Hi All

55 Plate Mondeo 2ltr TDCi 130. (148k miles)

For a few days now I have been experiencing a random soft clutch pedal which will only return to half height. It seems

to happen towards the end of a 33 mile journey to work.

I have had a look in the foot well and the spring seems to be ok although its a bit of a pig to get right in there to see.

Has anyone else had a similar issue or does anyone have any suggestions?

Cheers

Stevo

I'd say to ensure you have enough fluid in the system.

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Bit of a novice.............where to top up and what do you think the reason for it happening in the first place???

Cheers

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do you haave a clutch return spring also?

Bit more info..........clutch fluid level is correct. Return spring appears to be ok. Got to the point where I pretty much know when and where the pedal will go soft. This is the puzzling part. It will go soft on the down slope of any small hump bridge, turning left or right at speeds lower than 20mph going up or down a slight gradient. It seems that it maybe gravity induced. Does this make any sense to anyone? My local mechanic is taking the car for a spin tomoz to try and replicate the problem.

Any suggestions or have any of you had this happen to you?

Cheers

Stevo

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I wonder if you need to replace the cap? it might be releasing the pressure?

Have you had any work done on the clutch/gearbox or in that area recently?

If everything appears to be ok I guess I would start with bleeding the clutch hydraulics and going from there.

When the clutch pedal doesn't return, does the clutch still act as if it's pressed in? I wonder if the slave cylinder is sticking/not returning inside the gearbox? Just a thought..

James there is no pressure stored in the reservoir mate.

haha, so I am wrong on the cap then :D

Thanks

No work been done at all. When the pedal goes soft and I've selected a new gear etc, the pedal will return half way and I have still have full drive with no slip. If I don't bother flicking it back up, I can still use the clutch to select another gear. It returns to just above bite point with the remaining slack ready to be flicked back up again with me getting my toe underneath the pedal. It doesn't return in a fast aggressive way after it's past bite point or anything like that, just pops back up. It's bizarre!

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Worn seals on the master cylinder?

Morning,

So the problems get worse. I live in thetford, Norfolk and my wife drove the car to Cheltenham (180 miles away) on Friday, hassle free. She gets in the car to come home at 5pm last night and gets a mile down the road, pulls upto to some traffic lights and that's where her journey ends. 1 call to the recovery people later and the car is now parked in a halfords auto centre in the middle of Cheltenham! A 6 hour round trip later (ending at 2am) and me, the wife and our other car are back in thetford with my mondeo stuck in Cheltenham.

Moral of this story is:

If your car is starting to show signs of needing a repair, don't drive it on a long journey in the opposite direction to your home!

Early prognosis is the clutch failure. Recovery bloke told wifey that the thrust bearing had gone with hydraulic fluid leaking out.

I take it that this would be linked to the soft pedal?

Any suggestions gang?????

Well I'm stating the obvious but you'll have to change the clutch, cylinder and dmf. Your original fault would have been the cylinder leaking. The reason it was affected by the downhill slope would be that the fluid level would have fallen too low. The resevoir for the clutch is at the rear of the fluid resevoir and can empty without affecting the main fluid level (seperated compartments). Not a cheap job I'm afraid

That all makes perfect sense to be honest. The work is being done tomorrow at a cost.

did you get this all sorted Steve?

Hi James

Yes thanks. Pretty hefty bill but runs so well now. Clutch, Slave cylinder, DMF and service for £875 all in. Fitted the egr blanking plate aswell and can notice a much improved response. Gonna so a few more bits over the next couple of months like decent air filter. She's done 148k now and I like the car so much that I would like to keep on top of things so I get to 200k + on the clock.

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Fingers crossed that is all the big bills done

Yeah me too. Just needs the injectors to go wrong way up and that will defo send me over the edge :)

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Fingers crossed, they can be relatively cheap to rebuild, depending on where you go and how long you can do without the car for