Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Richie London]

my sons 1.2 1999 zetec has developed a problem even though it hasnt left the drive for months. all of a sudden when you press the clutch pedal it is just going down with nothing there, feels like the cable has broke but it hasnt, ive looked. so cant put it in gear or do anything with it. any help i will be grateful

[henryd]

Richie,I'm pretty sure that the 1.25 fester has a hydraulic clutch so first check is to see if the fluid in the brake master cylinder has dropped below the point where the clutch cylinder gets its fluid

[Richie London]

Richie,I'm pretty sure that the 1.25 fester has a hydraulic clutch so first check is to see if the fluid in the brake master cylinder has dropped below the point where the clutch cylinder gets its fluid

if you mean in the bottle where you top up the brake fluid its just slightly below minimum.

[aaronjb]

A hydraulic clutch would usually have it's own reservoir, separate from the brakes.. though if it's one of those cars with everything hidden under plastic, it can also be under there (the MR2 is - brake cylinder is visible, but the clutch reservoir isn't until you dismantle half the car)..

[edit] Can you see the clutch fork? If you can get eyes on that while someone presses the pedal, that'd be a good test for a start though

[henryd]

A hydraulic clutch would usually have it's own reservoir, separate from the brakes.. though if it's one of those cars with everything hidden under plastic, it can also be under there (the MR2 is - brake cylinder is visible, but the clutch reservoir isn't until you dismantle half the car)..

[edit] Can you see the clutch fork? If you can get eyes on that while someone presses the pedal, that'd be a good test for a start though

ford use the brake master cylinder reservoir to feed the clutch master usually taken from about halfway down so it cant starve the brakes of fluid

[henryd]

Richie,I'm pretty sure that the 1.25 fester has a hydraulic clutch so first check is to see if the fluid in the brake master cylinder has dropped below the point where the clutch cylinder gets its fluid

if you mean in the bottle where you top up the brake fluid its just slightly below minimum.

 that may be low enough to starve the clutch,first though you need to look at the top of the gearbox to ensure that it is hydraulic,if its a cable clutch then the cable and clutch arm are easily visible.

[Richie London]

i'll have to jack the car up tomorrow when ray gets home, hes gone to elstree film studios to watch the big brother eviction the sad tinker 

[Nick W]

1.25l Fiestas are hydraulic clutch using a concentric slave cylinder. You can't see it; it's inside the bellhousing. Failure is common, with the posted symptoms. If you look under the car at the bellhousing/engine joint it might be possible to see the the brake fluid leaking out. If that's the case, and it porbably is, it's fearbox off and new clutch time. it is not worth replacing just the cylinder whilst you're in there. Nor is worth replacing the clutch without doing the cylinder at the same time.

Concentric cylinders are not the good idea they appeared to be. They are no more reliable than an externa; cylinder, but are a much bigger job to fix.

If the car is the model of Fiesta that's recently been replaced, it might just be that the pushrod between the master cylinder and the pedal has come loose. That's not attached to the pin on the pedal, and is another common fault. There should have been a clip, circlip, split pun or at least something to hold it in place.

[Richie London]

the car hasnt been on the rd for 4 months, there is no leaks underneath as i looked earlier, my son put it in gear yesterday  morning and it was ok, later on the clutch pedal was not working. i was just googling the problems and 1 could be the pushrod clip has come off??

[omegod]

the car hasnt been on the rd for 4 months, there is no leaks underneath as i looked earlier, my son put it in gear yesterday  morning and it was ok, later on the clutch pedal was not working. i was just googling the problems and 1 could be the pushrod clip has come off??

Had that on the Mrs 04 fester, p*ss poor piece of design and the replacement ones are no better. Solved ours with a cable tie and jubilee clip

[aaronjb]

A hydraulic clutch would usually have it's own reservoir, separate from the brakes.. though if it's one of those cars with everything hidden under plastic, it can also be under there (the MR2 is - brake cylinder is visible, but the clutch reservoir isn't until you dismantle half the car)..

[edit] Can you see the clutch fork? If you can get eyes on that while someone presses the pedal, that'd be a good test for a start though

ford use the brake master cylinder reservoir to feed the clutch master usually taken from about halfway down so it cant starve the brakes of fluid

I bow to your knowledge, then (I bet doing it that way saves Ford 50p per car..)

Concentric slave (as Nick says) blows my other idea out of the water, too! 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Do also be aware that these regularly brake the clutch pressure plate release springs which reulst in the clutch failing to disengage.