I've a question for other Ford owners living where minus 20F is not uncommon. I have a 2001 F150 4x4, 4.6 manual that I bought new 28 months ago and have put 54K on. The last two winters in Alaska have been pretty darned mild - hardly any days where it got much colder than minus 20F and only a couple that got down to minus 30F. So, finally we got a more typical winter.

I needed my block heater replaced so dropped the pickup off with the dealer. I thought it was covered under my extended warranty (my mistake), but it wasn't. Oh well, $145 (for something I could have done for about $30 in two hours) later I stopped by to get my pickup.

It was about minus 25F, which isn't really very cold for a winter temp where I live. I pushed in the clutch to start the pickup and let it idle in neutral for a couple of minutes while I scraped the windows. The truck dropped into reverse just fine the second time I pressed the clutch and I backed out of the parking space. But when I pressed the clutch to shift from reverse to 1st I just kept backing up. I couldn't stop it with the brake so I shut it off before I wiped out a bunch of new cars. I put it in neutral and restarted it and found out I had no clutch - pedal goes to the floor without resistance. I put it in gear and started it and walked it into the parking space and went inside to grab a service manager.

He didn't seem to surprised by my problem. He told me that when it gets cold outside, I need to press the clutch very carefully and slowly because the seals in the master and slave are two cold and they can leak. He checked the fluid level (down a bit but not bad) and checked for obvious puddles of brake fluid. Then he started the pickup and very slowly depressed the pedal and got some clutch effect. I tried it, and it felt like a lot less pedal than I should have. He said it would be OK after the truck warmed up, so I believed him (it was quitting time and cold so everyone wants to head home).

By now the pickup had been idling and supposedly warming up for at least 10 minutes. So I tried to baby the clutch and drive home. When I got to the third intersection I had not clutch and babying the pedal didnt help. So I started the pickup in gear and practiced my synchro shifting all the way home and got the pickup in the garage.

I tried to bleed the system the next day, but had air in the master so I had to pull it and bench bleed it and reinstall it. With my wife's help we finally got the air purged and I've got a better feeling clutch pedal than I've had since I bought the truck. Don't know how long thats going to last tho.

Have any of you guys had cold weather problems with your clutch hydraulics? Are there any aftermarked products (I doubt it) that are better designed for cold temps? If I have to tear this thing apart to replace the slave cylinder, I'd like to install something that is more likely to perform at cold temps.

Should I start shopping for a Toyota? They don't seem to have any clutch problems. The last cold weather clutch problem I was aware of on any vehicles was with the 1980's Rangers and Bronco II's where you could break the POS plastic master cylinder right off the fire wall if you pressed the clutch and it was too cold outside.

 

If the hyduaulic bleeding helped, that may be something to do once a year. Most people don't do this, the fluid breaks down and can cause problems. Replacing it with new fluid usually takes care of the problem. I've flushed mine several times a year just to see what would happen. Each time the clutch pedal moves very smooth like for quite a while. Haven't done it for a while, now its getting a little harder in the morning until it warms up from the engine heat. By the way, I do not consider my 87 Ranger a POS. It has had a great life of work and towing vehicles.
I've seen where some have had problems with the Ranger/Bronco II clutch, Mine's been great.
Mike