1994, 2.3, 5-Speed

Mechanic replaced the slave cylinder, put a new clutch kit in, replaced the starter. The day I picked it up, it would not go into gear without pumping the clutch quite a few times. This was also when I noticed that the shifter was extremely loose compared to how it was before. Mechanic said he tightened the bolt as much as he could, and as far as the clutch...it just needed to be driven.

So, a day later I try to take her for a ride. Fired it up, and it would not go into gear. Pumped the clutch still would not go into gear. Got the mechanic to come to the house the following day, and of course, after a few pumps he gets it into gear. Again, he tells me, it needs to be driven. He takes it to his shop but only replaces the worn out bolt in the shifter.

So, it's been a week since I got it back and no real improvements. You have to pump the clutch after starting before it will finally slide into 1st. Once you get going it's fine, but if you stop for a minute (at a light) it will have to be pumped again to get it into gear again. Another issue is it's near impossible to put it into reverse without grinding the gear.

Any ideas? I bought a clutch master cylinder the day the mechanic came to my house, but he told me it was not necessary. I have used this mechanic twice in the past to replace the slave/master cylinders, & I never had problems like I am having now.

 

Sounds like there is air in the master. He probably didnt bleed it properly.

 

Is this your first Ranger clutch?

Yes, while it is a pain it is not abnormal.
And Master doesn't need to be replaced with your symptoms.

Ranger slave is a tight design when clutch disc is new, pedal to the floor gives barely enough clearance at flywheel.

All that being said........do you have the bill of materials mechanic used for the new clutch?
He should have used a "self-adjusting" pressure plate, that is the stock part to use.
If he used regular pressure plate then your issue will continue until clutch disc wears down a bit.
If he didn't replace the pressure plate and didn't reset it then it is pretty much a regular pressure plate so you just have to wait for clutch disc to wear down.

If Master got some air in it then it can't be bled out the normal way because of the angle it sits at, master can be bled by removing its C-clip while it is installed or master can be removed, turn upside down and then pushing the piston down forcing any air into the hose to slave, where it can be bled out the "normal" way.

Master can't get air in it unless reservoir runs dry, did that happen before clutch was replaced?

 

No, this is the third clutch replacement. I've owned the vehicle since 2008.

Mechanic diagnosis problems and tells me what parts to buy. I purchased a clutch set from O'Reilly's : PowerTorque K0047-07 - Clutch Kit | O'Reilly Auto Parts

No, the master reservoir never ran dry prior to clutch and slave replacement; although it was leaking at the slave.

Is it a difficult job to bleed the master when installing a new one or even turning it upside down? I am just wondering...it seems like my mechanic did not want to mess with it. I literally had the master in the vehicle, while it was sitting at his shop.

 

3rd !!!!

How many miles on this truck?

The link posted shows a "regular pressure plate" in the picture and there is no mention of self adjusting pressure plate in the specs.

Regular pressure plates were/are used on clutch systems that have External adjustments, Hydraulic or mechanical.
There would be a "fork" with the throwout bearing inside bell housing and then it's end would stick out the side of the bell housing, this end would have an adjustable rod to set engage/disengage point for clutch/pedal, and you would adjust it as the clutch disc wore down.

When slave cylinders were moved inside the bell housing there could be no "adjustment"
So self-adjusting pressure plates were invented/used.
These have a set of springs around the center, as the clutch disc wears down the springs push the pressure plate closer to the flywheel, self-adjusting, so engage/disengage should stay at the same place on the clutch pedal.

You can use regular pressure plate with internal slave, but you do get what you have now, pedal must be down to the floor PLUS an inch, lol, to get disc to disengage fully.
Right now with pedal to the floor the disc is still dragging a bit on the flywheel so input shaft of transmission is still spinning, while moving the output shaft is also spinning so meshing the gears is not a big deal, but when stopped the output shaft is not spinning so you must "force" the input shaft to stop spinning as well, this means you have to push harder on stick(forces syncro to stop input shaft) or shift into 3 or 4th then back to 1st to get input shaft to stop spinning, reverse does have syncro but it will also grind if input shaft is still spinning.

Best bet at this point is to see if master has some air in it and get it out, and then bleed system again.
As said, the clutch disc is rubbing on flywheel so it will wear down enough in a few weeks.


Picture here of self-adjusting and regular pressure plates side by side: http://www.370z.com/MagazineArticles...-Flywheel.aspx

2nd picture down self-adjusting on the left, look for the springs.

 

Yeah...about 175,000 (yeah, I know).

I was actually wrong when I said that the reservoir was not empty prior to taking it over to a mechanic. It was empty and took half a bottle while pumping the clutch to get it filled to correct level.

Thank you for all of the information. Basically, you are giving me a more straightforward answer than what my mechanic told me. He says, "Hey you're going to need to drive it and it may take two weeks or so, before it starts acting normal...".

Now, I can see why.

 

If it ran dry then bleeding the master would make sense.

Master sits like this on the firewall: /

So air sits at the top, and even with pedal fully depressed a little air will remain.

Air compresses more than hydraulic fluid, so even that little bit of air means you won't get full travel at the slave, and with new clutch disc and regular pressure plate you need that little bit.
Hopefully there won't be a next time with this clutch but if there is get self-adjusting pressure plate, they are better with new disc and allow disc to last a bit longer since they get closer to flywheel as disc wears.

 

open the bleed er screw and let it gravity bleed for a little while then close screw pump clutch and gravity bleed it again

 

Or this tool may be very handy in your case. You just need to hook it up with a compressor.