Clutch slips only when very cold outside?

[snatiep]

Hello Everyone,

A few weeks ago when it was -25F outside, after driving about 10 miles my clutch started slipping badly. I limped it home and let it sit in the driveway until the weather warmed up.

I have a 1996 Ranger, 2.3L, 2 wheel drive.

A few day later after it warmed up a bit I went out to look things over. The master cylinder reservoir had plenty of fluid in it so I thought maybe the fluid had enough moisture in it to freeze So between having someone push and hold the clutch pedal down, I bled about a half a bottle of new brake fluid through the clutch system hoping that would solve the problem.

It worked for a while, but this morning it was -15F again and it is still slipping. I don't know where to go from here.

Tomorrow it is going to warm up to +30 so i'll go check things over again.

How can I test the clutch master cylinder? If I disconnect the line from the slave cylinder and push on the clutch pedal, I should not be able to push down on the pedal should I? If I am able to, maybe the master cylinder seals are bad?

I don't know. I have a second vehicle I can drive in the meantime, so maybe I'll just have to gather the parts together and drop the transmission and replace the clutch, slave cylinder, and the master when the weather warms up?

I've never dropped a transmission before but have done the timing belt, ball joints, brakes, etc. So I think I could do it.

I thank you very much for your thoughts and comments!

Nate

[tomboy]

It might be that the slave is gunked up where it slides, and the super cold won't let it return like it should.