newbie cerb owner help needed please

[L3ONcerbv8]

Hi all, this is my first post on the forum and I’m after some help with my recently purchased tvr cerbera 4.2v8. Picked the car up on Tuesday from the garage which is 80miles away. On the drive home after about 40miles the clutch started to feel softer and I was struggling to engage gears. By the time I reached home the clutch pedal had no resistance and I couldn’t engage any gear with or without the engine running. After reading up on here I decided to try replacing the clutch master cylinder as I could see it had leaked quite badly and the reservoir was full of a black residue, I did this quite easily and bled the system with help from a friend. The clutch pedal is now very hard like it should be and I can get all gears without the engine running but as soon as I start up I can’t get any gears. I’ve bled it a few times to make sure I have no air in the system but still no joy with the engine running.
Can anybody help me? Do you think the slave cylinder could have gone as well as the master cylinder or is it coincidence that the master has gone as well as the slave? Do you think I need to pressure bleed the system?
Thanks in advance for any help. I’ve had the car since Tuesday and only managed to enjoy part of the drive home and now it’s stuck on my drive
Cheers
Leon

[pjac67]

Not directly answering your question ('cos I'm no mechanic!) but I would be inclined to ask the garage to help out - where did you buy it from?
Oh, and if < 10 yrs old get AA breakdown warranty
Good luck, Paul.

[L3ONcerbv8]

cheers paul, the garage have said they will pay me back if i get it fixed. just trying to find out if anyone knows what it might be and if its possible for me to fix without getting it towed to a garage. i know if its the slave it needs to go to a garage as its gearbox out!!
i got it from drivenimage in wetherby
cheers
leon

[JensenA]

When you replace the master cylinder, it isn't uncommon for the Slave cylinder to fail shortly afterwards, but not usually the next day! - possibly the fingers on the clutch are on the way out. Are you losing clutch fluid? If you are, then I'd think it it's probably the Slave cylinder. Check under the car round the bellhousing area and see if you can see any signs of fluid leaking.

[cerby54]

book it in for a clutch and slave and pass on the bill.

[L3ONcerbv8]

thanks for all your help everyone.
nice easy fix - brought an eazibleed kit, the pressure forced out loads of rubber residue from the master cylinder and a few air bubbles that just pumping the clutch and opening the bleed valve couldn't and now slips in every gear very smoothly, even reverse.
finally got to drive it properly today, what a car!! abit scarey when it started to rain but great fun.
thanks again for your help

[kojak]

pjac67 said:

Oh, and if < 10 yrs old get AA breakdown warranty

[FarmyardPants]

L3ONcerbv8 said:

thanks for all your help everyone.
nice easy fix - brought an eazibleed kit, the pressure forced out loads of rubber residue from the master cylinder and a few air bubbles that just pumping the clutch and opening the bleed valve couldn't and now slips in every gear very smoothly, even reverse.
finally got to drive it properly today, what a car!! abit scarey when it started to rain but great fun.
thanks again for your help

Good work, the air must've been trapped behind one of the pistons (slave or master). And here's me thinking that the old pump method is always better. Welcome to the fold and enjoy

[Extra 300 Driver]

If loads of black rubber came out then this will only be a quick fix. I sispect the slave has gone, or is going and you have just bled the air out.

If I were you, and while the garage is paying I would get the slave fixed with uprated seals asap.

[trackcar]

It's mostly a myth that the black bits are rubber .. if you leave brake fluid to stand for any length of time you will see a black powder form in the bottom of the container .. the black bits are (mostly) just degrading fluid not rubber and in the tvr the sustem gets hot so it degrades faster. No doubt there will be a percentage of rubber in there, but if the volume of black stuff in the system after only a few weeks of use in teh hot environment is anything to go by you'd all be replacing your master/slave every few weeks if it was all rubber!

[Extra 300 Driver]

trackcar said:

It's mostly a myth that the black bits are rubber .. if you leave brake fluid to stand for any length of time you will see a black powder form in the bottom of the container .. the black bits are (mostly) just degrading fluid not rubber and in the tvr the sustem gets hot so it degrades faster. No doubt there will be a percentage of rubber in there, but if the volume of black stuff in the system after only a few weeks of use in teh hot environment is anything to go by you'd all be replacing your master/slave every few weeks if it was all rubber!

I see your point but how does the air get in there over a short (ish) journey? I doubt things just fix themselves.

[trackcar]

air gets in there either past a seal which is already damaged (it does happen occasionally) or the air was already there, introduced during bleeding by using a poor technique, or was never bled out properly from a dry build. Fact is : if the system is in good condition and properly bled you will not have the problem of air limiting the system (which is distinct from not having any air in there at all, I'm sure even the best bleeding technique will possibly leave a tiny pocket of air somewhere but the point being that it is so small that it's effect on the system is insignificant - before some pedant comes on and says it's impossibly to get all the air out etc etc)

[hot metal]

L3ONcerbv8 said:

thanks for all your help everyone.
nice easy fix - brought an eazibleed kit, the pressure forced out loads of rubber residue from the master cylinder and a few air bubbles that just pumping the clutch and opening the bleed valve couldn't and now slips in every gear very smoothly, even reverse.
finally got to drive it properly today, what a car!! abit scarey when it started to rain but great fun.
thanks again for your help

Well done ,wouldnt mind taking a look some time ,i think i only live a few streets away from you.

[L3ONcerbv8]

cheers guys, i'll get the slave checked out just incase!
hot metal - email me mate and we can arrange to meet up so you can have a look if you like? [e-mail]

cheers