'08 Zafira No brakes and dodgy clutch..

[Buff Mchugelarge]

Im baffled..

08 Zafira 1.9 cdti belonging to my next door neighbor.
He had the clutch replaced due to slave cylinder going, upon getting the car back he found the clutch needed pumping before he could select gears. mechanic said it just needs bleeding.
Roll forward a week and it fails MOT on rear brakes and handbrake. I fitted new rear discs and pads no problems, unseized o/s caliper and both cylinders wound back in no probs with nipples opened.
All good except I cannot get the thing to bleed?

The pedal goes hard but when the car is started it goes soft and to the floor, it can be pumped up but soon goes soft again. I pressure bled the brakes with a Gunson eezibleed 5 times, with nearly 4 liters of fluid!.
Meanwhile..
When the car is running i can hear the clutch slave rattling, when i pump the brakes it goes quiet until the brake pedal goes soft when it begins to rattle again?!
I bled the clutch system, and still have no brakes, and iffy clutch..

Am i right i thinking it has to be the brake master or a leak in the slave cylinder? (the brake pedal stays hard with the engine off no matter how much pressure is put on the pedal) Am i going to find a gearbox full of hydraulic fluid?

TL;DR cant get a hard brake pedal at all?!

[stevieturbo]

Try Viagra in the reservoir ?


Really...there is no reason why pressing the brake pedal...should affect the clutch.

But buying an unknown vehicle with faults....then feck knows what dubious work has been done etc etc it could be a minefield, even though it should be incredibly simple.

[Twig62]

stevieturbo said:

Try Viagra in the reservoir ?


Really...there is no reason why pressing the brake pedal...should affect the clutch.

But buying an unknown vehicle with faults....then feck knows what dubious work has been done etc etc it could be a minefield, even though it should be incredibly simple.

Where has the OP said anything about buying it ? It's his neighbours car !

[stevieturbo]

Twig62 said:

Where has the OP said anything about buying it ? It's his neighbours car !

Move house then ! lol

[Chromed]

Do the brakes and clutch share the same fluid and reservoir?

[stevieturbo]

Chromed said:

Do the brakes and clutch share the same fluid and reservoir?

On some other Vauxhalls they do. But this should not cause pressing the brake pedal to affect the clutch

[227bhp]

If someone else didn't do it correctly in the first place (as per your post) it should have gone back to them to remedy and you shouldn't have got involved.

[stevieturbo]

227bhp said:

If someone else didn't do it correctly in the first place (as per your post) it should have gone back to them to remedy and you shouldn't have got involved.

Problem is most would be reluctant to let the incompetent fool who did it wrong the first time....cause more harm. Now it may not be the case...but it usually is.

Catch 22 really. But yes they should be sorting it as the job does not appear to have been done correctly, unless there were other underlying issues that have not been mentioned.

Far too often owners drip feed information or problems...much as we see with almost every post online.

Facts are important, history is important, symptoms are important.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

It originally went in for a noisy release bearing.
I mentioned to my neighbour that it doesn't look like the gearbox has been off. He said the mechanic managed to do it without taking the box off.. I should have walked away at that point.

[stevieturbo]

Buff Mchugelarge said:

It originally went in for a noisy release bearing.
I mentioned to my neighbour that it doesn't look like the gearbox has been off. He said the mechanic managed to do it without taking the box off.. I should have walked away at that point.

Must be a miracle worker lol. Definitely avoid those types.

[imagineifyeswill]

please ask the first mechanic to explain how he managed to replace a concentric slave cylinder on a zafira without removing the gearbox.