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Spongy Clutch Pt 2

Got round to bleeding the clutch this morning, the only problem was trying to get the bleed nipple on the slave cylinder!. Took it for a test drive, it was as it should be, nice and firm and no difficulty in selecting the gears. Had lunch and about 2 hours later decided to go out for a longer test drive.

The free play in the peddle had come back, although not as much as before. Gear selection is still fine. No obvious leaks. If I'm losing fluid where is it going and how is the air getting in?. The only thing i could find was a possible crack in the plastic top to the master cylinder, would this cause air to find it's way into the system??.

Dom J

Reply to
Dom J
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In message , Dom J writes

Air will be getting in through the seals in the master cylinder or the seals in the slave cylinder.

Look for fluid running down the pedal or dripping of the bell housing

Reply to
Marc Draper

Mine seems to lose fluid somewhere, I just wait till it gets spongy and top it up, the leak is not so bad as to warrant messing about finding it (yet), and as for bleeding, I don't bother, it sorts itself out eventually.

Reply to
Larry

Best guess is probably the master cylinder. This can either let air in without losing fluid, or, more likely, lose a lot of fluid before it becomes obvious - check it is not soaking into your carpets or under mats, as it is a good paint remover.

The slave cylinder can also lose fluid without being very apparent, particularly if there is a lot of clutch dust in the bell housing to absorb it. JD

Reply to
JD

Have you set the end-float correctly on the master cylinder? Not getting this right can cause all sorts of interesting problems! However, if you are loosing fluid and you are not getting a wet foot then you probably have a a small leak in the slave cylinder, and I mean small, just enough for some air to get sucked past the seals.

Richard

Reply to
beamendsltd

Cheers for all your replys chaps!.

Will check the footwell area for leaks tomorrow, as I ran out light tonight plus feel like crap due to whatever bug is going round!!.

As long as it don't get any worse, I'll just keep topping it up and bleeding it from time to time.

Dom

Reply to
Dom J

The master cyliner cover needs to let air in, otherwise you will not let fluid top up the system.

I made the mistake of letting my brother buy the clutch fluid and not checking he got the right stuff. We were using LHM mineral hydraulic fluid instead of DOT 3/4. The stuff converts cylinder seals from a nice elastic rubber to a brittle swollen lump in a very short time. The effects of LHM can take hours or days to show up. Fluid will either weep past a seal and never appear, or flow past it and make a puddle in the foot well.

I'm sure you are not as silly as us, and use only the correct fluids. But your problem sounds very similar to ours. We bought a bottle of the correct fluid and replaced the seals after many months of messing around.

Reply to
DavidM

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