Hi all,

New to the forum, Hoping someone can help and advise

Focus mk1 1.6 hatchback petrol 134k miles, the clutch pedal has all of a sudden gone flat to the floor i cannot engage the clutch :(

I thought it maybe the slave cylinder which is located inside the car near the clutch pedal but I'm doubting it is that because there were no signs of oil leaking

However looking underneath the car between the gearbox and bellhousing i can see oil leaking and the brake fluid reservoir is low and has dumped the oil on the drive!

If its not the clutch master cylinder what would it be?

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pic attached of where leak is coming from

It'll be the slave cylinder inside the gearbox.  Requires removal of the gearbox so you may as well have new clutch plates fitted at the same time as the cylinder.  

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

It'll be the slave cylinder inside the gearbox.  Requires removal of the gearbox so you may as well have new clutch plates fitted at the same time as the cylinder.  

Oh dear, sounds like an expensive repair! Any idea on what the likely costs would be? May just scrap it!, its done 132k!

No idea what it would cost. It’s quite a bit of work. It is unfortunate that Ford use a concentric slave cylinder inside the bell housing. Some cars have the slave cylinder on the outside of the bell housing where it would take 5 minutes to remove.  But they do usually last well, it’s just unlucky. But if this is the only fault on the car and you know everything else is fine then it might be worth doing.  If you scrap it and buy another car you could end up buying a whole load of other problems. Of course I don’t know how much you might think of spending on another car.

2 hours ago, ash29109 said:

Oh dear, sounds like an expensive repair! Any idea on what the likely costs would be? May just scrap it!, its done 132k!

I'd estimate around £400 for a 3 piece clutch kit and labour at an independent garage but I'd advise getting a couple of quotes before making any decisions.

As Isetta said above, it's probably not worth it on financial grounds alone, but depends how well you know the car and what your other options might be for something newer.

14 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

I'd estimate around £400 for a 3 piece clutch kit and labour at an independent garage but I'd advise getting a couple of quotes before making any decisions.

As Isetta said above, it's probably not worth it on financial grounds alone, but depends how well you know the car and what your other options might be for something newer.

Your bang on the money £395 decided go ahead with the repair, I've had no problems with the engine but will need to spend a bit more to sort a few other things out, track rod ends, wheel alignment, LH steering rack boot torn, new tyres etc 😞

You should certainly get rack boot done. Apart from it being mot failure, if you don’t do it then dirt and water will get in there and then it will end up needing a new rack.

It's been a couple of months since the clutch was replaced, the car is not driven much, but I've noticed recently I'm finding it really hard to put the car into gear I'm having to force it into gear, this is the case for for all gears.

However once the car is upto temperature, the gears engage fine!

Any ideas what it could be?

When a new clutch is fitted do you lose the gearbox oil so fresh oil needs to be added? Could it be due to lack of oil in the transmission?

13 hours ago, ash29109 said:

It's been a couple of months since the clutch was replaced, the car is not driven much, but I've noticed recently I'm finding it really hard to put the car into gear I'm having to force it into gear, this is the case for for all gears.

However once the car is upto temperature, the gears engage fine!

Any ideas what it could be?

When a new clutch is fitted do you lose the gearbox oil so fresh oil needs to be added? Could it be due to lack of oil in the transmission?

Yes gearbox oil is drained before removing the driveshafts. If they didn't drain it all the way and forgot to top it back upto max that could be the source of your troubles. 

Any improvement if you pump the pedal a few times then retry selecting a gear? 

Can you select gears any more easily with the engine off when cold?  This will confirm whether it's a clutch issue or a gearbox issue.