'03 v6 reg cab manual tranny 76xxx miles...thanks to help here online and some time under the hood i managed to isolate my 'clutch pedal all the way to the ground with no resistance' problem this past saturday to be a failed clutch slave cylinder. bought a new slave cylinder@autozone and took it to the mechanic yesterday. had a friend drop me off@the mechanic's this morning and there's some major before the slave cylinder failed differences vs when i picked up the truck this morning...
BEFORE-no 'play' in clutch pedal, press it and there was immediate resistance
THIS MORNING-a half to 2/3 inch play before there's any resistance. also, i'm having to press the clutch pedal virtually to the floor before it engages the gears. it shifts fine and there's no grinding, but 'to the floor' seems excessive.
BEFORE-in neutral, the gear shift **** could be moved about with no resistance.
THIS MORNING-opposite, there's quite a bit of resistance on the shift *** in neutral.
THIS MORNING-i seemed to have 'magically' gained torque. most of the way home from work was bumper to bumper thusly spent a lot of time in 1st gear. i seemed to need to press the brake pedal quite a bit harder than usual to stop the truck from lurching forward.
i already called the shop back and told them i need them to bleed the clutch system again saying i didn't think they did it correctly the first time. not concerned too much about the stiffer shift **** in neutral or 'gained torque', but could incorrect 'bleeding' cause all these issues?

 

Yes that could create the problem also low fluid in the slave cylinder reservoir would cause the issue. Did he top it off or is their a leak somewhere. My advice find the reservoir, check the fluid, top it off, pump the clutch to see if it builds up if not you have a leak somewhere. He may not have tightened the bleed valve up. Give that a try and let us know what's up. It isn't extra torque by the way your slave cylinder isn't disengageing the clutch all the way so it will burn up the clutch if not fixed that is also why it grinds and is hard to shift.

 

That may be part of your problem. You really should use the updated Ford slave.

 

BEFORE-in neutral, the gear shift **** could be moved about with no resistance.
THIS MORNING-opposite, there's quite a bit of resistance on the shift *** in neutral.

Check the shifter boot. He may have installed the lower one backwards or it is not seated properly on the shift lever. The Lower shifter rids on a bushing. it may have gotten contaminated with dirt when it was removed. if it was installed dirty it will cause your symptoms.

 

he test drove it again for me, and basically he said the same thing as a poster above-that an aftermarket slave cylinder can cause the clutch pedal to engage different from a ford stock unit, something about the spring on the aftermarket unit being different from a stock one. he said he'd bleed it again if i wanted but that our sytems wouldn't function if there was air in the system. is he correct on this? the clutch fluid resovoir is full and i don't see any leaks. it does shift smoothly and there's no grinding of the gears when shifting, it's just hard to get use to the pedal going all the way to the floor to shift. being at 76xxx miles, i'm guessing it's probably a good idea to replace the clutch master cylinder and clutch soon anyway so i guess this time i'll buy ford oem parts and hopefully things will go back to the way they were before the slave cylinder failed.

 

I have no way to confirm it, but I've been told there is some degree of adjustment possible by fiddling around under the dash with the pedal linkage and master cylinder pushrod.

 

I not sure if that would help with where it engages but you can adjust the pedal height that way. I'm unsure on this for the smaller manuals but on larger trucks dumps, box trucks, etc. There is a way to adjust where it engages by adjusting a linkage on the transmission now having said this I will say again I've not worked on the tranny on one of these larger trucks I have though. Hope this helps some.

 

There is no linkage at the tranny. The slave is concentric, inside the bell housing, and directly contacts the throwout bearing.

 

Like I said never worked on that one but thanks.

 

Gentlemen,

There is no adjustment to the push rod for the slave master cylinder. The Mustangs with the cable are adjustable. The brake is adjustable but not the slave. While the aftermarket is a lot more liberal with their tolerances, the farther east you go the more liberal they are, they do work. Your slave could very well be of a more liberal tolerance. I returned 2 power steering pumps to Autozone for leaks. I should have known better....... BTW A good brand name for clutch parts is Luk.