• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

clutch problem

Share this page

tahoe healey

tahoe healey

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
Today my clutch went out. I'm wanting to know if I am on the right track as to the solution. Pedal goes to floor. No leak on the master cylinder (which I was about to replace along with the brake cylinder) inside car or on the fire wall. No loss in fluid in the reservoir. My guess is the rubber cups in the slave cylinder have disintegrated. Second thought would be the clutch fork and/or throw out (release) bearing.
TH
 
Almost certainly the hydraulics, so replace it all and you'll be back in business. It's usually the master cylinder, but it happened to me a few months back, I replaced it and two days later, it happened again. The slave was to blame.

Ash
 
Repair or replace the Slave first
 
Thanks. Moss kit or VB? Moss charges a small fortune for shipping small/inexpensive stuff. All I need is the rebuilding kit for a couple of dollars and 12 bucks for shipping. Would Napa carry this stuff?
 
Keoke said:
Repair or replace the Slave first
Click to expand...

I'm with Keoke on that one.

However, having said that, I knew that my master cylinder had gone - instinct I guess, and re rubbered it only to have it go again a week later - solution - buy new- no probs since.

:cheers:

Bob
 
Not the slave...unless it failed and sucked in a bodacious amount of air. If you have no leaks, full reservoir, and no pedal suddenly, master is kaput. Fluid bypassing. You could try to bleed and see if you can get a bunch of air out....but something would have caused that. Good rule of thumb, always do master and slave on the clutch at the same time. They both have the same amount of wear on them, same number of strokes, same pressure.

That said, you need someone to help you to insure the mechanical bits are intact. Observe the slave rod while your assistant depresses the clutch pedal. Does the rod move out? When clutch pedal released, can you retract the rod into the slave?
 
Watch the fluid level in the reservoir while someone pumps the pedal. If the fluid rises when the pedal is pressed the 'foot' valve on the M/C may have failed. This can be sudden and has happened to me on brake M/C.
 
tahoe healey said:
Thanks. Moss kit or VB? Moss charges a small fortune for shipping small/inexpensive stuff. All I need is the rebuilding kit for a couple of dollars and 12 bucks for shipping. Would Napa carry this stuff?
Click to expand...

Hey my friend, TH, I thought we talked about this at the Morgan Hill car show?
I recommended that you have the master and slave resleeved. Not replace them with aftermarket units or use the rebuild kits, that will most likely fail again. Ask me how I know this, for I've been there and done that.

There are places that will rebuild/resleeve them with brass. Solves the problem and superior than/to the original.

Others may chime in about the quailty and longevity of having the brass insert.

Good luck with finding the problem. And if it's a rebuild you end up doing, good luck with which ever way you decide to go. As they said in the 60's/70's, keep on truckin!

Cheers,
Roger
 

Attachments

  • 26834.jpg
    26834.jpg
    40.3 KB · Views: 249
Yes Roger, but you did not tell me who did them. And that was the brake we were talking about. I plan to have them all re-sleeved as spares. I took them both off and the clutch slave. Ton of crud. Slave had some minor rough interior. I haven't gotten into the masters yet. I am sure they are the same.
I got the clutch master from the the new supply from Moss. The Brake came from someone else and it is heavy metal. If they fail I will have the re-sleeved as replacement.
Now it comes down to bleeding.
Thanks for all the help from everyone.
 
tahoe healey said:
I plan to have them all re-sleeved as spares. I took them both off and the clutch slave.
Thanks for all the help from everyone.
Click to expand...

You're gonna resleeve them for spares? :nonono:
Use the resleeved ones and the others for spares.
 
I used Apple Hydraulics in NY. The turn around was fast and the work was very good and reasonably priced. White Post in Virginia does it too. They have a great reputation, but as I recall, they are much more expensive.
 
Thank you. It didn't occur to me that World Wide may do it as well. I'll give them a call. They have done great work for me in the past.
 
Yes Roger, but you did not tell me who did them.

Go to white post stay away from them fruity folks.---- :laugh:
 
Side note: my dad had slave cylinders for his '46 Chevy 2-ton truck re-sleeved by Apple. The re-sleeve job was fine, but one of the cylinders had a tiny hairline crack where the bleeder screw bedded against the sleeve. Couldn't get the leak to stop until we finally pulled the cylinder--no fun on a 2-ton truck--and discovered the crack. Check your cylinders for this type of crack before you send them off (use a magnifying glass). They will crack if someone really cranks down on the bleeder screw (probably not as easily where the pipe connects since the flare would provide a bit of 'cushion').

Regardless of who does the re-sleeve be sure to clean cylinders thoroughly when you get them back. There's quite a bit of machining done and even if the vendor tries to clean them some filings and grit may get missed.
 
Back
Top