Is it my clutch master cylinder?

L

LS_is_my_girlfriend

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I have a 2002 V6 LS with a manual transmission, this Saturday night I was merging off the freeway and I couldn't get it into 4th gear out of 5th. I also noticed the clutch pedal would hit the floor with little resistance, I could get it into gear if I jammed it, but it wasn't grinding gears. So something tells me the master went out, I had one go out on my old 4x4 Ranger a few years ago, very similar.

So has any one replaced the master clutch cylinder, and how hard is it to get to, its pretty tight by the firewall and I didn't see it back there. I found some instructions online that tell me I need to drain the coolant and brake fluid... but that doesn't make sense to me. The clutch and brakes don't feed from the same reservoir do they?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
 
Just called to order the master cylinder, and the reservoir is not attached to the cylinder, some where under the hood. Also if the slave went out I would still have pedal pressure right? I am really hoping it is just the master.
 
Yeah they must, can't find any others. I did manage to pull off the panel covering the cylinders and get a good look at it, seems easy enough to swap out. I also had a hard time getting the car started since I couldn't press the pedal far enough down to engage the switch.

Still wondering if its possible the slave. Any one know how to tell if its one or the other?
 
I would have started with a fluid level check, then a bleed check. It sounds like there is air in the system, or, the slave cylinder/throwout bearing either bought the farm or the pressure plate fell apart.
 
Clutch uses the brake fluid reservoir. If brake fluid is low you could have gotten air in the system. Haven't heard of this as a common failure (but with so few manuals, one failure would make it common).

I would top up the brake fluid and try bleeding the system (usually not as easy as bleeding brakes), using either a vacuum bleeder or a pressure bleeder. With the bleed screw usually located near the slave cylinder, concentric to the input shaft (I believe) on the LS its hard to bleed using just the pedal.
 
The fluid level has not dropped, I double checked it... but it did look very burned and black. I am going to have a shop look at it, I don't have the time or tools to bleed the clutch even if it is the master, and if its the slave I might as well just have them replace the whole clutch while im at it. Blahhh... guess I am learning first hand the hardships of owning an LS. I still love her, the bitch.
 
Well I got the feedback from the shop, and my slave went out... Son of a &#*$! Oh well look on the bright side, at least I get to put in a new clutch while the transmission is being worked on... only ads a couple bucks to the labor charge.

I did find a online store that claims to sell OEM Ford parts, at about 60% the cost of my local dealership.

newfordparts.com

I am going to call them tomorrow to double check the prices I got online.
 
That sucks. How many miles on that hot rod? I have 121K on mine so far. A little clutch shudder on cold damp starts, but it goes away as soon as the iron in that area warms up. And I don't blame you a bit for loving that bitch. These manuals are pure joy to drive. Yeah, there are the occasional uphill interstate traffic jams, but I survived them all. :cool:
 
I am just over 100K miles, the clutch has always felt tight. I do push it a little hard from time to time, but with a manual that's where all the fun is.

I did call the website and double check prices over the phone, the slave and master are the same price, the plate and disc were $10 more then site price. All original motorcraft parts, clutch numbers matched from my local dealership. So I think I am going to order with these guys... going to save me over $200. I will let you all know if I get screwed on this deal or not.

I did however find a clutch set on ebay... the pressure plate number is right, but not the disc. Plus no returns, so don't know if saving the extra $50 is worth the effort.
 
Have the trans fluid changed while your at it. Ford recommends changes every 60,000 miles. I'm at 115,000 and will be changing it again this spring.
 
Since they're gonna be in there. Have them replace the $15 rear main seal and save a headache 30k miles down the road when it starts leaking oil and ruins your clutch.
 
Thanks for the advice, I will add it to the parts list. Man if it wasn't for this forum I would be loosing my mind right now. Kinda nice to know I am not the only one with a LS with issues.
 
Ordered all my parts today from www.newfordparts.com, seems its a ford dealership in Michigan that gives additional 20% discount off web orders. I ordered a small list of parts for my clutch; master, slave, disc, pressure plate, and rear main seal. My total with shipping - $404.74

All parts are motorcraft, and the local dealership here in Austin was going to sell me the same motorcraft parts for $700. So just FYI for anyone looking for motorcraft LS parts.
 
So it took three weeks to get all the parts, but only 7 hours to do the swap. Finally got my LS back on the road today. The transmission guy was telling me that the LS has a damped double fly wheel, and he sees a lot of them come in for replacements on Ford F150's. Has anyone with the manual had any problems with their flywheel blowing up?
 
I never heard any stories about LS flywheels blowing apart, but if you did the clutch replacement job, how did the surface of your flywheel look? How was the bleeding operation? Any problems getting that done? Good closure on that story, by the way. Congrats.
 
All the work was done at the transmission shop. He told me the flywheel was not serviceable and that he also could not replace the pilot bearing. He was a pretty honest mechanic, and if he was greedy would have wanted me to replace the flywheel, but he said it looked fine. He only had the comment about the F150's, but would think they put a lot more torque on the flywheel then my V6 LS.

Yeah, stoked to be on the road again, Thanks.
 
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