Clutch foot has to be REALLY on the floor!

[Sam C]

Hi all

I know this is quite a common one, and was wondering if there's been any development on an easy solution / available product?

The problem is that despite a new clutch I have to put my clutch foot really hard to the floor to be sure of disengaging properly. Clutch fluid is topped up and clutch system has been bled.

Occasionally I don't quite manage to disengage properly and get crunchy gear changes even though I've taken my footwell carpets out and am doing my best to put as much pressure on as possible. It's also beginning to hurt my back doing this all the time.

Previous suggestions for a solution have been:

(a) effectively extend the rod that pushes into the arm to move the clutch mechanism; or
(b) 'modify' the clutch slave cylinder so that it sits a little further down - effectively achieving the same thing as extending the rod. However, I think someone had done something similar on someone's car (that regularly posts on here) ending with his clutch really suffering and him getting through endless clutch plates.

If you have the same problem you'll know what I'm on about, if you don't this may all seem a bit confusing - so apologies for the garbled post! My knowledge of the right technical lingo is a bit lacking!

Cheers

Sam

[andy thompson]

Plenty of material on this problem - crux of it is look for wear in the mechanical parts - ie ovalling of the pedal hole / mastercylinder pushrod and wear in the pin (under the rubber boot on the bulkhead) - VERY common and relatively easy to cure - weld and redrill for new pin or drill out to 3/8" and fit larger pin (I used a modified propshaft bolt).
The other end is easy to fix pivots and lost motion in the clutch fork when the box is off but very tricky when box is on  :-/

If all bled properly and correct spec cylinders fitted the issue is not hydraulic and shifting pushrods etc will have no effect (self adjusting)

[Sam C]

that's great Andy - many thanks.

will inspect this weekend and try to work out what can be done. Wonder if it may be easier to just buy a new master cylinder if the problem's up at that end?

Cheers

[lancepar]

In the rest position with the boot off the master cylinder can the piston rod be pulled further out? If so the piston in the cylinder is not returning to its rest position either because the spring is weak or broken.
Is there a return spring on the clutch pedal to bring the pedal pad roughly level with the brake pedal pad? If not this causes the above problem.
With a spring on the clutch pedal depress it and let it fly back rapidly, repeatedly, this cured my low bite problem because the master cylinder piston had not been returning fully due to having no return spring on the pedal assembly.

8)

[Steve Cureton]

The problem Andy referred to is a common problem, ie the locating pin for the clutch release arm often falls out, unfortunately it's a gearbox out job! If this has happened then you will need to buy the repair kit which includes a new bush which is an interference fit on the pin.

Another possibility, but not very likely unless your engine is badly worn, is the thrust washers could have fallen out. We won't go into the cure for this until you have exhausted all other possibilites as you won't like it!

[Fizzy]

it was my car that was chewing through clutches on a regular basis.

last week i found out the clutch return spring mentioned above was just hanging from the underside of the bulkhead not connected to thepedal, so that may have been part of my problem. however i also removed a severly warped engine backplate and what looked like a slightly warped and cracked ally bellhousing. my slave has been filed in the past so that it can sit further into the bracket, but i suspect this wasnt part of my problem, as it sits as far out as possible anyway, not using the 'filed' extra travel.

modifiying the slave like mine doesnt seem to be a particuarly bad thing to do from what i can tell, as i didnt have anybody shouting at me to replace it quicksharp! i suspect the other bits i removed from the car to have been causing my problems. its been fine since they got replaced. touch wood.

[Sam C]

All

That's all good, thanks for your help.

I'll check for missing springs and wobbly pins when I get home! And any solution that just involves pressing and letting go of the peddle a few times sounds great to me!

Cheers all - big help, as ever.

Sam