Ford fiesta 2017 stuck in gear and also won’t go into gear

[Mel2802]

I have a 2017 ford fiesta which has started getting stuck in gear and I can’t get it out of gear. It also sometimes won’t let me go into a gear. Before this happens the clutch starts to feel a bit heavy. This only happens once a week. Taken it to a garage and they can’t find anything wrong. Any ideas please? 

[unofix]

If it's not loosing any hydraulic fluid then I say there is a chance that the clutch slave cylinder is starting to fail.

[agraham]

11 hours ago, Mel2802 said:

Taken it to a garage and they can’t find anything wrong

As Unofix says this is typically indicative of impending clutch failure. A good garage should know this!

[Danny cj]

Mum's 67 plate had exactly the same fault.

She had clutch changed and hasn't happened since

[philp1963]

Hi. We have a 2015 Fiesta and we are experiencing the same sort of issues.  This has been happening on and off over many months.  My wife mainly drives this car.  She has noticed the following when the problem arises:-

(1) Always occurred when in gears 1 & 2 (not yet experienced in gears 4 or 5).

(2) When problem has arisen, clutch pedal feels resistant to movement downwards.  

(3) Can't move gear stick out of gear when problem arises.

Today my wife noticed that when she had the clutch pressed down and the car in gear with her foot on the brake, that the engine started to make a lot of noise and stopped (presumably stalled).   She rang me and I drove to her.  We then swapped cars and I drove the fiesta home.  Everything worked fine until I got home.  I put the car into reverse and reversed into the drive.  When I tried to get out of reverse, I couldn't (even though I still had the clutch fully depressed). I then stopped the engine.  I then tried to get out of reverse and I could.  I restarted the engine and everything seemed good again.

Is this similar to your issues.  I don't know much about what could be the cause of this problem.  My initial thought is to replace the clutch master cylinder. I am not losing any fluid, and I have read in other threads that the master cylinder can cause this issue when you are not losing fluid.  However unofix suggests that it is the slave cylinder?  Too many possibilities!!

[unofix]

38 minutes ago, philp1963 said:

However unofix suggests that it is the slave cylinder?

Indeed I do. The clutch slave cylinder is inside the bellhousing (major strip down) and it gets very hot. The seals inside the slave cylinder allow fluid to get past them and the clutch doesn't then operate fully.

If you have to replace the clutch slave cylinder then you may aswell replace the clutch at the same time.

[philp1963]

Thanks unofix for that.  Presumably you also dont lose fluid with the slave cylinder?  Is there any tests that you can do to determine where the problem is?  Or do you just replace things until the problem is fixed?  Sorry I am not trying to hi-jack this thread.  I'm just trying to find out how we can find what the problem might be.  It just seems like guesswork at the mo?

[unofix]

14 minutes ago, philp1963 said:

Presumably you also dont lose fluid with the slave cylinder?

Often with the seals in the slave cylinder the fluid leaks past the seal but remains inside the cylinder. When you take your foot off the clutch pedal then the fluid gets forced back to the other side. If there is any fluid lost it will generally remain inside of the bellhousing. I assume you have checked the reservoir level and it is normal.

[philp1963]

I have checked the reservoir and it is normal. I assume that the garage would have checked that for Mel2802.  I might try and have a word with my garage now to see what suggestions they may have.  Depending on what they say, I might replace the master cylinder and see if that fixes it.  I am not sure that I would have the time to take on the slave cylinder.  The car has only done 39000 miles, so a bit disappointed.  Thanks for your help. 

[philp1963]

Last night I suddenly remembered another clue that happened with the fiesta.  One early morning a few weeks ago I needed to swap the cars around in the drive.  I got into the fiesta and noticed that the clutch was engaging very early( It was nearly causing me to stall it).  I cant remember the details of what I did, but I remember pumping the pedal and finding that the problem went away.  I think that I am going to replace the master cylinder (relatively cheep)  and see if that fixes things.  It will probably take me a couple of days and I will try and do it in the next couple of weeks.  I will let you know how it goes.  Thanks

[Danny cj]

We were told by ford who replaced the clutch..it was the clutch pressure plate fingers

It did cure the fault at a huge price but mum was pleased to get the car back

[philp1963]

Hi everyone, just to give an update.  I had a lot of problems replacing the master cylinder.  I think that my hands are too big for this sort of job.  They dont make cars to be easily fixed any more.  One of my main problems was not realising that a little rubber O ring can come off at the end of the tube going from the master cylinder towards the gearbox.  It took me days to work out where it went and what it was for.  The Haynes manual was no use at all.  One thing I do know now is that I would now be able to do this job easily in a couple of days ( having done it the once).

Anyway I finished replacing the master cylinder just over a week ago and touch wood the problem has not reoccurred.  My wife and I have been driving the car everyday, so thats quite good.  No problems yet, but I do appreciate that it is early days yet and the problem may well reoccur at any moment in the future. 

I will update this thread in a few weeks time.  I wonder how Melissa got on?

Thanks again

[mnva]

I dont force the gears. I turn the ignition off and back on and all goes back to normal.  However, I have a repeated reverse issue, pops out of reverse or

doesn't synchronize going into gear.  I am told the clutch is going bad and may have a synchronizer in the trans not synchronizing properly.

The clutch replacement is costly but the synchronizer costs more even the though part is under $40 its inside of the transmission which would have to

come out.  Suggestion for you. Have the trans fluid checked first, bleed the brake lines, really well.  Then if your problem still goes on I would be looking into

a clutch replacement with master/slave cylinders.

As I read on the problems others are having are spot-on to mine.  Im in the United States and a manual transmission Fiesta is a rarity. So rare these issues

have even stumped the dealership service ppl. They say it could be several things and I could end up throwing alot of money into and still not fixing it.

So I would love to know if others have a "fix" for this.

[MartynX]

Fiesta 17 plate – 37,000 miles

Same symtoms

Sticks in gear on occasions

Mainly lower gears (but I guess that’s because when driving around town, that’s the gears you are using)

Pumping the clutch helps

Difficult to replicate except if I start the car up in reverse and the back off the drive

But here’s the puzzling thing, I have replaced the clutch and it’s STILL HAPPENING!

Any thoughts?

[TomsFocus]

28 minutes ago, MartynX said:

Fiesta 17 plate – 37,000 miles

Same symtoms

Sticks in gear on occasions

Mainly lower gears (but I guess that’s because when driving around town, that’s the gears you are using)

Pumping the clutch helps

Difficult to replicate except if I start the car up in reverse and the back off the drive

But here’s the puzzling thing, I have replaced the clutch and it’s STILL HAPPENING!

Any thoughts?

If you replaced the slave along with the clutch plates then it's likely to be the master cylinder.

[MartynX]

Thanks TomsFocus.

Yes, the clutch and slave have been replaced and talking to a few people who know more than me, it now sounds like the master. 

Might try that and let you know

Cheers

[mnva]

Your garage won't be able to know by just simply looking at it. Could be pressure plates sticking, a spring, plastic piece swelling on the slave cylinder, micro debris in you hydraulic system, etc...  unfortunately it's a process of elimination.  When this happens try turning ignition off. Then back on or press clutch pedal one more time. One or the other should allow the car to resume normal shifting til next time. Start flushing the hydraulic system with a vacuum system.  Dot 4 is cheap, flush it really good.  Check or replace manual trans fluid. 

Everything thing else requires dropping or replacing the clutch except master cylinder replacement.