Technical Is it necessary to change the slave cylinder

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Technical Is it necessary to change the slave cylinder

koalar

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not sure its a Good idea

But this is a sticking slave cylinder off a 500

Its already been changed. But the original appears to be in Good condition apart from the guide part of the piston has run dry. The grease appears to naturally push out the front.

There quite easy to dismantle.

the dust cover just pushes off

the push rod then pulls out

there a plastic circlip in the end that can easily be pushed out with a screwdriver

you could push it part way out with the clutch pedal and add some fresh grease without the rubber seal even leaving the cylinder

anyhow even if its only temporary it would be a way to diagnose a squeak
 

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The OEM clutch hydraulic parts (or those made by OEM manufacturers) are supplied with pipes and pre-filled with fluid. A QD connector located above the gearbox plugs together the master and slamve ends of the package.

However, The master cylinder with pipe will cost well over £100 though the slave is not silly money. There are two issues (1) the QD coupling seizes up so you will be lucky to find a British Panda that will allow you to mix & match. It's new through the whole line. (2) getting the master cylinder line into place is fiddly.

The fix is to replace the master and slave cylinders only. The pipes simply plug into place stained by spring clips (DONT LOOSE THEM). A new Master is about £55 and a slave can be as low as £30. Plug them in and bleed the system. Helper needs to push the pedal down and lift it up again (slowly) while you open and close the slave bleed screw. You will need to remove the battery and its case but it's not a big issue just remember where the cable clips are as not all are used on all cars. Do not let the master cylinder reservoir drop below 1/4 full as low levels will suck in air.
 
Pre bleed ? Any links

Cheap for slave, master, pipes, fluid and reservoir


Yeah no one mentioned master. Never had to replace one as its the slave 95% of the time.
As mentioned, they are sealed and as long as the rest of the system is intact then it goes back in with no need to bleed. I do it anyway because you might as well make sure. Ebay or autodoc and they can be had for £30-40.
 
Yeah no one mentioned master. Never had to replace one as its the slave 95% of the time.
As mentioned, they are sealed and as long as the rest of the system is intact then it goes back in with no need to bleed. I do it anyway because you might as well make sure. Ebay or autodoc and they can be had for £30-40.

There are £28 ish at the moment with pipe if you take advantage of a weekend deal ECP

I don’t understand pre bled

Connecting a Slave cylinder or slave cylinder and pipe
requires bleeding.

The only way to have pre bled is a complete system

Either way I would prefer to diagnose the fault before shelling out any money. Yes it’s normally the slave but not always. Squeaking has been internal and pedal down has been master

these are cheap cars and cheap to run. I paid £300 for mine. £28 is nearly 10th. Which is fine if it’s faulty

It seems on here we prefer to change everything until we hit the right part.
 
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There are £28 ish at the moment with pipe if you take advantage of a weekend deal ECP

I don’t understand pre bled

It's sealed, there is a big ally sleeve connector under the right chassis leg that leads back to the master via the bulkhead. If you took it off properly and it wasn't already full of air, it will be sealed up to that point. You hook the new connector up and it's all good.

Connecting a Slave cylinder or slave cylinder and pipe
requires bleeding.

Not if the cylinder wasnt leaking and you removed it correctly. I've done 3 that didn't need bleeding vs one that did as the seal had gone and let air into the system. You will know if it needs bleeding so don't bother unless you have to.

The only way to have pre bled is a complete system

See above.


Either way I would prefer to diagnose the fault before shelling out any money. Yes it’s normally the slave but not always. Squeaking has been internal and pedal down has been master


You have diagnosed the fault. You won't find the cause of the fault by looking at the part or asking a forum unless it's completely obvious (It's not with this though is it). You need to replace the part most likely to be the cause, then work backwards. I've never had to replace a master and I have had 4 of them. If the clutch sticks, the slave will need replacing in my experience. You grease the old one up and put it back in, it will be back out again in a few weeks the same. That's if it works at all when you reinstall.

these are cheap cars and cheap to run. I paid £300 for mine. £28 is nearly 10th. Which is fine if it’s faulty

Correct. However by that logic you might as well stick some chewing gum in and hope it works. How will you know its ACTUALLY faulty if you don't replace it?

How much is the car worth to you if it sits there without a working clutch?

It seems on here we prefer to change everything until we hit the right part.

No, you have drawn that conclusion. I have told you what I think could be the cause of the fault based on working in these cars for some time and having significant experience of having them in bits. I could be wrong, it could be the master and then you would have to replace that too, you see, that slave wasn't meant to come apart. There is no 'rebuild' kit for it which means that it will probably leak when you put it back together so anyway you look at it, it's cost you at least £28.

Either way, I would replace the slave cylinder with a new one every time.
 
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these are cheap cars and cheap to run. I paid £300 for mine. £28 is nearly 10th.

Exactly.

What you've done is a good example of what running these cars is all about. There's no need to buy something new if you can repair the old one, even if it was never designed to be repaired. In such cases, you have to improvise.

Reminds me of something I posted earlier this year about Fiats in general:

"Providing you can do most things for yourself, base versions of the less fashionable models can be run on a tight budget, as most commonly needed parts are cheap and, as modern cars go, they're not that hard to work on."

The cost of both parts and complete cars is rising sharply now; finding these sort of workarounds is going to be increasingly important for folks who want, or need, to run their vehicles on a tight budget.
 
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The clutch line connector block discussed above is there for convenience at the factory. Master and its pipe are fitted to the body. Slave is fitted to the power unit. When its dropped into the car the fitters simply plug together and that's it. No fluid bleeding etc.

However the aluminium connector halves are retained by stainless springs neatly exposed to salt spray under the wheel arch. Mine had corroded into a nasty lump and impossible to separate. I was able to get a master with pipe at low cost to go with the sensible price slave so no worries. However when I came to do my wife's car the LuK master with pipe was £175. She therefore a has a £55 Borg & Beck master cylinder. 10 minutes bleeding the line saved £120 and avoided the hassle of running the new pipe behind the engine.
 
I look at it as more of a diagnostic aid.

However looking at the slave I was given came off a 500. On inspection there’s no wear at all (if you want I can measure with a bore gauge and micrometer)and certainly wouldn’t have any problems fitting it to my car

Funny how so many get changed. I am on my third panda. The first two had every bit of history that’s 350K miles. No history with the current car but doubt it’s been changed another 70K some used as a taxi

Contaminated fluid / wrong fluid
Long period of not being used
Bad batch
Rubber going hard
Dirt ingress
Bad plastic swelling

I don’t know. I have a sample size of one.

Plus three cars that work/worked perfectly
 
I think the slave gets changed because it's cheap. Even LuK prefilled with fluid is only about £40. Master cylinders leak by pulling in air so no fluid leaks. When you search eBay, the usual finds for "Panda master cylinder" are those complete with pipe for about £175. A search including "Ford Ka" and "Fiat 500" will find the master cylinder only for about £55.

Our 1.2 still has the original slave. It's as good as new inside so it went back on the car. New master cylinder solved the problem. Bleeding is easy. You can even do it alone as the pedal wont rise until you pull it up. Pull it up slowly to avoid sucking air down from the reservoir.
 
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There are £28 ish at the moment with pipe if you take advantage of a weekend deal ECP

I don’t understand pre bled

Connecting a Slave cylinder or slave cylinder and pipe
requires bleeding.

The only way to have pre bled is a complete system

Either way I would prefer to diagnose the fault before shelling out any money. Yes it’s normally the slave but not always. Squeaking has been internal and pedal down has been master

these are cheap cars and cheap to run. I paid £300 for mine. £28 is nearly 10th. Which is fine if it’s faulty

It seems on here we prefer to change everything until we hit the right part.

The OEM pipes are filled with fluid and the quick connector is a hydraulic connection that's closes up when no connected
Rather like the quick release lines on digger attachments
 
The self-sealing quick release is a great idea except it's perfectly placed to get hit by road salt. As said above, mine was clogged solid with aluminium oxide. I sliced it open with an axle grinder to have a look - way beyond any hope of separating it. The replacement is wrapped in Denso tape. Self amalgamating electrical tape would also do the job to seal it.

If it not leaking, just replace the master cylinder. The pipes simply plug in with spring clips. Replace the slave if it starts leaking as its almost certainly fine.
 
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