Clutch Hydraulic dramas...

[akelly]

Hey All,

Was driving home last weekend and the clutch started behaving strangely - pedal would not go all the way down (maybe 2/3 normal pedal travel), but the clutch was still working OK. I pulled up at some lights and suddenly the clutch did go all the way down - to the floor... no pressure at all. Clutch was stuck in the engaged position.

So after all the usual helpful Sydney drivers rendered assistance (I pushed the beast off the road and around a corner myself) I took a look underneath. The slave cylinder piston had come out of the sleeve and jammed sideways against the end of the sleeve, effectively locking the clutch in the fully engaged position. I had to screw the adjustment all the way in to get enough slack to get the rod out of the end of the piston so I could disengage the clutch. I then had a very enjoyable trip home during Sunday afternoon peak hour along military road with no clutch...

Anyway - what the hell could have caused this? How would the clutch master cylinder suddenly generate enough pressure to drive the slave cylinder piston out the end of the sleeve?

I have a new slave cylinder here, so that will go on, but how do I prevent this from happening again?

Oh yeah, SIIA shorty with holden conversion... in case that was your next question :D

cheers,

Adam

[bee utey]

Broken clutch fork or release bearing is allowing the slave cylinder to over-travel. Engine out job probably.

[akelly]

Arrrrrrrrrrrgh..........

[bee utey]

There should be a circlip in the end of the slave cylinder, the last push will have blown it right out. It may be hanging on the rod. Sadly I don't know what your bell housing looks like but perhaps you can see inside in some way before dismantling it. When you reassemble the slave cylinder you will probably find you need to adjust the rod a lot to make the clutch work in the normal range until it gives out again.

[Dinty]

G'day All, You wont have a broken clutch fork as S2A (if your G/box is original) doesnt have that type of mechanism, the Series 3 has a clutch fork, my guess is that you have not had the clutch adjusted.
Also as you said you have a holden engine fitted, holdens usually run a diaphgram clutch, if this is the case then you would need to have either a spacer on your clutch operating mechanism, or the diaphgram clutch had on it.
You could pull the floor panels, lifting out the trans/tunnel, G/box in nuetral, unbolt the gearstick and look inside the inspection hole (in bellhousing) with a torch, you will see what type of clutch you have fitted, either diaphgram or Rover type (springs), you should also be able to see your clutch withdrawal sleeve, do you have a wksp manual??? looking at the pix of what is supposedly there and in reality what you have installed, hope thats of some help, cheers Dennis:angel:
ps hopefully you wont have to pull engine or G/box out if you can work out the problem,,.

[akelly]

Yeah - I was just looking at the manual, and saw that there is no clutch fork. The circlip has blown off the end of the slave but there is no sign of it.

I'm wondering if it could be one of the pivots in the linkages that has allowed the slave to over-extend. The weird bit is that the clutch itself seems to be working fine - when the slave was jammed out the clutch was fully engaged and once I released it the clutch is fully disengaged.

I wont have time to muck around with it until next weekend, so I'll report back then.

Cheers,

Adam

[JDNSW]

Most likely problem is that you have sheared one of the two pins linking the clutch withdrawal extension tube to the withdrawal shaft and to the bell crank that the slave cylinder turns.

This can be replaced with nothing removed except the floor and the transmission tunnel, although it is fiddly, and small hands help. The pins are hardened, but can be replaced at least temporarily by a HT bolt.

The weird symptoms are probably due to it not being a clean break, and partly letting go then catching, probably because only one end broke.

John

[Dinty]

G'day All, JD I clean forgot about them LOL, thats the problem I have when I can't see the job LOL anyway hope he has enough information now cheers Dennis:angel:

[akelly]

Gents, as always, your advice is excellent and your time is appreciated. I will check it out through the week if I get time.

Cheers,

Adam