Hello. New member here looking for advice on my wife's Fiesta 15 plate 1.25 petrol.

And what an amazing looking form this is! Looks very professional!

We have owned it for 4 years and we are its second owner.

She has mentioned to me that sometimes after a few minutes of driving, she can be sat at say traffic lights and when the time comes to set off, she can't engage first gear. The gear lever won't move.

So she switches off the engine, pumps the clutch a few times and switches back on, and it goes in to gear.

This has happened multiple times.

So we have checked the linkage cables and made sure everything is moving freely and went out for a drive, this time with me driving.

First thing I noticed that was the clutch biting point was almost immediate, but only whilst I reversed the car off the drive and in to first. After that it was back to normal biting point.

So I drove around for a while, with no problems, but then decided to parallel park by the road side as I could hear a slight humming noise (like an electric pump type noise) that I have not heard before and I wanted to try to listen where it was coming from. As I reversed in to the space and stopped, with the clutch fully pressed down, I couldn't move the gear lever and the car started to shudder and then stalled. At that point the clutch pedal didn't seem to be as firm as normal. It still moved up and down but there didn't seem to be the normal amount of resistance.

So, I figured that the last part must have been due to the clutch engaging when it shouldn't have, perhaps due to falling pressure? And that caused the shudder and stall.

I restarted the engine, and the clutch felt normal again.

Sorry for the epic story but any ideas on what might be the problem? Car has done 24000 miles. 

Car was in for service recently at Ford dealership and we asked them to investigate. They said they couldn't find any fault but it "might need a new clutch and master cylinder as there was some play in the clutch pedal? at a cost of over £900".  Based on that vague and expensive diagnosis I need to try to get some other advice as I don't trust this dealership after some other issues we have had with them over time.

Just wondering if anybody has come across something like this?

My thoughts are with the Clutch Slave cylinder, which are more prone to failure due to them been next to the gearbox and getting very hot.

Before spending crazy amounts of money I would get the clutch fluid fully changed and the system bled.

After reading this I had much the same conclusion as Unofix.

Yes, I'm with the other guys. If pumping the pedal temporarily does the trick, it sounds like air in the system which usually means a fluid leak. Unlike in the old days of external slave cylinders, this might not be obvious. Also unlike in the old days (when fitting new seals or a whole new slave was a pretty easy job) it unfortunately means taking the gearbox out to replace at which point it is prudent to replace the clutch as your garage suggests.

Thank you guys. Brilliant advice much appreciated 🙂 I will let you know what happens.

The brake fluid was replaced (well I paid for it to be at least!) 2 weeks ago at its annual service, but to be fair the problem was happening before this, and it seems to be getting worse

Is the clutch fluid shared with the brake fluid?

 

On 12/20/2021 at 6:42 PM, Captain Sensible said:

Is the clutch fluid shared with the brake fluid?

 

It is, same reservoir. 

How’s progress on checking the clutch slave cylinder? 

Im new to this forum so bear with me. I’ve searched for problems getting into First gear in my Fiesta, and the question looks like has been asked previously 4 yrs ago. Just wondering what the outcome was from advice offered on this forum and did the problem get sorted?

Many people don't come back and tell us.

If your car has the same symptoms, the same advice still applies.

In case it helps anyone thought I'd share my experience...

I had same symptom on our 2002 1.4 LX, petrol...got worse as car was hotter, struggling to select 1st/2nd - needed to go back to neutral off clutch, then try again.

Bled the clutch fluid, pushed some very dark fluid through and seems ok now.

I used a Sealey vs820 pressure bleeder, really easy with that (appreciate it's not cheap but cheaper than visiting a garage is my reasoning)