Thread: Spongy clutch on Disco TD5

Hi all,

After a 1/2 an hour to 45 minute drive yesterday, pulling off the freeway, the clutch went very spongy, and proved very difficult to disengage, let alone re-engage a gear.
After coming to a stop and pulling hard into neutral, I pumped up the clutch pedal a bit, so that normal gear changes were possible. However I still felt the odd gear 'drag' a bit.
It did this after I had the clutch replaced two years ago, and I took it back to the mob who did it, and they fiddled with the hydraulics. Has been fine up until yesterday. This vehicle has only done about 20000km since the clutch was done, mostly freeway driving.

Would I be right in assuming one or more of the following :
1 / Air coming into hydraulic line
2/ Hydraulic fluid boiling (unlikely)
3/ Master or Slave cylinder internal seals faulty?

I believe that the clutch shares the fluid with the brakes, and this is still full. I cannot see any leaks underneath.

Do Land Rovers usually have crap hydraulics when it comes to manuals?

Any help much appreciated !
Thanks

Well, all fixed now.

As thought, the clutch line had a stack of air in it. However no leaks could be found from either Master or Slave cylinder. Just hope there is not a intermittent seal fault that sucks air in.

The bloke says that the clutch lines on these Disco TD5's are quite hard to purge, but whatever he's done, it feels better in the gearchange now, better than in all the 30000 odd km's I've done in the Disco since owning it.

I also asked one of the guys about perceived problems with the TD5's, and he says it was a non-issue, that they are a fantastic motor. This LR place had not been seeing problems like cracked heads, oil bolt dropping out etc. This guy apparently used to work at a LR Dealership, and he reckons its the V8's that are the biggest problem. I must say that I felt a bit better owning a TD5 after hearing this.