Ford Fiesta - master cylinder and clutch

keithdc

Hi,

After some advice re: 2008 Ford Fiesta-78000 miles.

Sequence of events:

Sept 2014- driving and clutch suddenly goes- piece of black plastic 'pinged' from somewhere near clutch pedal.
Taken to ford garage and diagnosed as master cylinder issue which was replaced. No mention of any other clutch issues.
Service at same time (think it was a major service).

Sept 2015- car serviced last week. Probably done about 2-3000 miles over last year.

Post-service: Felt more difficult to get in to gear. Suddenly.. Seemed to 'ping' again, but clutch still seemed to work. Following this, over next 3-4 journeys, clutch would randomly lose resistance about once per journey and not come back up after clutch change for about 5 seconds.

Returned to garage- have been told that new clutch problems are nothing to do with service (?just coincidence).
Told need new clutch and master cylinder.

Master cylinder should be covered by warranty by part replaced last year. Is clutch failure caused by master cylinder failure?

Any views on events hugely appreciated.

rich13348

Changing the master cylinder and therefore the hydraulic fluid probably helped a bit so it continued to work for a while but you pay have worn seals letting in dirt or water causing it to fail again. It's unlikely a major service would affect the clutch as they don't tend to mess with that. It's possible that they changed the brake fluid which may or may not be shared with the clutch but it's a long shot.
When the say you need a new clutch did they say what would be done. I would expect them to change the slave cylinder and if the gearbox is off change the clutch plate as it's out so may as well.