I recently purchased a Ford Focus Mark 3, and I have an issue with air in the clutch lines. Initially, I thought it was the master cylinder and that was replaced last week. But the problem is persisting. The issue is that when you go to press the clutch pedal, the pedal feels soft/spongy. You have to press the pedal to the floor to get any clutch, but there is times I would have to press the clutch twice to get any clutch. There is no leaks in the system as far as I am aware. The system was bled today, but the clutch pedal started to get week an hour or two after. If the clutch is primed with your foot, pressure returns to the pedal. Any advice regarding this? Thanks.

Hi, I've seen this issue before on the forum. The usual problem seems to be the clutch slave cylinder mounted near the side of the gearbox. It can get very hot and the seals fail a little causing a soft pedal and overtime for air to get back in to the pipes.

I once had the same problem with a Rover and the fix for that was to loosen the Master Cylinder cap and jam the Clutch Pedal fully down with a piece of wood wedged between the Pedal and the seat frame, and leave it like that for several hours.

It might not work for the Focus and I don't fully understand why it was a fix for the Rover but I had that car tor years afterwards and the problem never came back.

15 hours ago, unofix said:

Hi, I've seen this issue before on the forum. The usual problem seems to be the clutch slave cylinder mounted near the side of the gearbox. It can get very hot and the seals fail a little causing a soft pedal and overtime for air to get back in to the pipes.

Yes, I was thinking that could be the issue. But, it will be a big job as the slave cylinder is in the gearbox.