G
Gerry
Guest
BRAVA 1.8 ELX (1998)
The saga:-
Day 1 - 4 guys with heavy rucksacks in boot cause car to heavily scrape underside on rough track. Drove 100 miles on normal roads with no noticeable problems.
Day 2 - Finding it difficult to engage gears, clutch pedal semi-depressed (like me). Had to pump pedal to get it to return to normal position. "Biting" very near floor. Call mechanic who looks after car. He can't look at it just now but very much sounds - as I thought - like clutch was about to pack in. Park up for night.
Day 3 - About to set off for work when notice fluid dripping from sump guard - little puddle on ground. Speak to mechanic - tell him about scraping underside (I forgot before.) He has not worked on many Bravas but without seeing he suggests I could have split the gearbox casing or diff something (I'm not very car literate!).
Day 4 - Car still parked up. Spoke to another guy - a mate who is a service manager for a BMW dealership. He asked about the texture of the fluid - he said was it like oil or glycol-like. I said the latter. He said it sounds like I've fecked the clutch cylinder as the loss of pressure would cause the symptoms described above.
Days 5 & 6 - Me away on business.
Day 7 - Today! Back home - wondering what to do. I'm going to look underneath the car tomorrow but anyone have any thoughts about what the problem might be? My elderly Dad threw out my Porter's manual so I can't check to see the location of the clutch cylinder!
Any advice gratefully received.
Apologies for the length of this post!
Gerry
(Edinburgh)
The saga:-
Day 1 - 4 guys with heavy rucksacks in boot cause car to heavily scrape underside on rough track. Drove 100 miles on normal roads with no noticeable problems.
Day 2 - Finding it difficult to engage gears, clutch pedal semi-depressed (like me). Had to pump pedal to get it to return to normal position. "Biting" very near floor. Call mechanic who looks after car. He can't look at it just now but very much sounds - as I thought - like clutch was about to pack in. Park up for night.
Day 3 - About to set off for work when notice fluid dripping from sump guard - little puddle on ground. Speak to mechanic - tell him about scraping underside (I forgot before.) He has not worked on many Bravas but without seeing he suggests I could have split the gearbox casing or diff something (I'm not very car literate!).
Day 4 - Car still parked up. Spoke to another guy - a mate who is a service manager for a BMW dealership. He asked about the texture of the fluid - he said was it like oil or glycol-like. I said the latter. He said it sounds like I've fecked the clutch cylinder as the loss of pressure would cause the symptoms described above.
Days 5 & 6 - Me away on business.
Day 7 - Today! Back home - wondering what to do. I'm going to look underneath the car tomorrow but anyone have any thoughts about what the problem might be? My elderly Dad threw out my Porter's manual so I can't check to see the location of the clutch cylinder!
Any advice gratefully received.
Apologies for the length of this post!
Gerry
(Edinburgh)