Thread: Defender TD5 Clutch/Gearbox difficulties

Hi all,

Got into the defender (2000 extreme model, TD5, 122000kms) last night and had extreme difficulty getting the car into gear (manual gearbox). Eventually got it to go but had a few problems getting to where I was going. Once the car hard warmed up it was a bit happier changing gear.

I then did about 2.5 hrs of offroading, fairly heavy going. Had no problem getting into low range and once it was in low range the gears changed just fine and I noticed nothing wrong with the clutch and all the gears were easy to get. I was switching between having the centre diff lock on and off (if that helps). After I had done the off-roading (which didn't result in any underbody damage) I had no problem getting back into high range and driving along as normal, but about 5 minutes after getting back onroad i noticed:

- difficulty changing gear again
- Extreme lack of clutch travel (became marginal, becoming non-existant after a minute or two)
- obviously couldn't use the clutch after this happened.

I managed to get it into 1st and go to a servo, where I filled up the clutch fluid (which must have been bone dry - hard to see the bottom of the reservoir) and after a few minutes the clutch was working again, albeit not with the same meaty feel and lots of travel that it normally would have had.

I let it sit overnight after getting home and got in it tonight to see if the problem had arisen again - I had the same difficulty getting the car into gear initially, but after idling for about 3 minutes all of a sudden the I could change gear again. The clutch still feels a bit odd but is obviously working. The clutch fluid reservoir hasn't lost anything either.

So, after that essay:

1. Is my problem the master/slave cylinder? There is a small amount of greasy looking stuff on the top of the clutch pedal mechanism; is that what a leak would look like or is it more like the clutch fluid itself?
2. Is the problem with the transmission? This seems less likely as I can't see how the transmission could cause a sudden loss of clutch fluid.
3. Could it have been the 2.5hrs of heavy duty off roading just causing the car to **** itself? seems unlikely again but I don't know.

Clutch was replaced about 20,000kms ago if I recall.

Any ideas? I am going to order new master/slave cylinders and replace them as a matter of course, but anything else i should be considering? Should I sell one of my kidneys now or should I wait?

Thanks!

Master cylinder - Quite often you will see the clutch fluid running down the inside of the firewall, just pull back the rubber insulation stuff

Slave - you may notice a wet spot under the bell housing drain plug

Alway good to home your gear changes without a clutch, I had to drive the last 200k of the Simpson desert doing all my ear changes without clutch