Please help me diagnose this clutch problem!
Please help me diagnose this clutch problem!
Author
Discussion

FreeLitres

Original Poster:

6,128 posts

206 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
Please help me diagnose this clutch problem.

The car in question it a Manual 3.0 Jag X-Type on 110k miles. I have just had the clutch fluid drained and replaced. The clutch never slips through all the scenarios below, but I am worried it will get worst and possibly fail.

Scenario 1:
Normal careful driving (below, say, 4k revs) =
Normal clutch feeling

Scenario 2:
Floor the accelerator in 2nd or 3rd gear to about 5 or 6 k revs =
1) Next clutch depression will be really light (free movement)
2) Step on the clutch again and it feels stiff and only returns about half way
3) 2 or 3 depressions later (slow driving) and the clutch goes back to normal

Scenario 3:
In gear or neutral, holding the clutch down, blip the revs to 5 or 6 k revs=
1) Next clutch depression will be really light (free movement)
2) Step on the clutch again and it feels stiff and only returns about half way
3) Clutch never returns higher than ‘half way down’ and is stiff for future gear changes
4) Lift your toe under the pedal from the half way position, it springs back up and is normal again (?)

Scenario 4:
In neutral, foot off clutch and blip to 5 – 6 k revs =
Normal clutch operation

Any ideas what is going on here? The garage said it is an engine-out job if they want to look at the clutch (£800+vat labour alone at a Jag specialist!)

Anything else I can try to rule problems out?

deadmau5

3,197 posts

209 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
Could be the slave cylinder?

FreeLitres

Original Poster:

6,128 posts

206 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
doogz said:
You've checked to make sure the fluid isn't leaking out? From the symptoms you've described, if it is leaking anywhere, i'd imagine it to be at the reservoir end of things, not the clutch end.

Either that, or a problem with the release bearing sticking. Unfortunately, that usualy involves taking the gearbox off to investigate.
I have been keeping an eye on the fluid reservoir, but this looks ok and suggests I haven’t lost fluid.

Regarding bearings and cylinders - would these problems not also show under normal driving (every gear change) rather than being engine speed related?

HellDiver

5,708 posts

211 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
Exactly the problems my Mondeo had (and your car being a Mondeo in drag), it's the slave cylinder. Cost £360 to replace slave, and clutch - the slave had dropped it grease on to the clutch plate, so it needed replacing too.

£800 is too much - it is an engine out job, but any Ford specialist indepenant will be able to do it.

FreeLitres

Original Poster:

6,128 posts

206 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
HellDiver said:
Exactly the problems my Mondeo had (and your car being a Mondeo in drag), it's the slave cylinder. Cost £360 to replace slave, and clutch - the slave had dropped it grease on to the clutch plate, so it needed replacing too.

£800 is too much - it is an engine out job, but any Ford specialist indepenant will be able to do it.
Where did you get the job done for that price? A regular back-street garage? Ford specialist?

Did you car behave in exactly the same way? i.e. normal clutch operation if you kept the revs below 4k?

I am no mechanic but I struggle to see how a hydraulic piston can be ok most of the time but start snagging at high engine speeds.