Hello,

I’ve got a 2010 Focus which, up to now, has been good as gold. We’ve had it for years.

last week my wife pulled onto the drive, came in and said ‘I can’t move the car’

i went out and sure enough couldn’t get it in gear, although I could start and move it in gear. If I take it out on the road I can just about get another gear, at the right revs, but the clutch slips if I boot it.

i realised I’d stupidly let the brake clutch fluid drop low after running some brake pads very thin last year. Pretty sure the clutch had drawn air in.

what I don’t understand is we’ve done a few miles in the car recently and it’s been perfect, not even a hint of the clutch going bad so I’m surprised of these problems now and I struggle to believe the fluid level is not somehow connected to the issue.

but my neighbour and I spent a full afternoon bleeding manually and with a pressure bleeder and no change, exact same, the fluid out of the bleed nipple is pretty consistent with maybe just the odd little sputter when using the pressure bleeder.

can I get your thoughts please and also the likely cost of doing a clutch and csc from a garage ?

thanks in advance

 

Edited November 25, 2025Nov 25 by Focusdriver3

If the clutch slips under load, that's a plate issue, not a hydraulic issue.

Rough estimate of £500 for 3 piece clutch kit & labour at independent garage.

Thank you @TomsFocus

as you say I can only imagine clutch plate is worn so thin that it’s effectively no longer working. 

if it’s only 500£ I’ll be made up. I rang local Ford dealer and they quoted £1778! (Appreciate dealer prices)

The problem I have is that there is a few local garages close to me but none of them seem to want the work, I think they like doing oil changes and brake pads rather than serious jobs

thanks again!