Clutch problem. Help needed.

[.pete.]

I had the Cortina booked in the garage to see what needs doing for MOT. I spent the morning putting essentials on it like bumper, number plates, seat belt, wing mirror, bolt the seat down etc. Started the engine at the second attempt, clutch down and I can't select a single gear. They all go in OK with the engine turned off, when it's started it doesn't want to know. The only one I could get was reverse, but it just jumped back a foot and stalled with the clutch pedal still down. Any ideas? It was last driven last October and was fine then.

[Davewrc]

Has the Clutch cable broken or snagged?

[Grizzley Dell]

hi mate, is it cable or hydraulic? if its cable it sounds like its not adjusted well enough. if its hydraulic it sounds like it needs bleeding.

[moredoorAsh]

I had a mk1 fiesta which used to do the same, sounds to me like the friction plate is stuck, if you have the room, start it in 2nd it will jump forward and drive off but should release with a bang. mine used to be sorted within 10 metres or so

[Vista]

I had a mk1 fiesta which used to do the same, sounds to me like the friction plate is stuck, if you have the room, start it in 2nd it will jump forward and drive off but should release with a bang. mine used to be sorted within 10 metres or so

 

my thoughts too, friction plate stuck to the flywheel, I had (and did) exactly the same with a 2.8i a few years ago

[moredoorAsh]

Keep the cllutch pedal down too

[.pete.]

i'll leave it running at the weekend to warm it up and it might loosen something up. Would it be suicide to put the back up on axle stands and start it in gear, as if I get it down to the road and can't get it to go in gear i'd have a right problem pushing it back up to the garage. Plus I live round the corner from the police station and it's not MOTd or taxed.

[bomber1]

as long as your in it so if it does fall off the stands your ready to stop it

[GT_lenny]

if it is the plates thats stuck they usually free up if you try and start them in gear (car on the floor)

isn't yours a hydraulic clutch? it could just be that it needs a bit of a bleed up get someone to press the pedal for you whilst you look at the clutch arm and check its getting the full travel

[webby1]

sounds like the centre plate is stuck, we used to put the rear in the air on axle stands, start it up in second gear, keep foot down on the clutch rev it up so the wheels were spinning fairly rapidly then stamp on the brake pedal, this might take a couple of goes but it usually does the trick,

[.pete.]

well i got the rear up on axle stands yesterday and i can now get it into gears with the engine running, but it doesn't stall or get the wheels moving very much, only a little bit even with high revs. I'll see if I can give it another go today as it's still not sorted. I've tried starting it in gear too, which it does OK, but even in gear with the engine idling it doesn't stall so something it jammed somewhere.

[.pete.]

i have a look at the clutch yesterday to see why it won't engage gear and I saw the piston only moves a little bit when the pedal is pressed. Does this help anyone diagnose the problem or is this about the normal amount of movement. I might be wrong, but I think the first picture is when the pedal is normal, and the second one is when the pedal is pressed down. It only moves about 1cm.

When I reach down and physically push it into the piston though it goes all the way in about another inch, upto the end of the dark bit about half way up.

 

[banarama]

proberbly one of the pressure plate springs has broken and jamming it

[GT_lenny]

looks to me like it just needs bleeding???

[beu_79]

mate, the excact same thing happened to me on my mk2 escort yesterday! Cable is fine, pedal is fine, just can't get any gears with the the engine running but you can when the the engine is off.

[.pete.]

I've got a mate coming over on Wednesday to give me a hand bleeding the clutch. Hopefully that will work.

[ted91]

I had the very same issue on my mk1, any advice???!

[escort21]

The rod on the slave cylinder doesnt move very far normally anyway, it will be a stuck clutch plate

[.pete.]

my mate got it moving yesterday. It was a stuck clutch plate as some people thought. He first bled the cylinder but said there was no air in it so must be a sticking plate. He had a few goes of ramming it into gear which stalled it, but then kept trying and it freed up. Now i can get it down to the garage for inspection to see what it needs for MOT.

[banarama]

well done

[alec hafele]

Looks to me that the operating rod is not travelling far enough but I'm not too sure that just bleeding will do the trick. I would be inclined to replace the slave cylinder rubbers and see what happens. I had this problem on a MKII Consul a long time back and overhauling the clutch cylinders did the trick.