8 replies to this topic

[chabmk]

It seems that it is my turn for problems. Clutch has hit the floor and only returns when I stick my foot under the pedal and bring it up.

i looked and saw that the clutch cylinder seal is hanging out of the slave cylinder?

Does that mean a new clutch cylinder? I am assuming this means also bleeding the clutch, how is this done? and, is it difficult?

Cheers all

Edited by chabmk, 06 September 2012 - 05:33 PM.

[tiger99]

Yes, you need a new cylinder, or at the very minimum at least a seal kit. Bleeding is usually not difficult in the case of the clutch, unlike the brakes sometimes.

As you will need it eventually for bleeding brakes, I suggest that you obtain a Gunsons Easibleed, which comes with instructions. It uses air pressure from the spare tyre (MUST not exceed the rated pressure, which if I recall correctly, is 20 psi!) to force fluid in a reservoir into the master cylinder reservoir and through the system, taking the air with it.

You just put a clear plastic tube on the slave cylinder bleed nipple, end in a suitable container, and loosen the nipple, and wait until nice clean new fluid is coming out, with no air. Tighten the nipple, job done.

But if the pedal is not returning just because the slave cylinder seal is jamming its piston, I suspect that your pedal return spring is weak. It is on the pedal, obviously, and is a helical torsion spring. It usually does not give trouble, but it is, in theory, powerful enough to pull the pedal back, leaving a partial vacuum in the system, if the slave cylinder is jammed. It could be that the master cylinder is a bit stiff, for some reason.

If I am doing hydraulic repairs, I normally change the master and slave cylinders or their seals, flexible hose, and if necessary the rigid pipe, as it quite often happens that the failure is due to oil contamination, in which case all the rubber parts will fail shortly. And, they have all suffered a long period of wear and tear. I don't happen to like bleeding ssyetms twice, when once would have done it. But it all depends how tight money is at the time, of course.

Edited by tiger99, 06 September 2012 - 06:33 PM.

[chabmk]

Wow thanks for that! Very helpful and useful! Much appreciated

[Ethel]

Faulty hydraulics shouldn't hold the pedal down as it isn't actually connected to the piston. I suppose it could be a combination of sticky pedal and stuffed hydraulics if they were providing the extra push needed to return the pedal.

^what he said really^ - I should read more before hitting the keyboard

I will offer using a syringe to draw fluid out of bleed nipple - less messy, less pressure (dissolved air) & you can see, 'n top up, the fluid reservoir at anytime.

[tiger99]

The syringe sounds like a very neat idea, and it should work well for the clutch. Possibly not for the brakes, which in some cases are hard to bleed, as regular readers of this forum will know. But maybe a very large syringe, so you can get a good rush of fluid when you pull it, might work for the brakes too. Maybe someone with brakes that need bleeding will try it and report back, one day?

[Ethel]

I have & it works, the only shortcoming I can see is the bleed nipple leaking in air easier than pulling fluid through in some situations, but that's only an inconvenience.

[chabmk]

Faulty hydraulics shouldn't hold the pedal down as it isn't actually connected to the piston. I suppose it could be a combination of sticky pedal and stuffed hydraulics if they were providing the extra push needed to return the pedal.

^what he said really^ - I should read more before hitting the keyboard :whistling:

I will offer using a syringe to draw fluid out of bleed nipple - less messy, less pressure (dissolved air) & you can see, 'n top up, the fluid reservoir at anytime.

The pedal is like its sticking, it's weird....

[Yoda]

I have & it works, the only shortcoming I can see is the bleed nipple leaking in air easier than pulling fluid through in some situations, but that's only an inconvenience.

I too have used the vac method with a syringe and it does a good job of pulling trapped air when normal bleeding fails. The air drawn in at the nipple wont affect the system anyway as it is past the sealing point once the nipple is tightened as far as i can see!

I think the easiest method for the clutch though, is as Tiger said. a small peice of hose and use the gravity method as its such a short run with no air trapping points.

The sticky pedal is probably as hinted most likely to be corrosion on the pedal hinge pin rather than the spring, unless the spring has actually broken or unhooked.

I had an actuating arm go tight when driving once and the pedal hit the floor and returned ok, but then no drive as the arm was seized solid and holding the clutch open. but i dont see this as your problem as you say the seal has popped.

so back tho the question, it sounds like you just need a slave, some brake fluid and a small peice of pipe to bleed using the gravity method described by Tiger.

[chabmk]

I have a clutch cyllinder on the way from a good chap on the forum, will take the advice of the easy bleed, I need laments terms these day lol

Will let you all know how I get on as it's the first time for me!