Hydralic clutch fade?!
 

I posted this first on the Superduty 7.3 powerstroke forum but then noticed this headding & I thought I might get a quicker answer here... . I started having clutch troubles on my '02 F350 today, the Clutch seems to "fade" as it is held down at a traffic light or other traffic congestion. The hydralic reservoir level is up at proper level, can't figure it out. Any Ideas or suggestions as to what could be causing this "clutch fade"? If I pull up to an intersection in gear & just put the clutch in it fades within about 20 seconds an will begin to roll unless I step on the brakes. Within 45 seconds I have to shut off the 7.3 powerstroke engine because I can't hold it back on the brakes & it is dragging so hard that I can't just put the 6 speed into neutral, in addition the pedal doesn't return to top position in this scenario. Untill I get it fixed the only way I can drive it is to place the tranny in neutral at every stop. I appreciate any help the Ford Geru's on this site can give me.
--Ken

In the scenario I described above, when the clutch pedal stayed down I pulled it back up with my toe, as I started to do so it kinda snapped back to it's normal position. When I used the clutch again it worked ok as long as I was short on the time the pedal was depressed. I have not had any trouble with grinding gears or anything like that. Since the reservoir level isn't dropping I had ruled out a leak I thought, but is it possible for pressure to leak past on the master cyl with out actually loosing fluid?
--Ken

Since you are not loosing fluid, the master cylinder becomes the prime suspect.

If it can't maintain pressure, it is probably allowing fluid to leak back into the reservoir.

Or, look for a bulgy line.

Also, check the master and the slave (unless interanally mounted, which it probably is) for flex.

Look
 

At the bushings in the shaft under the dash. Also check that the pedal shaft hasn't "turned" on the splines.
Ford has a bushing kit that isn't very costy.

If the bushings get worn or the splines have turned you won't be able to have a full clutch and the clutch will engage at or near the floor. :-X22