i need help bad .. my education depends on it!

[3-WheelHogger]

alright this is long but here it goes .. it's 105 miles to school and back (close to an hour each way) & i've got to do it mon. thru fri. ... so i sold ma old truck (V8) and bought a lil 95' ford ranger with a 2.3l and 5speed (much cheaper on gas) ... it's a good runnin truck, cold a/c, 120k miles, it looks good and rides good ... "except" i've got one problem with it .... it's got a hydraulic clutch and it seems to me that whenever the clutch fluid heats up theres a build up of pressure in the master or slave cylinder or somethin else and it won't let me push the clutch in .... let me start over ... this is what happend. i'm drivin down the highway and i'm pushin the lil 4 banger to the limits 80-100mph. i'm comin up to the toll so i go to throw it neutral and the clutch feels real tight but it still goes in neutral ... so i slow down and then pay the toll (still in neutral) ... as soon as i pay i try to push in the clutch and throw it in first gear, but the pedal wont push in .. and it feels like the slave cylinder is holding tha tranny in neutral b/c the whole time i'm sitting at the toll trying to push in the clutch i'm going through all the gears and the tranny isn't clicking or grinding or even trying to move ... so i push it to the side of the road, shut it off and start callin people .... ma buddy and ma moms boyfriend come ta swap me trucks (i still had to be too school) an tow my truck home for me .... when they get there(45mins later) i try showin everyone what was goin on and to my surprise the clutch pushes in fine and starts right up ... i still take my moms boyfriends truck (didnt wanna chance it happining again) and he drives my truck to my house ... well my moms b/f drives it home not goin over 70mph and calls me saying he had no problems .... so i drive it to school today (not going over 70mph) and it rides fine all the way to school... but soon as i get in the parking lot i feel the clutch getting stiff again so i hurry and find a parking spot and as i'm pulling into my spot the clutch goes stiff .... at the end of school it starts right up and drives fine all the way home (didnt go over 60mph on the way back) i dont quite no what to make of it .... the hydraulic clutch fluid is a hydroscopic oil so maybe it might have absorbed some water sometime in the past 12yrs and as the clutch heats up the water boils causing an excess in pressure which might explain why after it cools down the clutch works fine .... i dont realy know, thats all i could think of .... either way i'm goin to bleed out all the fluid in tha morn and put new clean fluid in it ... anyone have any ideas? please help .. this is my transportation to and from school and i need to figure something out on a limited funds basis ...

[84honda200s]

my brother's jeep yj did than and i was because there was was air in the lines and the throw out bearing was sticking on it. but in my opinion it was mostly because the air was in the lines.

[bassman]

Slave cylinder is either going bad or air in the lines. Bleed it out and see what comes of it.

[3-WheelHogger]

if there was air in the lines then the pedal would press in ... air is a gas and gas can compress, but a liquid cant

[ceaserthethird]

Try flushing out the lines , might be the throw out bearing

[Lomax]

There is a customer of mine that has a 96? Ford Ranger that has the 4 banger 5-speed. He bought the truck for 800 bucks with only like 70K miles on it because the people thought the tranny was out in it. It was the same problem that you are tlaking about. He replaced the Slave cyclinder and has had no problems since. I think the truck is up over 120K now.

[Banage]

I would say bleed the lines first. Then start replacing things.

[3-WheelHogger]

does anybody know how to bleed a hydraulic clutch? ..... i've been lookin for well over a half an hour now an cant figure out squat ...

[Macs]

It is your slave cylinder. It probly has a busted o-ring in there somewhere. You can rebuild them for a couple of bucks worth of o-rings. i am not sure how much a new one cost. i had alot of problems with mine on a dodge dakota. It did the exact same thing as you described. If i remember correctly the only way to bleed the slave cylinder on the dodge was that you had to take a allan screw out to bleed it. It has been along time ( 15 years ) since i have done this so the old mind might be a little rusty.

[tri-z_250R]

If it's an internal slave cylinder, like mine, a new one is about $100-$130. Anyways, those hydraulic clutches are suppose to be gravity blead but it doesnt work the greatest. Just open up the bleeder screw, let as much fluid come out as possible, then have someone else in the truck, after you close the screw, can start bleeding it like you would to bleed brakes, pump up the clutch peddle and open it again etc. Then when you go to put more fluid in do the same thing, gravity bleed as much as you can and then make sure all the air is outa there by bleeding it like you would brakes until all the air is out. Also while your under the truck, jack only the front end up and make sure there isn't any fluid dripping out of the bell housing.

[3-WheelHogger]

i called ma mechanic buddy today and he told me everything i needed to know on bleeding the clutch ... he also said that replacing the fluid first is a better route to take as apposed to just replacing parts ... it cost 5.00 for a big bottle of DOT 3 so if it works thats sweet, but if it still doesnt act right then it was still only 5 bucks ... now i jus have to find the time to do it ... between work and school my schedule is filled mon - fri ..... i'll just have to get up at like 8 o' clock in the morn ... which sucks since i dont get home from school until close to 1:00am .....

[ceaserthethird]

Well getter done Bud , report back

[3-WheelHogger]

i changed out tha fluid on fri. and havent had any problems with it since .... i havent put a real load on the truck though ... ive been stayin right at or under 70mph back and forth to school .... as long as everything continues to go well i'll be happy ...