• 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

need clutch help

danielnorton

Senior Member
Offline
I spent the better part of the morning replacing the clutch slave cylinder, got everything going and bled, started the car, can't shift still .. can shift into 2nd, shift into first grinds, 3rd and 4th can't get even get into.

PO says he repleced clutch maybe 900 miles ago.

from under the car I can push the rod from the clutch to the slave in and out by hand, when the pedal is pressed, it only moves a little in either direction (can move it a lot more by hand)

Sooo

Does it sound like my clutch has blown?

if so, is the only way to get to it to pull out the engine? (as I've read in the manual)
 
First the easy one, the only way to get the tranny out is to pull the engine.

Second your clutch is not blown.

Third, it most likely needs to be bleed alot more. Try pumping her up about fifty times (not kidding)between openings to get the rest of the air out. Or open valve, depress pedal and hold, close valve and release pedal.

Forth, make sure your slave cylinder rod that connect to the throw out bearing hasn't been modified.

Lastly, I hope that you are putting the tranny into second gear before attempting to place it in first.

Patrick
 
You just have normal bleeding problems. Carry on, nothing to see here.

Sorry, it's a real pain and frustratiing to say the least.
 
Thanks Patrick/Jack

Quick update. Been bleeding for a while and I can still see big pockets of air coming out of the hose, so that's certainly part of it, though I'm wondering if there is something more going on.

I've got the car on stands and when I start it and put it in 2nd, with the clutch in, the wheels spin (like the clutch is out)
In neautral the wheels do not spin
...

I had my dad (who is helping me) go under and push the clutch push rod all the way back and the wheels are still spinning, basically the clutch just won't disengage.

could this still be a symptom of air needing to be bled.
 
Yep, that's it. The clutch can not disengage. Keep it up, you will win.

This prob is why so many folks use pressure bleaders etc.
 
Daniel, how long has the car been sitting? It's possible the clutch disc is rusted to the flywheel/pressure plate if it's been sitting for any significant amount of time.
Jeff
 
Jeff. He is still getting air and I don't know his dad but expect he is not strong enough to depress the clutch without the foot pressure, ie useing just what is under the car.
 
the car was a daily driver for the PO.

bought it last month, used it a couple of times and the slave cylinder blew on me. had it sitting for about a week in the garage till I got to work on it today.

THe PO said he changed the clutch and last year and has put only about 900 miles on it.

Are you saying a person should not be able to push the rod back all the way? We can push the rod back far enough that the rod from the slave cylinder is amlost out of it (the slave cylinder)
 
one more question, does anyone know the proper length of the slave cylinder push rod? I'd like to mearsue it so I know that's not the issue.
 
Daniel, for the 1275 it should measure 3" from the center of the hole to the end of the pushrod. The 948 and 1098 cars are only 2 1/2" long.
Jeff
 
Sure glad someone knew that, I only knew it was longer.
 
Guess it is a bit short, your local welder can make it a bit longer.
 
Daniel, I thought I had a new one here I could just run out and measure, but no luck. And, I can't find my drawings for the ones I made, either. I'll run up to the storage unit tomorrow and see if I have one there I can measure. Overall length means nothing, as it's the distance from the pivot point to the end of the pushrod that matters.
Jeff
 
If it turns out that the rod is short then an easy way to lenghten it is to thread it (5/16-18??) and screw on a jam nut and a coupling nut(about 1" long nut avail at the hardware store) and adjust it until it has 1/16 to 1/8" freeplay when the slave is pushed fully "in".
Bill
 
1275 slave rod is 2-11/16" from the center of the hole to the end.
I bet you still have an air issue. The master cylinder is on a weird angle, 2 pumps and because of the angle, it sucks air.
It's always nice to have a 3rd person adding juice to the master while one pumps and one bleeds.
 
I have seen them in various lengths, as stated above, the critical thing is to have that free play of 1/8"-1/16". If it is too long it fits too tight and you will have constant pressure on it.
 
Thanks Jeff, That will be great.

So I went and got myself a vacuum bleeder, I feel like the lines are totally bled now, I've got no air bubbles coming out.

Still the same problem though, can only shift into 2nd, and the tires start spinning, whether the clutch is in or out.

so the rod seems to move a lot more now, but with the clutch pressed in, the arm coming from the clutch still can move back (towards the back of the car) another inch or so. With the car running, I went under and with the clutch pushed in I pushed the rod all the way back towards the clutch and heard the gear grind.

that's in 2nd with the clutch pushed all the way in.
 
Just checked Moss Motors and the push rod they sell for the 1275 clutch is 2 11/16 .. measured mine again, it's the same, so I'm thinking, it's not that.
 
Spritenut - (must have checked moss at the same time /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif )the master is full and doesn't seem to be going down much now.

Mike, when you say free play, are you talking about when the rod is all the way in the slave cylinder or all the way out (pushing the clutch rod in)?
 
Back
Top