Focus Mk3 TDCI Clutch Sticks Halfway... Sometimes

[n_hudson]

Randomly, coming off the motorway tonight, I felt the clutch was a little weird but I couldn't work out what \ how.

Going to change gear at a roundabout, the pedal travel stopped at halfway up on release, but didn't ride or slip, and this kept happening and I didn't really notice what I did to get it to return.

The short 5 miles from the motorway home, no issues.  

I've checked the spring in the pedal inside the car, seems fine, springs back easily at idle and engine off.

No fluid leaks ( I could see) at the Master Cylinder.

No loss of fluid from the resevoir.

No noises.

I see similar mentions in these threads - 

 

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=95392

 

 

Has anyone actually experienced this and could maybe give me an indication of costs involved in any works \ parts..

As always, thank you!

 

[Yungog]

Could be air in the system and needs to be bled.

I had the same issue on my car.

Turned out it was the master cylinder had f**led itself up.

I thought it was air in the system and only when I went to bleed it,it started pouring brake fluid everywhere .

[n_hudson]

Well, after 4 fault free days short journey driving, it did it again after a 2 hour drive on the motorway... brilliant.

It makes no sense... 

So, thinking of master cylinder, I thought that would be worse in stop start traffic, on\off the clutch, rather than once and then its fine until the next long drive.

Another idea given to me was the DMF, maybe the vibration over a long period is pushing the slave cylinder back, causing the initial light clutch and no feed back?

[n_hudson]

I've also noticed tonight, that when it has gone soft (the clutch pedal ;) ) I can pull it all the way back up, pump it a few times and its back to normal.

 

[Tdci-Peter]

On 4/10/2018 at 4:05 PM, n_hudson said:

So, thinking of master cylinder, I thought that would be worse in stop start traffic, on\off the clutch, rather than once and then its fine until the next long drive.

Another idea given to me was the DMF, maybe the vibration over a long period is pushing the slave cylinder back, causing the initial light clutch and no feed back?

I think the way these hydraulic systems work, is that when the pedal is fully released, with the master piston fully back, the cylinder is connected to the reservoir, allowing pressure to equalise. As soon as the master piston moves a bit, this connection is closed, and there is a sealed, fixed, link between master and slave pistons.

If it was a spring problem, as in the quote, then I would expect clutch slip. If the pistons did not fully retract due to insufficient return pressure, there would be pressure on the clutch plate. Ford clutches usually have a high bite point, so a partial retraction should make it slip.

I guess the idea of pushing the slave piston back, so there is very light travel in the pedal until the slave contacts the clutch plate makes sense, the plate would then only push back the pistons to the point where contact was made. The first post did not mention initial light pedal travel, but now you are noticing the problem, it should become clear if initial light travel precedes the failure to retract fully.

I have not heard of DMF vibration being axial, that is in the direction of pushing back the slave piston, but I guess it is possible. Though I think you would hear or feel other DMF related problems if that was the case. Clanking at idle, or at low revs and high torque, are more typical symptoms.

I would go with the idea of a master cylinder leak. Maybe intermittent, and linked to periods of non-use. Then the slave piston will creep back while the clutch is held in, but due to the high bite point, should not drag unless held for quite a time. But it will prevent the master piston from being fully pushed back on release.

A master cylinder leak will usually return fluid to the reservoir, while a slave leak will usually soak the clutch in fluid.

 

[toto]

hey there

did you ever find out the fix for this problem?
I am having the same issue

[Ted70055]

On 10/02/2020 at 8:36 PM, toto said:

hey there

did you ever find out the fix for this problem?
I am having the same issue

Hi, I'm having the same problem as above, when on long journey's and coming off motorways my clutch pedel goes soft and doesn't return all the way to the top.  After a few pumps it returns to a normal. It's a ford focus 62 plate 1.5 tdi. I've got it in the garage having the master cylinder changed. The machines are convinced that it's the master cylinder. No leakage of fluid loss. I've ready lot of post about this problem the 6 speed 1.5 TDIs  

[Russ123r5]

Did replacing master cylinder cure the problem?????? 

[Russ123r5]

On 01/02/2021 at 4:54 PM, Ted70055 said:

Hi, I'm having the same problem as above, when on long journey's and coming off motorways my clutch pedel goes soft and doesn't return all the way to the top.  After a few pumps it returns to a normal. It's a ford focus 62 plate 1.5 tdi. I've got it in the garage having the master cylinder changed. The machines are convinced that it's the master cylinder. No leakage of fluid loss. I've ready lot of post about this problem the 6 speed 1.5 TDIs  

Did the master cylinder fix this.... How much did the mechanic charge you.....??????? 

[Kev82]

I had the same problem. Clutch peddle sticking abit over half way down getting worse over time. I had the clutch master cylinder changed today and when I picked it up it was still the same. Ive now taken it back to the garage to have the hole slave duelmass and clutch changed. £1500 in total. Its only done 60,000 miles. Ive heard that the piston on the master cylinder is plastic and they snap which then causes the clutch slave to fail which then means you need to change everything. Ford have now replaced the plastic piston with a metal one but hasn't done a recall on it. So if you buy a new clutch master cylinder now from Ford they come with a metal piston instead of a plastic one. Which will hopefully stop it from happening in the future. Hope this helps anyone having the same problem 

[Kev82]

On 2/6/2021 at 12:21 PM, Russ123r5 said:

Did replacing master cylinder cure the problem?????? 

It didn't fix mine mate. Hope you got it sorted