1995 Ford Escort Clutch Problems
A Lady With Problems With The Clutch On Her Ford Escort.
Mar 8, 2007
Question: Ford Escort Clutch Problems
A few months ago my husand and I bought a 1995 Ford Escort from a repo guy that we had just met. It's a manual transmission. For the first 2 weeks the car worked great... but then it gradually started giving us trouble going into gear when we stepped on the clutch pedal, as if the the gears were blocked and it couldn't go in. Finally it got so bad (in only a few days) that the clutch pedal hit the floor and wouldn't go up again and had no resistance when I pushed on it so I broke down.
Since then my husband and I have had the car into 6 different shops. One shop tried to tell me my transmission was bad (which I found to be highly unlikely) and another shop said it just needed to be blead and yet another shop changed the master cylinder and yet another shop changed the clutch. After they changed it they showed me the old clutch and told me it hadn't even needed to be changed, it was brand new. Everytime we get the car back after having it fixed it works for about a half of a day.
We've now paid to have the clutch blead about 4 times and everytime we take it to a new shop they insist it's just that and argue with us even though we know that isn't the problem. Now we've given up and this new (to us) car we needed so desperately is just sitting in our driveway collecting snow. I really really need your help!
Do you have any idea what the problem could be? We tried to talk to the repo guy we bought the car from and he was worthless, says the car worked great for him. There is some button inside the clutch, I have no clue what this is, but my husband said that it was taped down so we think the repo guy might know what the problem is but won't share. We are truly desperate, can you help???
In need of guidance,
Angel
Answer: I see a lot of things were changed but there is no mention of the clutch slave cylinder. That would have been the first thing I would have looked for. The hydraulic system has a clutch master cylinder, the lines and a clutch slave cylinder. When you step on the clutch the clutch master cylinder sends fluid through the lines to the clutch slave cylinder. The slave cylinder, through a rod, pushes down on the pressure plate to allow shifting of gears.
The typical clutch has three main parts and all three should be replaced as a unit. There is the clutch disc, pressure plate and throw out bearing. The pressure plate has strong 'fingers' that push the clutch disc against the flywheel and thus provides a solid transfer of power. When you step on the clutch the throw out bearing pushes the fingers down releasing the pressure and allows gear shifts. The pressure plate fingers is also what makes the clutch pedal come back up.
I assume they replaced the clutch disc, pressure plate and throw out bearing when they had the transmission out. I would take a very close look at the slave cylinder and, if you remove the rubber boot, I'll bet you find it's leaking. I have no idea what "button" would be taped up.
