General Clutch Problems...

[Barros]

Hey,

Was driving along the town the other day when all of a sudden the clutch pedal became very light. The car would continue to allow me to change gears etc.

I came up to a set of red traffic lights at which I stopped and selected neutral so I could rest my feet.

Lights turned green, put the clutch to the floor but the car wouldnt go into 1st gear, kept on trying but wouldnt go into any gear. Switched engine off and hazards went on. The car would go into any gear when the engine was switched off but not when it was on...

Managed to get it to the garage and they said its either a new clutch or a cylinder slave as they mentioned there was brake fluid leaking from somewhere...or something like that...


Anyone had this happen before?


-Lee

 

[punto-60s]

i had this problem.. i have a punto 60s and is was the slave cylinder that needed replacing. luckily i had a mate who knew how to put one of these things in and knew how to do the bleeding process of it aswel..

not sure howw much a garage would charge but its not a very hard job so it should be quite cheap.

you'l also need to buy some DOT4 brake fluid.

 

[jfindlay]

It's quite common for the slave cylinder to fail.
The slave cylinder sits on top of the gearbox under battery tray; it can be changed quite quickly and easily. A new one from Fiat is approx £50 - 60 and took me approx 20 minutes to replace.

1) Disconnect battery.

2) Remove battery (one bolt and metal strap).

3) Remove Battery tray (undo 1 or 2 bolts at front & loosen but not remove rear one - tray lug has cut out).

4) Open the shared brake/clutch reservoir cap and place a clean bit of plastic bag tightly over the top and replace cap - causes a vacuum to prevent excess leakage of brake fluid when you undo hydraulic pipe to slave.

5) Undo hydraulic pipe to slave & move to one side.

6) Undo 2 bolts on slave cylinder.

7) Remove slave – remember to save rubber dust cap from the bleed nipple (my new slave one didn’t come with one).

8) Bolt down replacement slave unit & reconnect hydraulic pipe. Make sure bolts are tight, CAUTION don’t over tighten hydraulic pipe.

9) Remove plastic bag from reservoir and top up reservoir with fresh DOT4 brake fluid.

10) Connect a length of clear pipe to bleed nipple and using a 10mm spanner crack open the bleed nipple slightly.

11) Get a friend to press the clutch peddle firmly to the floor and HOLD (OR use a one man bleed kit).

12) Tighten bleed nipple.

13) Release clutch peddle slowly.

14) Repeat steps 11 – 13, until no bubbles are present in the clear waste tube.
CAUTION: Remember to top up the brake/clutch reservoir.

15) Remove clear bleed tube, (don’t get any brake fluid on paint work – will damage paint work), put rubber dust cap onto bleed nipple.

16) Refit battery tray & battery.

17) Re-enter radio code.

18) Test gear selection….

Hope this helps???