Hello everyone,
Yesterday in the middle of a long motorway drive the clutch decided to fail. I stopped to pay the toll and then could not put the car in gear with the engine running, the pedal was soft most of the way and only felt that it was doing something in the lat inch of travel.
So I made it home and checked the basics:
-bled the system
-checked for leaks on both master and slave cylinder.
I removed the slave cylinder and placed it where I could see it from the cabin (hydraulic line still attached), and the slave movement perfectly matches the pedal (master) movement. So I don't think there is anything wrong with the hydraulic system.
The clutch disk is almost new maybe 5k km, and I can see through the window in the bellhousing that its thickness is as new. For a moment I thought that maybe the clutch was slipping and wore out as I was driving pedal to the metal, but no, the disk is good. It is also clean, so not sticky due to fluids or dirt.
The clutch mechanism is self adjusting, and the push rod between the slave and the lever on the bellhousing seems to be too far out, but that is just my impression, I don't know the exact specs.
I placed a nut between the rod and the lever to push the rod back a bit, maybe 6-7mm. That should have made a difference, but it didn't, the rod pushes the lever and it only starts to release the clutch at the very end of travel. So that tells me that the system is still adjusting automatically and that is working fine.
I get the impression that something broke inside the bellhousing. Maybe the lever jumped a spline?
What I find strange is that the lever seems fine. With the slave removed it turns freely maybe 30 degrees, I can feel the bearing making contact against the diaphragm spring, and then I can't turn the lever by hand any further, it all feels pretty solid. And then it moves when the rod pushes, but it is too light, and only partially releases the clutch at the bottom.
Maybe this is a common failure? Broken diaphragm spring?
Does anyone know the slave piston travel distance for a full pedal movement?
I really hope it is something silly I am missing, because I clearly don't fancy removing the gearbox.
Ideas?
Thanks, best regards,
Nestor
Yesterday in the middle of a long motorway drive the clutch decided to fail. I stopped to pay the toll and then could not put the car in gear with the engine running, the pedal was soft most of the way and only felt that it was doing something in the lat inch of travel.
So I made it home and checked the basics:
-bled the system
-checked for leaks on both master and slave cylinder.
I removed the slave cylinder and placed it where I could see it from the cabin (hydraulic line still attached), and the slave movement perfectly matches the pedal (master) movement. So I don't think there is anything wrong with the hydraulic system.
The clutch disk is almost new maybe 5k km, and I can see through the window in the bellhousing that its thickness is as new. For a moment I thought that maybe the clutch was slipping and wore out as I was driving pedal to the metal, but no, the disk is good. It is also clean, so not sticky due to fluids or dirt.
The clutch mechanism is self adjusting, and the push rod between the slave and the lever on the bellhousing seems to be too far out, but that is just my impression, I don't know the exact specs.
I placed a nut between the rod and the lever to push the rod back a bit, maybe 6-7mm. That should have made a difference, but it didn't, the rod pushes the lever and it only starts to release the clutch at the very end of travel. So that tells me that the system is still adjusting automatically and that is working fine.
I get the impression that something broke inside the bellhousing. Maybe the lever jumped a spline?
What I find strange is that the lever seems fine. With the slave removed it turns freely maybe 30 degrees, I can feel the bearing making contact against the diaphragm spring, and then I can't turn the lever by hand any further, it all feels pretty solid. And then it moves when the rod pushes, but it is too light, and only partially releases the clutch at the bottom.
Maybe this is a common failure? Broken diaphragm spring?
Does anyone know the slave piston travel distance for a full pedal movement?
I really hope it is something silly I am missing, because I clearly don't fancy removing the gearbox.
Ideas?
Thanks, best regards,
Nestor
