Clutch Issues

[Outdoor Ed]

OK I have a rather annoying problem, actually its been going on a while now and I'm at my wits end with our Disco now and getting rid of it despite the money we have spent on it recently is looking like a better option to me just now.

I have a few problems with my clutch.

So far I have split engine and gearbox, to find everything all well inside.

checked slave cylinder to find it all working well.

Replaced master cylinder and flexi rubber hose.

Bled the system probably 5 times now basically pulled 2l of fluid through and tried a few other tricks to get air out of the system.

The clutch was working fine on Friday nice and firm etc biting where it used to before I started with these problems.

I went to get in it this morning to find the clutch pedal soft and biting about an inch from the floor.

Now I am giving up, I'm annoyed to the hilt and just want to take a large sledge hammer to the Disco.

HELP!

Oh apart from the clutch it is a very tidy 3dr V8 with immaculate chassis and sills and a very good engine, gearbox etc.

I give up!

[scube]

Do you still have the clutch damper in place. It’s the circular lump put in between the clutch master and slave by Land Rover I believe in an attempt to reduce clutch snatch.

Try removing it if its still there.

I have known these things to give real problems when bleeding the system.

Also try removing the slave, pushing the piston back into the cylinder. Hold it in place and bleed the system again.

[Wolfie69]

I had the same problem with my 200tdi after bypassing the damper it was ok.

[Outdoor Ed]

I have no clutch damper.

Its a 1989 V8 disco if that helps

I really am quite confused to why it won't work anymore.

[Ratty43]

I third the damper, pretty sure it contributed to the demise of my gearbox.

[Ratty43]

Sorry, just noticed you don't have one, long delay between typing and posting.

[fozsug]

Do you have fluid loss, i.e does the level go down in the master cylinder?

You say you checked the slave cylinder, how?

[piper109]

The clutch circuit seems notoriously hard to bleed. I have been exasperated too but I have found that it seems to right itself after a week or so of use. I think the fact that the clutch line goes higher than the master cylinder makes it easy for an air bubble to remain. I used a Gunson eezibleed and still had problems. My damper is still in place.

I removed a little padding under the carpet so I cold push the lever down a little further but now it goes hard where you would expect it to.

If yours was hard and then became soft, I would suspect you might need new seals in the master cylinder or slave cylinder. Some say its always a good idea to replace both at the same time.

Dont give up, persevere a little longer.

Steve

[Outdoor Ed]

No noticeable fluid loss.

How did I check the slave?

Basically with engine and gearbox split, pushed rod in and checked it was running smoothly and pushing fluid out of disconnected pipe. All seemed fine. I know I should just replace the slave like the rest, at least it will eliminate that as a possibility.

I'm just fed up now and can't be bothered working on it anymore I have spent the whole summer, sorting it out, and spending money on repairs and getting it through it's MOT. I was supposed to be doing an engine swap on it this summer, but haven't had the time due to everything else I have had to do.