Hate to lead out on my first post, but this is a hair-pulling problem that I have never seen. Replaced slave cylinder in '97 Ranger 2wd 2.3L, some 3 weeks ago. Worked perfectly, shifted like a new one, etc. So, left a job tonight, misjudged speed of oncoming car, half way out into the street, I punched it. Pushed clutch pedal in to go to 2nd and my foot slid off the clutch pedal and engine momentarily revved up of course. Pushed it back in, went into 2nd and as I'm going up the road, I can tell the clutch is slipping. Then I noticed there was no free travel in the clutch pedal. Limp on up the road for about 3 miles, careful not to speed engine as it would start slipping. Got to thinking about it, and wondered if somehow the clutch m/c push rod had gotten out of the M/C. Pulled over in a church parking lot, checked it, and was still firmly inserted in back of M/C. Got in , pushed in the clutch pedal, cranked it up and limped home. Came in, searched in vain on the internet for a solution, and found nothing. Went back out - now the clutch pedal will only go down about 2/3 of the way and won't engage the neutral safety switch and allow the engine to turn over. Up until the moment described above, this thing has worked flawlessly, both with shifting and engagement. No problems whatsoever. What in the world is this problem?????? Any help greatly appreciated as I have had all 3 trucks go down within 2 weeks - hole in piston in one, broke crankshaft in another and slave cylinder problem on this Ranger. Sorry to be so long winded, but I am a firm believer, that the devil is invariably, in the details. Thanking everyone in advance!!

 

Not a expert here but I am willing to try and help.

OK it looks like you only replaced the slave cylinder on this truck. Why only the slave cylinder why did you not replace the entire clutch and master cylinder?

Did you inspect these parts and determine they were still in great shape 3 weeks ago?

It sounds like the clutch disk exploded while revving the engine now some of this friction material may be between the throw-out bearing and the pressure plate preventing the clutch slave cylinder from moving.

I had something similar happen on another car but my clutch exploded from a miss shift from 5th to 2nd.

To make sure you do not have a few problems instead of just a bad clutch disk, get a helper and have them push down on the clutch while you open the bleed screw on the slave cylinder, if the pedal goes to the floor the master cylinder should be OK.

 

Welcome to the forum

Remove the Master's Quick disconnect fitting on the slave
With it removed clutch pedal should NOT move down at all, Master line should be sealed off so no where for the fluid to go.

If pedal still goes down 2/3 then you have failed master or lots of air in it

If pedals doesn't go down then the master and it's line down to slave should be OK
Slave at this point should be open for fluid to flow out, if there was a squirt of fluid when Quick Connect came off or you had to open bleeder and fluid squirted out then something was holding pressure in the system, causing clutch to slip because slave was never fully released.

When master is connected to slave and clutch pedal is up, there is 0 pressure in the system, gravity will cause fluid to flow out of slave bleeder, slowly.
Now if the hose from master to slave has an internal break or Quick connect is failing, then either can act as a one-way valve, lets fluid flow out of master but not back to master, so when you push down the pedal the slave expands but when you let up on the pedal not all the fluid can flow back quickly so slave stays partially expanded making clutch slip.

So pump the clutch pedal then let it up
Now open slave bleeder and see if it still has pressure, if so then problem is in Master, hose or quick connect
Slave has no internal valves or anything else.