[nbell]

In the last few days the clutch on my car has felt a little strange. A few times difficult to engage a gear, and a few times the clutch has engaged/disengaged with almost foot on the floor - normally its much higher.
Is it warning me its likely to expire? I will check fluid level today but last week it was normal so I don't expect it to have dropped.

 

[Bawheid]

Could be a sign of impending slave or master cylinder seal failure, i ran for about 2 months after rebleeding but eventually the slave let go and left me stranded.

An easy check to see if the master cylinder is ok is to clamp a pair of vice grips on the material/rubber section of the clutch line down close to the clutch, then press your foot on the clutch pedal if its solid and doesnt move in gradually the masters probably fine and itll be your slave thats letting fluid past the seals. Seems to be something in the air at the moment quite a few people doing slave cylinder replacements.

 

[nbell]

OK, cheers. IIRC the clutch was changed by the last owner at 130,000 or so, the car has 165,000 now and I don't abuse it so was thinking it should be ok for a while yet. I'll do the checks like you suggest.

 

[Bawheid]

The clutch itself is probably ok, id reckon its the slave. I replaced mine earlier in the year and it went again a couple of weeks ago, bit of a pain in the neck but luckily not a major job to replace. More of an inconvenience.

 

[nbell]

Bawheid, if the slave /master is failing would this show itself in any other way? For example, fluid loss, drips from the car etc?

BTW Liar is a wicked Rollins track, I used to have it on my running playlist

 

[Bawheid]

Been to see him live a few times with his band and doing the spoken word shows. Sometimes you need to cut through the cr*p thats out there today and Rollins does it pretty well.

If the slave has gone you might notice a small puddle of fluid from the front of the gearbox, although it tends to pool and mix with the grime down there so might not be obvious. The first time mine went there was a noticable drop in fluid level ( warning light came on ) but no signs of leaking. Then the second time i had a puddle under the car in a petrol station forecourt and no pressure. If the masters leaking have a look in the passenger footwell and see if its damp although you would probably notice a smell ).

 

[Calbob]

I want to see the how to on replacing that. *searches*

 

[Bawheid]

Have a look in the stickies at the top of the workshop, plenty of really good clutch /slave walkthroughs there.

 

[nbell]

The car just about made it to the garage on the appointed day. The clutch was half worn so the mech recommended replacement. He swapped out the slave cylinder which was all leaky & worn, but the car still was not right so he changed the master too.

£325 for parts + the labour + vat came to £568 all in which is rather annoying as I will probably have to sell the car in a couple of months - am off to NZ. Great timing for it to fail - not.

Just worked out if I had got the parts he fitted from moosefartz I would have saved £120 :evil:. I will raise this with him next time. Shame I did not know what was to be replaced and then I could have taken them in.