Igol Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 My 97 TDi has just flown though its MOT - well ignoring the new rear discs and pads and hand brake adjustment I had to do. So tonight after getting out of the works Defender and into my Disco I stick it in reverse with a bit of a clunk (no more than normal) and come out of the parking bay. 'First seems a long way down' thinks I after being in the Defender, 'never noticed that before?' Up the little slope I drive to the road and into neutral to wait for a gap in the traffic. 'Ooh the lights have changed; into first......get in you sod......ah bugger'. Clutch peddle is flat on the floor and I'm not going anywhere apart from back down the slope to the bay I just left. I've had no great issues with the gears up to now and as the peddle is all flappy I'm thinking its a failed cylinder or pipe rather than the clutch itself (well hoping tbh after swapping one out on a Citroen AX and not having fun). Would anyone like to confirm my diagnosis or cruelly dash my thoughts and upset the wife who was thinking she was getting a new car but it may be me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miketomcat Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 Yeah it sounds like the hydraulics have let go. See if there's any fluid coming out of the drain hole in the bell housing if so that's a slave problem. The other thing it could be is the release arm has warn through. Check the hydraulics first if that's all fine pulley the slave out and you might be able to see if the arm has punched through. If it has you'll be splitting engine and box so you may as well do the clutch while your in there unless it's recently been done. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igol Posted December 6, 2014 Author Share Posted December 6, 2014 A quick look under in daylight and theres an awful lot of yellow fluid sprayed around the engine and some similar coloured staligtites just next to the slave cylinder, which looks fine from the outside. I'm wondering if somethings let go and squirted its fluid everywhere, the master cylinder is full of stuff that really could do with changing but theres no resistance on the peddle at all. Hydraulics look the way to go right now, I'll try swapping the slave and get ready to fabricate a new pipe from the master cylinder and bypass the damper to make things easier. Never touched the clutch on the Disco so-far and as I'm gentle on the gears I'm hoping I wont have to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwhacker Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 Hi. if it is the arm make sure to put a strengthened one back in and cable tie the rob on the arm. Plenty of good advice on here to help if you need to spilt the engine and box. Best of luck what ever way it goes. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igol Posted December 6, 2014 Author Share Posted December 6, 2014 Cheers the engine crane holding the transmission from above looks to be a plan if its going down that route. New master and slave cylinder on order and I know I have a roll of copper pipe and fittings when I discover all the fittings have siezed and are twisting. I should of heeded my About to Break Soon light yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igol Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 Ive pulled the slave and the master will be coming off when the wife lets me go out and play, currently the push rod is inside the bell housing and ive yet to get a good look at it. But i did notice when laying underneath that theres a threaded hole at the base of the clutch that to my mind should have a bolt screwed into it to keep stuff in. So I'm wondering if the sticky stalagtites are in fact the gearbox oil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boydie Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I think the threaded hole you are/were looking at is the 3/8" UNF drain or "Wading Plug" this is normally open during normal use to allow any oil leaking from the rear engine oil seal or front gearbox seal to escape and worn you of the problem, when going through deep water you screw a plug in here to prevent water from affecting the clutch plates, there is an identical plug hole on the underside of the front timing cover and is plugged when wading for the same reason, however a word of caution (300TDi) if the engine is hot and you fit the wading plug into the front timing cover and if you don't have a vent fitted to the top of the cover in 80% of cases you WILL cause water to be sucked into the timing cover through the front crankshaft dust seal - simply because the air in the timing cover will rapidly cool down resulting in a mini vacuum inside the cover and water gets sucked in - I have a sorry experience of this - the solution is to drill and tap a vent tube off the top of the cover, some early covers even have a blank casting for this vent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igol Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 Yep it figured it out and it is the drain plug. Now if someone would like to confirm what I suspect. I've fitted a new slave and master cylinder removed the damper and fitted a new copper pipe I've reverse bled the system and cant see any bubbles in the reservoir which has filled up nicely. The Clutch pedal still flaps around without any resistance and I did note that the push rod had about 5 mil lateral movement in it and was pretty solid otherwise and was a pain to move out of the housing when my fat fingers knocked it inside. So I'm either being impatient and there is air still trapped or the push rod has gone through and I'm buying a new clutch soon. Anyone like to confirm things for me please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igol Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Just found one of Les' descriptions in the tech archive on a defender, so new clutch bits on order and an excuse to buy a bike lift that the wife will swallow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honitonhobbit Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 DOn't forget the blessed Damper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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