Clutch or?

23JMZ07

23JMZ07

23JMZ07

Associate
Joined
5 Aug 2009
Posts
1,126
Location
England
Hey Lads,

Got in the car the other morning and the clutch just doesnt feel right. It will judder up to 10mph when engaging it in first. It feels like the engine is trying to stall yet does this regardless of revs.

Also if im doing 70ish and drop down into 4th and floor it before bringing the clutch fully up, it will slip and continue slipping till I let off the accelerator. (Also can replicate this by giving it some accelerator and just "dipping" the clutch).

Current clutch has only done 35k miles (personally ive done 20 and the owner before did 15). That seems quite short for a clutch but I do drive quite agressively. I dont ride it in traffic though...

Any Ideas?
Car is a 56 Fiesta Zetec S 1.6.

Cheers Lads
 
I'd bet some kind of hydraulic issue. Does the clutch pedal ever go soft and mushy? Do gearchanges ever become more difficult than you would expect?

A hydraulic issue could cause the clutch to drag or not engage/disengage as cleanly as intended, which can cause increased wear which would lead to the slipping you describe, and/or cause the judder you are experiencing.

The master cylinder can fail, fairly uncommon but not unheard of (around £200-250 to replace and fit this - part is around the £50 mark for a genuine Ford item).

Slave cylinders can go too, this is a more common failure than the master cylinder on the mk6 Fiesta - I have just had to pay to have this done on my 2006 Fiesta. Sadly whilst the part is only around £80, the labour is the killer as the slave cylinder is inside the gearbox bellhousing so you have to take the gearbox off the car (cost around £200-300 for labour alone).

There is also a nasty side effect where depending on the failure mode of the slave cylinder, hydraulic fluid can leak out from the slave inside the gearbox bellhousing and contaminate the clutch friction material (making the slipping worse) of the clutch and vastly increase clutch wear....so you are as well to change the clutch as well if you suspect fluid contamination but a garage should be able to give you some clue as to whether this has occured.

In the end to fix my car I had to replace the master and slave cylinders, and I alsohad the clutch done as well as the one that was fitted was very worn despite only doing about 5k miles on it (it probably dragged as a result of the hydraulic issue).

The clutch did seem to judder around the biting point quite a lot in my case, I put this down to the clutch that I had which was an uprated item, but since swapping it out with the same type of clutch it is clear to me that the hydraulics were causing this rather than the clutch itself.

Best bet to take it into a garage and get them to have a look, master cylinder is easier to look at due to location. If it is hydraulics it will probably get worse and worse over time until the car starts to get stuck in gear or clutch action gets progressively jerkier.
 
Aren't you supposed to put in 5th at 30mph and floor it (after clutch is up)? If the revs shoot up you're slipping, if the speed just goes up slowly you're okay.
 
Will said:
I'd bet some kind of hydraulic issue. Does the clutch pedal ever go soft and mushy? Do gearchanges ever become more difficult than you would expect?

A hydraulic issue could cause the clutch to drag or not engage/disengage as cleanly as intended, which can cause increased wear which would lead to the slipping you describe, and/or cause the judder you are experiencing.

The master cylinder can fail, fairly uncommon but not unheard of (around £200-250 to replace and fit this - part is around the £50 mark for a genuine Ford item).

Slave cylinders can go too, this is a more common failure than the master cylinder on the mk6 Fiesta - I have just had to pay to have this done on my 2006 Fiesta. Sadly whilst the part is only around £80, the labour is the killer as the slave cylinder is inside the gearbox bellhousing so you have to take the gearbox off the car (cost around £200-300 for labour alone).

There is also a nasty side effect where depending on the failure mode of the slave cylinder, hydraulic fluid can leak out from the slave inside the gearbox bellhousing and contaminate the clutch friction material (making the slipping worse) of the clutch and vastly increase clutch wear....so you are as well to change the clutch as well if you suspect fluid contamination but a garage should be able to give you some clue as to whether this has occured.

In the end to fix my car I had to replace the master and slave cylinders, and I alsohad the clutch done as well as the one that was fitted was very worn despite only doing about 5k miles on it (it probably dragged as a result of the hydraulic issue).

The clutch did seem to judder around the biting point quite a lot in my case, I put this down to the clutch that I had which was an uprated item, but since swapping it out with the same type of clutch it is clear to me that the hydraulics were causing this rather than the clutch itself.

Best bet to take it into a garage and get them to have a look, master cylinder is easier to look at due to location. If it is hydraulics it will probably get worse and worse over time until the car starts to get stuck in gear or clutch action gets progressively jerkier.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that matey, excellent info!

Im not worried about labour costs because I'll probably do it myself. I guess I'll take a look at the master tomorrow and then see if there is any air in the system. Otherwise it looks like it maybe a long saturday in the garage..
 
Could also be the flywheel if you are getting judders. best bet is to have it looked over by a mechanic.
 
Telescopi said:
Aren't you supposed to put in 5th at 30mph and floor it (after clutch is up)? If the revs shoot up you're slipping, if the speed just goes up slowly you're okay.
Click to expand...

It doesnt slip under this circumstance but if you let the revs raise at all and then let the clutch up they wont drop back down untill you let off the accelerator.
 
23JMZ07 said:
Thanks for that matey, excellent info!

Im not worried about labour costs because I'll probably do it myself. I guess I'll take a look at the master tomorrow and then see if there is any air in the system. Otherwise it looks like it maybe a long saturday in the garage..
Click to expand...

DIY job...nice! :) When I had my cars clutch hydraulics bled it was perfect for a while, a good few days in fact (and sufficient to drive from Brentwood to Wolverhampton in one go without any clutch issues at all) and it seemed to cure it, but the slave played up again and more air got into the system over about 2 weeks of driving and I eventually ended up stranded and unable to use any gears at all.

Have a go at pumping the clutch pedal repeatedly in neutral too, this builds the pressure up in the system more as well, if the judder you experience is reduced after significant pumping of the pedal this would point to low pressure somewhere that is not actuating the clutch as it should when used normally (without deliberately raising pressure in the hydraulic system by pumping the pedal).
 
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