Perhaps you forum dwellers could give me some advice on this.

I've been looking at some trucks to buy recently, one of them is a 1997 ranger, 5 speed, 93,000 miles, 2.3L 4 banger. It's in alright condition, there is a dent on the passengers fender, and some white crud that has adhered itself to the point on the hood. Otherwise there is no rust, the interior is in good shape, the CD player and speakers work, it starts with no problems, and the brakes are good.

One problem that immediately raised a red flag was the clutch pedal. I pushed it down to turn on the car, and it didn't come back up when I let my foot off. I was like wtf to the dealer. He shrugged it off saying it was no big deal lol.
So anyways, the pedal did work well enough to drive the truck around after we pumped it a few times, but it was always kinda sticky.


The dealer wanted $3900 for it, I offered $3400. With all the bull crap extra fees it would be $3706 out the door. I'm quite confident I'm getting ripped off at that price.

1) Why does the clutch pedal stick? How much am I looking at to get it fixed?

2) What is a fair price to bargain for the truck considering the aforementioned predicament that the clutch is ****ed up?

Thank you, Adam.

 

Get the VIN off it and get a Carfax report.Make sure it isn't a flood/salvage vehicle.

 

if he want 3,900, offer him 3,100 or 3,200 because you are gonna get the clutch fixed. dont buy it for anymore than 3,500. OR check the clutch fluid. it will be a box to the farthest right of the engine, then all the way up towar the windshield....if your looking at it from the bumper. if you change the clutch fluid, and it all works fine after that. offer 3,600 - 3,750.

good luck

 

More than likely its a bad slave cylinder and/or master cylinder. They are both cheap parts but you have to pull the tranny to get to the slave.

 

on older rangers you didn't have to... not sure on the 97 though

 

as long as it is an R1 (which it is after 1988) then it has an internal slave so the trans needs to come out

 

yeah you need to add fluid and bleed the clutch just like you bleed breaks or you need a slave i have the same problem when my slave went i could still drive but my pedal wouldnt come all the way up i got a new slave and bled the line and its cherry now 3000 for a 97 is a fair price the way it sits but it they fix it i would say 3500 make them fix it.

 

Well it looks like I'm going to end up buying this ranger after all. I did a lot of negotiating over the phone today with the dealer and I got them to settle at $3100(including tax, title, and dealer fee)

They also said that if the slave dies after a few months, they will fix it free of charge. I'm calling bull**** on that one though. I'm going to call tomorrow and see if I can get the stealership to put that little extra in writing so that I don't get ****ed when it dies a few months from now.

 

yeah def do that