Air in clutch lines???

[cclay6482]

Nudder question about the 5 spd manual tranny...

Mine ('96, 135,000 miles) recently started getting very difficult to get into gear with the motor running, and had some occasional gear clash. Finally checked the fluid level and found it to be pretty low. I added fluid, got some air bubbles out, and changed transmission fluid. Worked well for a couple of weeks, but then started acting up again. Funny thing is, it will work great for a while, then not work worth a darn for a while. Seems to go back and forth. Question is, would having air in the clutch lines cause this intermittant problem? I can't think of anything else that would.

 

[rokke17]

I had the same problem on my 95 5 spd.
I had many shops look at it, and had the line bled many times, and the only time that my clutch/tranny worked well was when I had the original in there.
All the clutches and trannys that followed were just never good, and were sometimes terrible.
Good luck finding a solution, if you find one I want to go get my old Xploder back.

Chris

 

[JoshC]

Yes having air in the lines will cause this problem. These setups, the hydralics, are very hard to get all of the air from the lines cause the hose is actually the lowest point of the setup. You really need to get a vacuum type bleeding system. If might come down to having to get a new slave cylinder or a master cylinder. Not a really big deal for the master, but the slave means pulling the tranny. Then i'd go ahead and put a new clutch and turn the flywheel so it will save you some money. If you are going to have to buy new stuff. Spend the extra couple of dollars and get it from Ford. It really isn't that much more. I've had problems out of my manual since i put it in. I can't find a good slave cylinder to work good in mine from the aftermarket. Good luck.

Happy trails!!