[Mark Laird]

Clutch problems, sorry

Hi,

I just bought a 1985 Saab 900I for NZ$500. It is all in great condition apart from the clutch (and it needs some new paint).

There isnt much of the clutch left but that doesnt matter that much. When you start the car from cold you can drive it and change gears all right. But after a while the clutch looses its spring and wont disengage.

I bled the clutch and it took about 200 pumps for fluid to start coming out, the rest was air bubbling out. Then the clutch had awesome spring and worked a dream. Then I took it for a drive and after about 5mins I lost the clutch completely.

The strange thing was, that after I turned it off and 5 mins later the spring was back after a couple of pumps and worked fine. But then you drive it again and loose the clutch.

Does anyone know if this is a simple thing to fix? Could it be loosing pressure in the master cylinder letting air into the lines? Because it had a lot of air when I bled it.

I have checked the level of the clutch/brake resivour and it is staying at the same level so it isnt leaking.

But why does it get beter after I start it. After a while the clutch then goes to nothing and stays there?

Any ideas and coments are greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Jezzadee]

I've not done a clutch myself but it does sound like there's a leak somewhere or that there's still air in the system. But you probably knew that already . There's a lot of stuff on master or slave cylinder failure in the archives if you do a search of the C900 Workshop, and there is a clutch write-up by Matthew that covers pretty much everything involved.

The ultimate clutch thread

Welcome to Saab Central

 

[Groove]

If there's air getting in you'd expect there to be fluid getting out somewhere. If you really can't spot any leaks then it may just be the master cylinder on its way out. I had almost exactly the same behaviour except it wasn't as quick to recover (perhaps a slower leak). I'd leave the car overnight and the next morning the clutch was awesome. After driving for perhaps 15 minutes it would start to need the pedal to the floor to change gears and eventually would not be able to change at all.

Anyway I ended up doing a master cylinder rebuild kit on it, which seemed to improve the action but eventually it went bad again within a week. It ended up being the master cylinder itself - replaced that and it has been great for months. But, your problem could differ. Check the history of the forum for similar problems and see which fits your scenario the best.