Hi folks

Appreciate if someone can give me a steer re intermittent stalling on my 2010 Ford C Max Zetec 1.8 petrol.

I've had it about a year. For around a two months now, it will occasionally stall when I'm in either 1st or 2nd gear and I'm slowing down. I have to push the clutch pedal all the way in to prevent stalling as per above, which I didn't have to do before. I'm wondering if this is a sign of the clutch starting to fail.

Car never stalls at normal/higher speeds, nor when idling.

When it stalls the red battery light, oil light and engine light come on on dash. Other than when stalling NO warning lights show. Sometimes the car feels like its about to stall when I'm braking in 1st or 2nd gear: there's a slight judder (seems from under the floor/engine), the red battery light flashes briefly but the car doesn't stall. This is why I think it's the clutch, if I press the clutch pedal all the way in, I can often avoid the stall.

Car had oil change before stalling started, but I doubt this is related. 

Any ideas? New clutch needed?

Best regards

John, Glasgow. 

When was the Air Filter last changed ?

Have you checked the spark plugs ?

13 minutes ago, unofix said:

When was the Air Filter last changed ?

Have you checked the spark plugs ?

Thanks for taking time to reply.

I dont know when the air filter was last changed, car only has partial service history. I'll get a price for that. I did replace the big air hose with a new one a couple of months ago, old one was damaged. 

I haven't looked at spark plugs, I'll have a look. 

Thank you again.

John

To rule out those possible causes I'd replace both.

An air filter is less than £10 and a set of 4 NGK plugs is about £15

Just to clarify, do the ign/oil/engine light come on before the engine has stopped turning? After stalling, those lights would come on once the engine has stopped rotating anyway.

23 hours ago, RL123 said:

Just to clarify, do the ign/oil/engine light come on before the engine has stopped turning? After stalling, those lights would come on once the engine has stopped rotating anyway.

Thanks for replying. 

I believe the engine stalls and in half a second the battery, oil, engine lights come on. I'll try to catch the order next time it happens but I believe that's it.

2 minutes ago, JohnWayneStatue said:

I believe the engine stalls and in half a second the battery, oil, engine lights come on.

That is normal and true for all vehicles once the engine stalls for what ever reason.

3 minutes ago, unofix said:

That is normal and true for all vehicles once the engine stalls for what ever reason.

Ok thanks for confirming. 

I'm not expert on clutch problems, but since pushing the clutch down is acting to separate the clutch friction plate from the engine flywheel, thus avoiding stalling the engine when slowing down, and the only issue you seem to be experiencing is just having to push the clutch pedal down further to get full/sufficient disengagement to avoid a stall when slowing down, I'd expect we can rule out a worn out clutch plate since you've got too much friction in such a situation rather than too little. I'd expect the fault would instead lie with the clutch's hydraulics. (Or the lever mechanism the hydraulics push on). The clutch hydraulics share fluid with the brakes, and this fluid is typically supposed to be replaced every so often as part of normal servicing, so perhaps it's poor fluid quality that's causing this. Or otherwise, and possibly more likely, perhaps a worn out master or slave hydraulic piston.

I expect those who have posted already are probably thinking along the same lines, but just want to rule out the engine performing weakly first. (If when you typically push the clutch down you're only pushing it far enough to partly disengage it, and if the engine were now running less powerfully than normal for some reason (like poor air flow or worn spark plugs), then you may well conceivably need to push the clutch down further for greater disengagement, i.e. to achieve lower friction between clutch plate and flywheel).

Just a thought in the absence of any DTCs, 

air bypass valve, egr, or if fitted with dual length inlet tract manifold, something to do with the vacuum operation. Just guesswork really without error codes.

Hi

One thing I really don't understand. As I mentioned, the stalling only occurs at low speed  when I'm braking in 1st or 2nd gear. The revs therefore will be low.

As I also mentioned, sometimes just the red battery's dashboard light flashes on, there's a slight judder underneath engine or floor, but the car doesn't stall. This I assume is because I have depressed the clutch pedal to a particular degree.

Why though, if the red battery flashes on and off as per above, would this be connected with clutch issues? If the red battery light represents charging issues, I'm baffled at what part the clutch would play in this.

I read somewhere the most common cause of the red battery light coming on is a faulty or failing alternator - but this doesn't have anything to do with clutch, does it?

Apologies for my lack of car knowledge. 

Regards 

John

 

30 minutes ago, JohnWayneStatue said:

Apologies for my lack of car knowledge. 

Hi John, I mean this in the nicest possible way, it is clear you have limited knowledge of how the car/engine works. Even if you were able to find the problem you are very unlikely to be able to repair it. You need to take the car to a decent independent garage and let them diagnose the fault and carry out the repair.

To answer your question about the battery light. Once the engine revs fall below 500rpm the alternator will be unable to maintain a charge to the battery and hence the light flickers on.

The fault would seem to be that the clutch is not fully disengaging. This could be a faulty clutch master cylinder or a slave cylinder or even a problem with the clutch pressure plate. What ever the cause you are going to have to get a garage to do the repair.