Question about bodge repair for clutch

[matt bristol]

I have a 300Tdi manual for my sins and the clutch pedl is on the floor - I'm aqssuming its the arm / pivot thing punched through, is it possible to cut the side of the bell housing to get the arm out to repair and then refit through the same hole.

I know its cowboy and bodgy but hte disco is an old nail and only gets used ocassionally for towing so I don't want to spend hours under neath it if I can get away with it

[Andy]

I think you'd be cutting a hell of a lot out to do it, I'd wonder about the strength of the bell housing afterwards.

If you use a couple of trolley jacks under the gearbox & Tbox you can roll them back a few inches & do it without totally removing one. At least I'd be sodding surprised if you couldn't from memory.

[redneck]

You say you are assuming its the pivot, have you checked the master/ slave cylinders are o.k. first.

[Les Henson]

Symptoms of a failed pivot point is the pedal high and rock solid, so I would look elsewhere before removing the box. It's possible that the guts of the slave come out into the bell housing when the pivot point fails, and you would have no pedal at all in that case, but also all the clutch fluid will be gone out of the reservoir and on the floor of your drive.

Les.

[M&S]

Mine recently did this, t'was the master cylinder.

There you go, that's an even easier job

[pinhead]

My mates did this about 6 months ago so we took the box out suspecting the arm and it was master cylinder lot of work for nothing

[matt bristol]

Thanks chaps, to be completely honest I haven't really investigated all that much, there is still fluid in the reservior but from what you are all saying it would be well worth dropping off the slave cylinder to see if its operating properly. Fingers crossed I could save myself a lot of oilyness and effort.

I'll let you know how I get on...

[Les Henson]

Clamp the clutch flexi pipe (hose), then press the pedal. If the pedal is solid, then the master is fine. If the pedal goes to the floor then the master is at fault.

Les.

[matt bristol]

Les,

the clutch pedal is only about half inch from the floor (unless I put my foot under and pull it back up) and hardly operates the clutch at all - my initial idea was that for some reason the master cylinder had stuck in the depressed position or lost a load of fluid some how which prevented it from self returning or actuating the clutch arm.

I'll unbolt stuff tomorrow and see what falls apart.

Thaks for all the input btw chaps

matt

[Les Henson]

If the clutch pedal travels too far, then it 'goes over' the return spring and has to lifted again with the foot. Lift the pedal, clamp the pipe, then press the pedal.

Les.

[Andy]

Symptoms of a failed pivot point is the pedal high and rock solid,

Not always Les. When mine went the pedal went soft.

What happened with mine was the pivot point split just enough to let the arm push backwards but not enough for it to 'fall back' which meant the guts stayed in the slave cylinder.

I took the slave out & checked the pushrod, it was about an inch too far back into the bellhousing compared to normal.