HI guys,

Can someone give me some advise, my clutch has been acting spongy and getting worse, to a point it broke down yesterday because it wouldn't go into gear or when it did it was driving forward even with the clutch depressed.

if I bled the clutch it was fine for about 2-3 miles and it would go again, it would literally feel like I could flick the top of the clutch up and down with my little finger, then after bleeding it , it felt normal again, sometimes it would go so bad and gears wouldn't change , sometimes they'd change after some clutch jabbing, but sometimes i would have to pull in and wait for a while before it would let me change gear...

So anyways, its been to the garage who its under warranty with, they've told me they've found a pipe that was leaking hydraulic fluid slowly and they've fixed the lead, drained the oil and refilled it, bled it and now its fine.

does this sound right to any mechanically minded people? - or does it sound like they've done nothing and bodged something!

As you said, it would work fine for a bit if you bled the clutch. So their fix sounds logical. Must have been leaking somewhere, letting the air in and causing the clutch to feel spongy.

so apparently they said there was a high pressure nut and washer that was leaking fluid, they've drained the system, refilled it, fixed the leak and all is good.

Picked car up, indeed it all feels good...

HOWEVER - Driving it this morning clutch starts to feel very very intermittently spongy and once I couldnt get it into gear at a junction. If I turned engine on and off or just jabbed the clutch the clutch starts to gain pressure again and feels ok and works ok again.

The car is still doing it, but nowhere near as bad ...

Any thoughts? - Could it be as simple as when the drained it they didn't bleed it properly? - Surely they must have done something for it to feel loads better...

Never heard of a "high pressure nut and washer" in the clutch hydraulic system.

If you have to pump the pedal to engage a gear, it's likely that there's still air in the system. As I mentioned in your other thread, the system may need to be pressurised to bleed it properly.
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thats strange, they said something about it needing a cardboard washer or something? does that ring any bells.

There's nothing cardboard in the original system.
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what the hell are they banging on about then, they must have done something because it feels loads better than it did, personally i think its sucking in air but im not mechanically minded!

The high pressure "nut and washer" will be a banjo bolt and a copper, not cardboard, washer. Actually in my experience there should be two copper washers, one each side of the banjo. If they reused the old copper washers there may still be a leak as they are annealed to make them soft, to give a good seal. Once they have been compressed for a while the copper hardens and if the joint is broken they won't reseal properly.

I have the very very same issue clutch failed on me felt very sponged and pedal sticks to the floor on some occasions, bled the clutch following advice from you guys and loads and I mean loads of bubbles came out reconnected all was fine but after about 30 pedal pushes it was back to square one, it's either constant velocity joint or slave or master cylinder but can't tell any clues

CV joint, how can that have anything to do with clutch? - Sorry Im not mechnically minded...

Yep Im thinking along lines of Master/Slave cylinder, well its gone back to the garage there going to put a new pressure plate, flywheel and hydro bearings in it so lets see how that goes...

no idea if it will fix it

staffordmike said:

The high pressure "nut and washer" will be a banjo bolt and a copper, not cardboard, washer. Actually in my experience there should be two copper washers, one each side of the banjo.

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There is no banjo bolt, the pipe fits into the master cylinder with a normal flare nut, and into the slave cylinder with plug in connector held in with a circlip.

stilo jtd said:

it's either constant velocity joint or slave or master cylinder but can't tell any clues

Click to expand...

XB23 said:

CV joint, how can that have anything to do with clutch? - Sorry Im not mechnically minded

Click to expand...

I am mechanically minded and can't imagine how a CV joint can have any affect on the clutch.

XB23 said:

Yep Im thinking along lines of Master/Slave cylinder, well its gone back to the garage there going to put a new pressure plate, flywheel and hydro bearings in it so lets see how that goes...

Click to expand...

That's a bit overkill for something that probably just needs bleeding properly.

Flywheel alone for a JTD 150 is about £450.
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Davren said:

There is no banjo bolt, the pipe fits into the master cylinder with a normal flare nut, and into the slave cylinder with plug in connector held in with a circlip.





I am mechanically minded and can't imagine how a CV joint can have any affect on the clutch.



That's a bit overkill for something that probably just needs bleeding properly.

Flywheel alone for a JTD 150 is about £450.
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Click to expand...

No cardboard then?

I think the OP should have gone somewhere else to get a second opinion before shelling out for all that work, as you say it seems excessive. I'd guess there must still be a leak if there was a temporary improvement after bleeding, but replacing the whole clutch is OTT.

I did wonder about the mention of the CV joint but didn't comment.

If bleeding it temporarily fixes it then unlikely to be mechanical. Most likely the master cylinder.

Ok so it's had a new clutch and in general it feels good but every now and then 3rd/4th gear just won't get in but if I take it out of gear and try again it's fine but I don't have to jab clutch now so that's good

Maybe the stilo just has close gears and is sometimes a bit awkward lol

Anyone else had this?