We have a T5 ****** behind a 302 Ford in a coupe that has a hydraulic clutch....has a new master cylinder and new slave cylinder.....the pedal has about 3/4" free play and the clutch operates well when cold but as the clutch gets warmed up the ****** gets really hard to shift into gear and creep at a signal when the clutch pedal is completely depressed begins, indicating the clutch is trying to engage...why does the clutch start to get "sticky" once everything starts to warm up?
I'm no expert on this (i'm sure there are some here) but the t.o.b. is engaging, causing the clutch to grab. I have a t5 in a 55 with 350 and an S10 hydraulic clutch. Mine did something similar, it had to do with the adjustment of the rod from the slave to the arm--and the taking out freeplay on the pedal. I don't know why the cold vs. hot other than expansion. As just a suggestion, you might try taking out all freeplay of the entire ***embly, make the adjustment to the arm as tight as possible and give it a try. Mine is a push to release setup, yours might be the reverse. I still have hell getting it to shift into first easy-no such thing-but everything else is smooth and it does its job.
Slave cylinder or hydraulic throw out bearing? Not that it makes any difference. Ford really liked the hydraulic throw out bearing in the T5 era. They can get sticky. If it is having a problem hot I would think that maybe the pressure plate is suspect. A warped pressure plate if it were not warped enough to cause a problem cold would be more of a problem hot. it was a common problem with the T5 crowd when I was in Mexico.
Could be the disc lining coming apart as well as the pressure plate ? He mentioned slave cylinder,,,,so I don’t think it is a hydraulic TO bearing ? I’m with hepme,,,,I would close up the free play in the pedal ,,,,,and then go from there . At least it will answer a little of the puzzle . Tommy
Not enough travel on the slave is my guess. This can be from not enough travel on the master or slave. I ended up using the Speedway Motors slave on mine and had to remove the return spring from the cylinder to get enough travel. If your master doesn't have enough travel to fill the slave completely, you could have trouble there also. Might be an air bubble somewhere.
I run a Speedway 7/8" slave on my car with a Wilwood 3/4" master. Travel on the slave is listed at 1.25". I was able to get about 7/8" to an inch at the fork. Go over everything and remove all slop from the pedal arm to the fork. I got great free play after sorting it out. I have adjustment at the pedal arm and at the fork.
If you are using the foxbody clutch set up the throw out bearing is designed to be no play at the top of the clutch travel. Since you are hydraulic instead of cable that may not be your case.
The free play at the pedal just proves the pedal is not riding on the master. That's good, but you need to check the throwout bearing clearance. Sounds as if there's not enough and a little expansion is taking away what little there is. The fingers move away from the flywheel as the plate wears so the system has to allow for this whilst not allowing the bearing to ride on the fingers. Chris
Could the clutch be warming up just enough to expand slightly and not release fully? There isn't a lot of clearance when a pressure plate releases the disc. Maybe need a larger MC to push the clutch slightly further???
I'm thinking of a possible pilot bushing issue or a bellhousing misalignment? Some pilot bushing problems get worse as they warm up.
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