I bench bled the master out of the truck then installed in the truck and did the pump and bleed on the slave. It bleeds out great, very tight no slack in pedal at all. Then a couple days later i can feel the pedal starting to get soft again. ?????????????????????? I guess i can expect to have these type of problems with that kind of mileage, but it is very agravating!!!!!!!!!!