Intermittent clutch problem

Intermittent clutch problem

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sunbeam alpine

Original Poster:

6,945 posts

188 months

Saturday 22nd November 2014
quotequote all
Yesterday I got stuck in traffic, and suddenly had no clutch frown

The pedal went to the floor with nearly no resistance, and I couldn't select any gear. The pedal came back up and after a few pumps of the clutch, everything was back to normal.

What is weird is that there is no fluid loss (reservoir is still on max), and the slave cylinder is dry (not leaking). I guess it's the seal on the master cylinder failing, but I would have thought this would still allow fluid to leak, and therefore the level to drop.

It happened also once this summer - in July SWMBO rang me to say she couldn't get a gear. By the time I got there everything was fine so I didn't think anything of it.

In July the fluid was the normal colour, now it's a nasty brown colour.

I don't know whether to just replace the fluid and bleed the system, and wait to see what happens, or bite the bullet and replace the master cylinder. I replaced both master and slave about 5 years ago.

I've taken it for a drive again today and it's fine.

Anyone got any suggestions?

sunbeam alpine

Original Poster:

6,945 posts

188 months

Saturday 22nd November 2014
quotequote all
Thanks for the replies -

I also suspect the master cylinder

The car is a S4 Alfa Spider

Slave cylinder seems fine - dry and not leaking

smile