ErnestSw

"No air at all this time though"
If you got ANY air out when you did it before then air in the system is the problem. You're just not getting all the air out.

Kolbjorn S

Maybe it's due to a worn and/or faulty pressure plate? Sounds likely.

Niels Jørgensen

Ernest, so what can I do the force the last air out? (And how did it get in there in the first place?) I'm using a "power bleeder" (home build, as power bleeder is not available around here, but same idea)...

UKKid35

A bad release bearing won't stop you engaging gears unless it has collapsed (in which case the clutch pedal will go straight to the floor), however it may become very noisy. A partially seized pilot bearing will make it difficult to engage 1st with the engine running. Although you say it was replaced only 50kk ago, they don't actually last very long. I replaced a pilot bearing that had only 30k miles on it and it was very poor, not totally seized, but definitely enough to make 1st difficult.

Niels Jørgensen

Argh F*** IT!

Now the clutch suddenly decided to drop (almost) to the floor and stay there... I say almost, because the clutch is not disengaged in this position and I can still press down the pedal another 1 to 2 inches to (fully?) disengage it.

The scurring sound seem to be gone, but I have not dared drive it in this condition...

Any ideas?

Niels Jørgensen

BTW: This first happened when I, as a last resort, asked my wife to press down the clutch while I bled the slave cylinder (still with the powerbleeder and one-way valve attached)... Did this 4 times, each time the clutch would stay down and had to be pulled (by hand) to be released... No air as far as I could tell.

Niels Jørgensen

Hm, just tried adjusting the push rod on the pedal - Had it been a wee bit longer I would have been able to adjust it back to its old self.

Obviously, this can't be right, but thought it might help some of you experts make some sense of it...

Niels Jørgensen

I decided, againts my better judgement, to drive the car to work this morning, and it actually worked much as before (I.e. I could drive the car, but the sandpaper sound was still there). The travel is definately shorter, and the clutch point is much lower than it used to be.

I got the impression that it slipped a bit under high load, but I'm not certain (there are not that many high-load opportunities on my way to work ).

I forgot to mention that the pushrod had no pre-load. I could remove it from, and put it back on, its pivot point easily, and this was before the pedal dropped to the floor. In fact, come to think of it, the pedal dropped right after I added one turn of pre-load (as per the manual).

Also, the booster spring was way off (should be 43 mm from washer to pivot according to manual, but was more like 30mm).

Don't know if any of that makes any difference?

Nicole

Hang in there, Niels!!! You'll figure it out, with the help of rennlist... would you be able to replace the clutch yourself, if need be?

Niels Jørgensen

Thx, I'm hanging in - It's not like I have a choice really ...

Replacing the clutch doesn't seem too complicated, even if I have to do it lying on my back... (But maybe I am missing something?). I'd guess the hard part is getting the cover off - one of the bolts appear to be behind the exhaust, and I'd much prefer to not have to remove that first...

ColinB

Niels
You have a PM

Niels Jørgensen

Well, if nothing else, I learn a lot ...

Colin suggested that I might be chasing multiple gremlins and that the gear change issue might be caused by bad transmission oil (I believe it was suggested earlier in the thread also).

So, I went and checked the service records. Apparently it's 250KKm and 11 years since it was done last - whether or not it was the problem, it was definately due.

The magnets on the drain plugs looked like a two-person punk band , but I guess that's to be expected from that kind of mileage?

I don't have any oil at hand, so I'll refill tomorrow - I assume I have to replace the washers also?

The WSM says to add 3.8L, yet the service records suggest that the dealership poured in 4.5L. Is the WSM off, or have the transmission been overfilled for 11 years? (There has been some oil bleeding in the rear, but obviously not a lot, since I was able to drain almost 4.5L).

Last thing, the oil had a real nasty smell to it - almost rotten (No, not johnny from the forementioned punk band ) I don't know what they poured in, the invoice simply says "gear oil"...

------- Ok, gear oil aside....

Driving the car some 120km seem to have brough the clutch back up to its normal position. What's weird is that I adjusted the push rod to its maximum extend yesterday, yet today it fits with zero preload in the up position. It would appear to me as if the clutch pedal auto adjusted to whatever position the push rod was set to, can that be true?

I still have the ugly "sandpaper" sound when the car is in gear (any gear) and the clutch pedal is all the way down. Once there, the sound continues until the clutch pedal is released (even if I select neutral). What's more, If, in neutral, I just press down the clutch pedal and keep it there for 5-10 seconds, the noise will also appear.

Shane

Hi, here are a few threads I found on beeding the clutch master cylinder:

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...light=bleeding

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...light=bleeding

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...light=bleeding

And your plugs with the punked out hair cuts are normal, mine was actually quite a bit worse than yours. The gear oil will always smell nasty even the new stuff just not as bad. Don't get any of this stuff on your good clothes because you won't get it out.

jon928se

The first paragraph above tells me you still have air in the clutch hydraulic system. The fact it got better after 120kms is because the fluid warmed up and expanded into the reservoir taking some of the air with it. The second tells me that the little bearing in the flywheel that supports the clutch intermediate shaft is dead or dying.

The clutch pushrod should be adjusted first to have a tiny amount of slack (just enough so you can tell that it is not preloaded. Then add 1 turn of preload.

BUT FIRST you cannot adjust the preload while there is air in the hydraulics as the spring in the clutch may not push the pushrod/pedal far enough back up to completely uncover the port that feeds fluid from the reservoir into the master cylinder.

You need to disconnect the pushrod (to ensure no preload) then re-bleed the hyraulics. My interpretation of what you did to bleed the slave cylinder doesn't read correctly. - Bleed the system conventionally with your homemade powerbleeder ie pressurise the system as much as you dare, then open the slave cylinder bleed nipple. Close it when no more air comes out or like me when you have flushed about 0.5L of perfectly good fluid through that you cannot re-use. Then disconnect the pressure bleeder. Leave the top of the reservoir off.

1. Then using some form of lever force the slave cylinder piston back into it's bore as far as it will go and hold it there for a couple of minutes. You should see air bubble into the reservoir. slowly release the slave cylinder piston - it should travel back out on it's own and make contact with it's pushrod. If it doesn't gently gently push the master cylinder pushrod down until it does and then pull the master cylinder gently back up. Repeat from 1. again and again and again.

This method definitely works - I've done it on the side of the Autobahn in Germany, in a hotel carpark near the Nurburgring, in the drive of my parents house in the UK in London .......... in NZ, not in OZ yet....

When you have done the above and got the air out - it's quicker to do it than type it, then reconnect the pushrod and adjust as described above.

Niels Jørgensen

Ok, quick q:

1) Do i unbolt the slave before pushing the rod back in (and if so, must I remove it completely from the clutch housing?), or do I access the rod through the inspection hole?

2) You say "pull the master gently back up - I can't really pull the master as the rod is not attached to anything, it simply pushes down on the piston...