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clutch dampers


MarkieB

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The damper just softens the clutch action and I doubt very much if you'd notice if it stops working. I've never heard of one leaking and I've binned them in the past and piped straight to the slave. Put a clamp on the clutch flexi pipe and try the pedal - if it is solid, then the slave is the problem, if it stays soft, then the master is. Get someone to press the pedal and watch to see if the flexi pipe inflates - they perish internally and can act as a valve that prevents the clutch from engaging straight away, or inflate like a balloon, which gives you a soft clutch.

Les.

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I didn't think 300Tdi Discofairys had a clutch damper? :unsure:

The 200Tdi Discovery did, and yes they do go - the crimping lets go and the pressure blows the back out of it leaving you with no clutch, happened to my old one, just needs to be changed and I think later ones were different (my old vehicle was a 1991 model).

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  • 1 month later...

after a bit of a saga waiting for a set of cylinders from paddocks - ordered 3 days before christmas closing, no Email/call to say not in stock, eventually the courier sent the parcel to Dublin for a holiday - I now think it's the clutch fork, although possibly the master cylinder was going too..

there was no obvious fluid leaking at all, so hopefully the damper's alright

I need to double-check I'm thinking right;

symptoms were

- initially the pedal just 'dropped' to the floor, all of a sudden

- virtually no resistance to the pedal even after replacing the master & bleeding

- removed slave, piston wasn't returning to 'empty', cylinder was full of fluid after removal, a bit clogged although not terrible

- the actuating rod only stuck out < 1 cm from the housing when checking the action [relatively gentle manual pressure]

- I think I felt the [actuating side of the] fork, it went backwards with virtually no resistance

as far as I know, that's the clutch fork?

cheers

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after a bit of a saga waiting for a set of cylinders from paddocks - ordered 3 days before christmas closing, no Email/call to say not in stock, eventually the courier sent the parcel to Dublin for a holiday - I now think it's the clutch fork, although possibly the master cylinder was going too..

there was no obvious fluid leaking at all, so hopefully the damper's alright

I need to double-check I'm thinking right;

symptoms were

- initially the pedal just 'dropped' to the floor, all of a sudden

- virtually no resistance to the pedal even after replacing the master & bleeding

- removed slave, piston wasn't returning to 'empty', cylinder was full of fluid after removal, a bit clogged although not terrible

- the actuating rod only stuck out < 1 cm from the housing when checking the action [relatively gentle manual pressure]

- I think I felt the [actuating side of the] fork, it went backwards with virtually no resistance

as far as I know, that's the clutch fork?

cheers

sounds like a sticky slave to me. i spent the day on my back in the snow at the beginning of the month and was convinced my clutch for had punched through. turned out it was just the slave sticky from not having been used much.

if you can push the rod in until it meets stiff resistance so it protrudes about 10mm from the housing and pull it about 50mm out, the clutch fork should be ok.

my clutch pedal had absolutely no resistance at this point, as if it wasn't connected to anything and i couldn't see any fluid loss.

take the slave out and on the bench visually check its surfaces and seals then try pressure testing it with a bike pump to make sure it moves ok.

i took mine out and made sure it was clean and working on the bench then put it back in to see if it was actually the problem. as the clutch then worked, it must have been the problem.

had i known that was the problem i would have bought a new slave, but its all working now so i can't be bothered disassembling it to put a new slave in.

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If your clutch fork had punched through then the pedal would have gone rock solid. The push rod sticking out about 10-15mm is about right. I would suggest the clutch slave as well.

med_gallery_2_333_289190.jpg

(300TDi Disco with the damper)

If you replace the slave - use a genuine item. Cast alloy ones don't tend to last very long.

Les.

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quality photography there Les, your camera must be covered in grease!

that is very similar to what I noticed that discouraged me from completing the task; so it looks as though it wasn't as ominous as I had initially considered, I'll try today - I had already ordered a set of <ahem>britpart</ahem> so that'll have to do for now, it did save me more than €100 per cylinder though!

thanks chaps :)

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well, upon further inspection, the actuating rod is less than 3mm proud of the housing, with really very gentle pressure;

I now think however, before replacing the fork, that the fact that the little clip that's supposed to hold the rod to the fork doesn't, could be part of the difficulty;

however it looks as though it's an up-on-the-ramp-with-an-inspection-lamp job at least, so I'll speak to my friendly local mechanic..

cheers

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  • 2 weeks later...

it was the fork in the end; central pivot point had sheared open

a whole heap of work for an £8 part, I think I've heard the chorus before

"they should make them stronger,

next time it's worth adding a bit of reinforcing weld"

although it seems I had mainly heard of woes with the V8 fork, not necessarily the 300tdi one

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