I've replaced and helped replace a few slave cylinders in my years of Fiat ownership, but I've never seen one do this...

Replaced the master cylinder internals after the pedal went to the floor on an already suspect cylinder only to find the spring was fine. Cleared out the battery and battery tray and found this sight under it.



A new slave cylinder later and now I've discovered it's basically impossible to bleed using the two-person system. Loads of fluid through, no bubbles but only about 8mm travel on the piston so guessing air hidden in the system. Positive pressure bleed kit on order and hope this is the last of it asince it's bleedin' cold out there!

Is that one with a plastic pushrod?

The very same...

Not the first one I've seen do that. Even the 'proper' ones from Fiat dealers have plastic pushrods. I'm not convinced they're up to it myself. There are some aftermarket ones around that have a brass pushrod (and a cast metal - rather than plastic - body too).

Bleeding nightmare ...

There are some posts in last year about bleed point on bulkhead between pedal and slave. I use pressure bleeder from top but seen it done with oil can and hose from slave end upwards.

Bleeding aside (which is a whole other topic, and one that's given a lot of people headaches) I've got a feeling a lot of problems with clutches - and especially the clutch release bearing going belly up or wearing horrible grooves in the friction plate fingers - is down to the bearing going off-centre, possibly because of a worn or distorted centre guide tube. That part doesn't often get renewed when a clutch is changed. Seeing a slave cylinder do what you've just shown is one of the reasons I suspect this.

Well I've bled the system with a pressure bleeder, and seem to have a good amount of throw on the piston but it's still not able to get a gear. I've measured the throw as approx 15mm. Now wondering if something else has failed inside, perhaps causing or because of the failure of the slave cylinder. Think I'm now entering the weighing up replacement car vs repair stage.

Has your car got a small inspection hole in the top of the bellhousing? If so, you may be able to get a look inside, especially if you've got a borescope.

I'd think the slave cylinder failure is a symptom of a separate fault in the clutch / gearbox and not the primary cause of your problem.

hello

i'm new here! I have a 2004 JTD MULTIPLA with a clutch peddal really hard. We had the clutch changed couple of eeks ago but since the mechanic is so far, we're trying to figure out if we can solve the problem at home.

I'm trying to find some clutch bleeding tutorial as a last try.... could you give me some tips? I cannot find the slave cylinder nor how to bleed the clutch or the cylinder.

Thanks in advance

Maria

I had a bit of clutch fun when I replaced my clutch pipe, to get round it ...

1, Jam the clutch pedal to the floor by a stick or bar between seat and pedal

2, Attach ezibleed kit and be careful with the tyre pressure - mine worked well at 25psi (you might want to split the air line and insert a on-off valve in for better control) keep an eye on fluid level, you doe wanna blow air in!

3, Jack up car with drivers side as high as you can get it - I found jacking it up so both offside wheels went up together did the job (don't roll the car over tho, coz you won't get the air out when it's on it's roof )

4, Bleed air out thru slave.

*NOTES* The reason for this method is because the clutch pipe from the m/c to the slave first goes DOWN and holds air just at the bottom of the m/c, by planting the clutch down there's nowhere for the air to trap and the job is eezi-peezi

Any probs gizza shout

George