Headrest and clutch fluid questions

[Rich_s]

Hi All,

2 questions but not related, was under the bonnet again today on my spit 1500 and checked the fluid levels, as you do, brake fluid is fine as usual but the clutch fluid has dropped about an inch, checked all joints and no leaks any where, the clutch is still working fine as well, i will top up for now to see if it drops again, but does this sound like the slave cylinder seals are giving up and type to get a new set?

Second question, i am going to try to replace the foam in my seats as they are a bit tired, thought i would try the easy bits first and cut new foam for the head rests, question is, how do you remove them from the seats as they do not pull out, is there a catch somewhere holding them in?

thanks guys

Rich

[TimW]

Headrest just pulls out of the seat.  just give it a little wiggle!!

[willcolumbine]

Not always! Sometimes they have a little spring loaded catch and the only way to get the headrest off is is to strip the seat right down!

[willows40]

but if you are only changing the foam it possible to do it with the head rest still attached, just pull it to top of travel get a stubby screwdriver and undo the 2 screws holding the metal cover and then with a small flat blade screwdriver prise the staples holding the material off and then lift the headrest off, replace foam and then put it all back together.

cheers andy  

[Nick Moore]

I've used seat foams from Newton Commercial - they were the right shape and easy to fit. I don't know if they do head rest foam, but it'll probably be easy enough to cut those yourself.

[Alex]

932 wrote:

Hi All,

2 questions but not related, was under the bonnet again today on my spit 1500 and checked the fluid levels, as you do, brake fluid is fine as usual but the clutch fluid has dropped about an inch, checked all joints and no leaks any where, the clutch is still working fine as well, i will top up for now to see if it drops again, but does this sound like the slave cylinder seals are giving up and type to get a new set?

I had a similar problem on my spitfire many moons ago.On my car it was the clutch master cylinder seals leaking.This only became apparent when I noticed a damp clutch pedal.Perhaps worth a look under the dash?
I can only hazard a guess that on releasing the clutch it was dragging a bit of fluid back each time.......

Good luck,
Alex

[Rich_s]

Had a look underneath finally and although all pipes and joints are bone dry, the bottom of the bell housing has clutch fluid on it, bugger, new seal kit or complete slave cylinder i think.

At least its sunny so can use the motrobike while the spit waits for me to repair it if it gets that bad.

Not had chance to look at the headrests yet but thanks for the comments,

rich

[greenbonnie]

park lane classics do headrest re trim kits for both seats for £35

[bodders1]

Hi Rich

Check Jason's blog (http://chinn.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html) he did a very thorough write-up of re-foaming his headrests a few years ago.

The headrests *do* just pull out.  There is a spring-loaded bit near the bottom of the tube that stops them sliding down once put into the desired position - which can make it a bit of a struggle to pull them up, but brute-force usually wins in the end.

[Rich_s]

Thanks for that, the headrests had jammed but a screwdriver got them moving then yanked them out, made the new foam bits out of an old sofa cushion and worked quite well, not perfect but is in keeping with the rest of the car.

I found that the cause of them being soft was not that the foam had lost its elasticity, but it had long since given up being foam, it came out as just a lumpy powder with the odd big lumps, much better now. Time for the rest of the bits now i think.

thanks again
rich

[OCTANE]

Old foam has a habit of doing that!  Check the sides of the seat backs, if they feel empty check for the tell tale yellow dust on the carpet under the seat that says the seat bolsters are crumbling also.

Have you checked the clutch pedal yet to see if it's dry?  As Alex said the master seals can leak allowing the fluid to slowly weep down.  For me it was the mysterious dirty marks on my shoes that was the clue.