Shop4Parts - UK's largest online superstore for FIAT and Alfa Romeo parts

Technical clutch master cylinder removal

Currently reading:
Technical clutch master cylinder removal

L

littlephil

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2009
Messages
222
Points
81
Location
Accrington Nr Manchester
right, this 'slight cold spell' we've been having in ol' blighty has shown up that the master for the clutch is on its way out (in the -12C the clutch has been loosing pressure but not fluid, me thinks the cold has been shrinking the seals... not good.)

how much of a sh*t job is it to change the clutch master, might as well fit a new unit so apart form the new unit what else will i need?

cheers all :)
 
I have literally just taken my master/slave cylinders out and am waiting on replacements. It is definitely NOT a job that can be done by the book.

My best advice is to save yourself the trouble (and swearing, and large amount of mess) of trying to remove them while still in the car and remove the whole pedal assembly (brake/clutch) which has both cylinders bolted through the middle of it. Disconnect all the brake and clutch lines going from the cylinders and then loosen the pedal assembly. Once it is hanging down it should only be supported by the reservoir hoses. Disconnect those and you should be able to remove it.

You shouldn't require anything special to remove it, a spanner, socket, and/or ring spanner in 10mm and 13mm are the two main sizes. I needed a flared spanner to undo the brake lines because of how tightly they were done, a normal spanner was just rounding them off - but you will probably get away without one. If your'e going to take the clutch cylinder apart the bolt on the end is a 30mm and as far as I could tell you would be better off using a rattle run then a socket.

Hope that helps but maybe someone else has a simpler solution - which I'll ignore due to the amount of trouble it could have saved me :p
 
Hi, I changed the cluch master cylinder in my 89 Grand Finale, boy what a job!!! Removed it whilst in the car and as mentioned by popsprocket it was a real b******* of a job. Better taking out the whole assembly and make sure you change the brake master cylinder at the same time as if it goes in the future you will end up kicking yourself. Not worth messing about with new seals buy new units as they can fail again after a short time. Good luck hope all goes well.
Steve

popsprocket said:
I have literally just taken my master/slave cylinders out and am waiting on replacements. It is definitely NOT a job that can be done by the book.

My best advice is to save yourself the trouble (and swearing, and large amount of mess) of trying to remove them while still in the car and remove the whole pedal assembly (brake/clutch) which has both cylinders bolted through the middle of it. Disconnect all the brake and clutch lines going from the cylinders and then loosen the pedal assembly. Once it is hanging down it should only be supported by the reservoir hoses. Disconnect those and you should be able to remove it.

You shouldn't require anything special to remove it, a spanner, socket, and/or ring spanner in 10mm and 13mm are the two main sizes. I needed a flared spanner to undo the brake lines because of how tightly they were done, a normal spanner was just rounding them off - but you will probably get away without one. If your'e going to take the clutch cylinder apart the bolt on the end is a 30mm and as far as I could tell you would be better off using a rattle run then a socket.

Hope that helps but maybe someone else has a simpler solution - which I'll ignore due to the amount of trouble it could have saved me :p
Click to expand...
 
I have just been through the same exercise of clutch master and slave. The other thing to be mindful of is bleeding the system again. This can be a real issue. I spent about 2-3 hours of frustration. In the end the simple solution was to jack the back of the car up and put on axle stands (30cm or 12 inches), this gets the clutch slave cylinder above the master cylinder. Bleeding the system then took about 10-15 minutes. Cheers from NZ.
 
hi.

ive got to tackle this sunday...any more tips on this? thanks
 
Another BUMP for advice on this naff job please. Got to do mine. I really do not want to do the brake cylinder as well though.
 
Just a bump for this as I now have my old Cylinder off and am trying to fit the new one - yes this is in-situ. How the heck is it possible on a RHD car. The problem is you cannot line up the rear of the cylinder with the rod on the pedal as the long retaining bolt cannot be completely retracted from the pedal box as it hits the footwell bodyshell. As such you need to slide the cylinder over the slightly protruding bolt which does not let you lineup the pedal rod?!?!? Its maddening to say the least.......... Any advice appreciated - yes I know remove the pedal box is the ideal but someone must have done it. Can I lower the box slightly enough to completely remove the bolt out of the way? Presume its just the single bolt at the bulkhead and the x4 under the steering column to remove? Help!
 
There are two studs on the bulk head and 4 bolts under the column. I don’t know if you can drop the box sufficiently far enough to do what you are proposing...if you come up with a technique to do it please let us know!

When I replaced mine I followed the advise given above and remove the whole lot. An incentive to do this is if either of the master cylinders has failed the other may do so as well and you don’t want to repeat the exercise! Replace both and also the heater valve while you are at it...it’s one of those jobs :bang:

Good luck!





 
Last edited:
Thanks NEG - I'm reliably informed by an Australian owner (so RHD!) that it is possible by lowering the box in-situ. I did the Heater Valve like from within the footwell a while ago. Fortunately I have fingers like ET - I'll let you know!
 
Last edited:
You can change it with the pedals in place but it is much easier to remove and work on a bench.

Some like to take the seat out as well to make more room, but I find I can work past the seat.

While you are doing this job, if you haven't already, consider changing the low pressure lines from the reservoir to the master cylinder. If you are already changing the master cylinder and have to bleed it all, jut do it all once. You don't want to leave this and only to find you need to strip it all down again a few months later to fix these old lines. This is what happened to me and it was frustrating I can assure you.:bang:
 
Take the drivers seat out, and disconnect all lines to the master cylinders
As others have said, pull the entire pedal assembly out it will be so much easier! I honestly dont know how people replace the cylinders with the assembly in the car

I heard horror stories about doing the master cylinders so always put it off, but once I actually did it, it wasn't that hard really. Just make sure you bench bleed them before reinstalling, getting air out of the lines is harder than installing them
 
I'm curious to know if anyone facing clutch/brake master cyl. replacement pre-assembles an entire pedal box and then just swaps the whole assembly to make the job a little quicker to complete?
 
Hi guys! I've been on xwebs mainly but you guys just got me through the pedal box removal. Very clear descriptions above, and the picture was worth a thousand words. I ended up using my harbor freight flare wrenches for the hard lines and they worked great.

So as you can see there is some rust on the top which i'm going to sand and paint, and i have new masters and lines to install. Other than that the pedals and pivot points look good. I figure I'm going to re-grease the pivot points but that's it. Is there other rehab I should be thinking about now that its out?? thanks in advance. -Mike
 

Attachments

  • Pedal Box.jpg
    Pedal Box.jpg
    184.7 KB · Views: 254
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Technical distributor removal
Replies
2
Views
566
sledgehammer
S
B
Technical Clutch starter interlock
Replies
1
Views
605
jackwhoo
J
I
General Shifter is sloppy and clutch isnt responsive
Replies
2
Views
2K
RDS
R
A
General desperately need fiat x1/9 cylinder head studs & nuts
Replies
0
Views
3K
amped525
A
E
General fresh air fan box removal
Replies
1
Views
2K
EJP914
E
Back
Top