Escort clutch problem?

[Flyingwhitey]

Alright a 1991 Wagon, Manual tranny of course. When I switch into gears 3-5 after switching and applying gas the engine rev's up but does nothing else, than when I let it idle out , I try again and most of the time it works. If you ease gas it's alright, also after to much of that acceleration problem sometimes it sticks in 5th. Possibly related?.

[mightymoose_22]

I don't quite follow your description... maybe you need to rephrase the problem.

However, my initial thought is that your clutch is toast. It seems to be slipping at high rpms. When is the last time you had the clutch replaced? How many miles?

If you don't know, then it makes me think even more that its your clutch

[Flyingwhitey]

Yeah I kinda figured that'd be a hard question to follow. Alright.. lets see if I can rephrase this. It't got.. lets call it 200k miles, meteres flipped. The clutch ISNT disengaging on gears 4, and 5. Unless you slowly accelerate, than its fine. I think I did it a bit more clear that time. I'd imagine its all stock.

[Torch]

So, it shifts fine in and out of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, but sticks and will not come out of gear in 4th and 5th?

[Flyingwhitey]

Close, it sticks in 5th only.

[danmarius7]

A friend of mine had some sort of a same problem but we didn't kept in touch so I really don't know if they are related.

[Davescort97]

With that many miles maybe you need a new one. To get some more mileage out of your present clutch adjust the pedal. From the floor it should have a height of 7 3/4 inch to 8 inches. There should be 1/4 to 1/2 inch freeplay and the disengagement height should be 1 5/8 inch from the floor. If it doesn't have a strong pedal bleeding the clutch at the slave cylinder may help.

[Flyingwhitey]

Well it gets progressivly worse, now it does it in all gears. Also the brake light is on, i'm not losing fluid. I don't know jack about clutches, but relation?

[mightymoose_22]

CHeck the master cylinder for fluid.
The brakes and clutch share the same reservoir for fluid. The brake light is likely on due to low fluid, and since the clutch uses the same system then yes, it is related.
If it has gotten very low you may need to bleed the system.

[Torch]

Check the oil level in the gear box, should up somewhere near the bottom of the filler hole.

[Flyingwhitey]

Ironically enough bleeding the clutch at the slave cylinder gave it a weaker pedal.. But! the brake light is gone and the shifting problem is gone..for now.

[mightymoose_22]

I'd bleed it again. The pedal shouldn't be weaker. Bleed it from the slave cylinder, and if your master cylinder doesn't have a bleeder valve then you can slightly crack open one of the lines on it and have someone step on the pedal to bleed from there too.

[Davescort97]

If you bleed the master brake cyliinder by cracking one of the lines make sure that brake fluid doesn't squirt onto your paint. It will dissolve paint in about 15 seconds. If you are not having any more problem with it let well enough alone. If it works............. MightyMoose has a point. The pedal force should be stronger now that you've bled the clutch. It's just that I've always said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The brake light comes on when the fluid level in the master cylinder gets down to some degree. Theres a float in there that sends a message to the light on the dash. I don't think the fluid level got down far enough to cause air in your brake lines. The only issue seems to be the clutch. Check your fluid level in the master cylinder for a few days. That way you'll know for sure the slave on the clutch isn't leakinig.