clutch pedal all gone floppy all of a sudden???
clutch pedal all gone floppy all of a sudden???
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Discussion

harty

Original Poster:

42 posts

251 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
Hi there, just did a 150 mile journey and clutch working perfectly. parked for an hour and drove off, stopped at junction and engine stalled, plus pedal went a bit floppy. restarted and stopped at next jct, no clutch at all and pedal now completely floppy?? Any ideas anyone, am meant to be going to Germany on Tuesday!!

Cheers

Harty (currently marooned near Bicester, Oxon!)

GreenV8S

31,017 posts

313 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
Hydraulic leak? Check the clutch fluid level, if it's a slow leak you may find you are OK for a while if you top it up. Personally I'd avoid long trips until it was fixed, but if you do need to move it, it is possible to drive without the clutch using clutchless gearchanges.

alinton

965 posts

265 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
difficult to get going from a standstill though, without a clutch!

From bitter experience, if your pedal is going straight to the floor with little or no resistance it's probably the clutch slave cylinder - failure of seals.

You may or may not see clutch fluid dripping out the bottom of the bellhousing onto the floor of your drive or garage.

Not a difficult job to do, made much easier it the car's on a lift. Last time my mechanic did it in an hour and charged me 60 quid. Plus cost of seals of course.

Could also be master cylinder seal failure - telltale here is if you have a pool of clutch fluid in the driver's footwell.

Neither job should tax any competant mechanic too much.

Good luck!

(two weeks after mine went, the clutch itself went - that was hassle and expensive. Still, the car had done 36k on the original clutch!)

Andy.

Extra 300 Driver

5,282 posts

275 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
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One hours to do the slave seals!

NO WAY!

Sounds like slave seals to me. Have you taken a look at the resevoir? The chances are it will be empty and full of black bits.

To be honest if it is the slave seals then you are looking at £500 including labor but while you are there you should do a clutch change too.

It took me 6 hours to do mine on the ramp.

GreenV8S

31,017 posts

313 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
alinton said:
difficult to get going from a standstill though, without a clutch!



Yes it's a pain, but doable. Get then engine nice and warm, then switch off, select first gear and engage the starter. Once you've got going, clutchless changes up and down the box take a bit of a knack but nothing special about them if you have any mechanical sympathy. You need to do everything possible to avoid dropping below your minimum tickover speed in first gear so you can keep the engine going.

alinton

965 posts

265 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
Extra 300 Driver said:
One hours to do the slave seals!

NO WAY!



True! I stood and watched! Now he had done it twice before, and already had the protective plate off, but he was right in there, dropped exhausts from the front, shifted gearbox back, pulled out piston, swapped seals, all back together in an hour.

Bleeding the bleeding system took another while, as you know they can be a bit of a pig.

Extra 300 Driver

5,282 posts

275 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
alinton said:
Extra 300 Driver said:
One hours to do the slave seals!

NO WAY!



True! I stood and watched! Now he had done it twice before, and already had the protective plate off, but he was right in there, dropped exhausts from the front, shifted gearbox back, pulled out piston, swapped seals, all back together in an hour.

Bleeding the bleeding system took another while, as you know they can be a bit of a pig.


Please post contact details!

He can do my slave seals next time, save me, and others, a few hundred quid!

alinton

965 posts

265 months

Sunday 18th December 2005
quotequote all
Well unfortunately gents this was during one of my spells working in Ireland, and he is in Waterford. Great guy, used to working with rally cars so therefore comfortable with twin plate clutches like the cerb's, and knowledgeable about high performance cars.

Andy.