Clutch problems

Hi could anyone help I have a 2005 TD4 and several months ago the clutch started to slip. I had a new clutch. Dual mass flywheel and slave cylinder fitted at a local garage. The clutch pedal was right down by the floor and it was very difficult to engage a gear and to change gear as it was dragging and would not disengage properly. I had the clutch re bled several times and finally decided to have a new master cylinder fitted. The garage also checked the master bracket as I understand they can crack this was ok. The clutch seemed to improve a bit but now is getting back to how it was especially when warm. Anyone out there with any ideas. I like my freelander but enough is enough I'm getting fed up with it. Many thanks in advance

Try leaving it overnight with the clutch pedal held down, to evacuate air, did you fit a quality cylinder or cheap aftermarket, is it better if you pump the clutch a few times before you set off, is your car mat too thick?

Hi I'm brand new to forum's but this made me join up. I have same problem at the moment. I have an 05 td4 freelander. It developed a slight bodyrock while sitting stationery on tick over a few month ago and then and clutch overheated while it was under heavy load. I then couldn't put it in any gear. Let it cool down and it was ok again. After this I thought don't really trust the clutch so decided to get it looked at. It was still under warranty so put it in to the garage. It had the flywheel, slave cylinder, clutch, master cylinder done. The body rock was sorted with 4 new injectors. The car has now gone back in for the fourth time with the same symptoms you describe. Have you had any fluid running down your clitch pedal, fluid resting on top of the bellhousing ? They are currently looking at putting a new slave cylinder on my car but I think that it is thw connection between the slave and master cylinder at fault. If I did this I would have sorted but kind of stuck with the warranty/garage at the moment. Feel like I could write a book on this problem now. Hope it helps.

Hi Grafos and Adamskin, though I don't have a diesel, i have a KV6 and a 1.8 petrol, the symptoms you describe I had on my 1.8 petrol. I found out that the clutch hydraulic system was previously renewed but an aftermarket one was fitted, not Land Rover genuine. A few weeks ago, I fitted a Land Rover genuine one and problem solved, now easy shifting even in the hottest of weather. I tried to Youtube it for the benefit of anyone else with similar issues, note: I can not say 100% that the aftermarket ones are suspect, but I can say that mine was an aftermarket hydraulics kit and that when it was quite hot (welcome to the Australian summer), I had to fight the gear stick to get it in to 1st from stop, and reverse as well. I cannot say this will 100% solve your problem, but it might be something to try, it helped me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kMTDoih_zc

Hi niccage, thanks for the advice, the td4 is slighty different in piping and connetions. However the master cylinder looks the same which is still in my opinion at fault. I have asked the garage doing the work (under warranty) to change to another new master cylinder. They have agreed and the are also going to fit another new clutch and slave cylinder. As they were struggling to determine exactly which part is at fault they have been doing more investigations and tell me the crankshaft has float in it and this is probably the cause. I struggle to believe this, anyone else had this causing clutch pedal problems ??

First time I've been told this to be a problem with a FReelander, crank shaft float, does that mean that the crank shaft has horizontal or vertical freeplay? What is their opinion to fix that, new crankshaft thrust bearings? Can you hear the engine rattling? If it were bad, float would mean that some metal in the engine block is pushing against other metal I would assume. Depending on what their opinion involves to correct that, if it's just bearings or some machining of the bore/s, etc, it might be a good chance to get this done.

At the same time, I can confirm to you that all of my clutch pedal problems have been solved by renewing the clutch hydraulics. Now the pedal comes up when it should (no delay as before). And no matter how hot it is, the clutch pedal and gear shifting work fine.

Well I have collected the car from the garage today. It has had another clutch, slave cylinder and master cylinder. It has also had thrust bearing in the crank shaft done to stop excessive end float. I checked the the end float tolerance ready for an exact measurement from the mechanic however he did not give this and only said it had a lot of lay in it. As you said the pistons could mark the bores with this extra rubbing and friction from slight side loads it would get hot. The list of problems this could cause are many. But at the moment I am happy to say that all seems good with it. Fingers crossed!!!!

lay = play

Good to hear Grafos. There's also a stronger gear linkage bracket that can be fitted underneath the vehicle i show it briefly in one of my videos, improves gear shifting. But, after that and the hydraulic clutch system, you still have hard shifting, it would be time to remove the gearbox and investigate. Some people have told me they have replaced the individual forks for the individual gears inside the PG1 gearbox which has restored gear shifting to like when the vehicle was brand new. Good to know it's going well now.

Well..... all seemed great, nice gear change, lovely to drive. Then, after having the car back 2 days. I can smell oil burning, like its on the exhaust ??? Look underneath and yes, there is oil dripping fast, almost running out the bottom of the gearbox bellhousing!! Bearing in mind the garage told me that it had excessive end float on the crankshaft but don't worry. At a cost of £170 additional while they had the gearbox off they fixed it along with all the warranty work they have they have accrued fixing flywheel, 2 x clutches, 2 x slave cylinders, 2 x master cylinders, a set of diesel injectors, clutch pedal and ARB droplinks. Crankshaft oil seal I suspect ?? So looks like they will have to take the gearbox out again!!! Can't wait for this warranty to expire then I can maintain it properly.....myself.

Hi Grafos, can you confirm if it's either engine oil on the exhaust or is it manual gearbox fluid? The manual gearbox fluid will have a specific smell to it distinct from engine oil. Just smell some off the oil dipstick, then open the gearbox filler plug and smell some gearbox oil, you will smell the difference. If it's engine oil, it'll most likely be the crankshaft rear main oil seal, it can also be the main seal for the gearbox, hopefully they renewed it when they had the box out. Don't laugh, i know many people me included once, who've ordered the clutch kit and "right, let's get to work!", only to realise we've completely forgotten the rear main oil seal as well as the seal for the gearbox! Just ensure they actually change the seal. I know a few fokes who've used some of those chemical products, Rislone produces some, that claim to seal oil seal leaks. Have used one of those myself on my previous 97 CE Mitsubishi Lancer with about 243,000+ kms, you can see why i didn't feel like removing the gearbox on it to repair.. And miraculuously, it worked, it stopped the rear main seal leak. You thus want to ensure that they actively renew the seal that's leaking. If it's the rear main seal, if it were me, since I'll be removing the gearbox, good practise to renew both the gearbox main seal as well as the engine rear main seal. I'd go further and also renew the IRD seal where the driveshafts go in to since you will be removing both driveshafts, as well as the seal in the gearbox where the left hand driveshaft goes in to. Even though these others don't leak, it is usually a good time to renew them all given how cheap many of the seals can be purchased.

Hi niccage, it is gearoil coming out the bellhousing and on inspection I also found the gear oil filler plug loose. The car is going back into the garage tomorrow for them to sort this. Not at all happy with this garage. 5 times it has now been to them, 4 times to repair and fix problems they have created!!

Sorry to Butt in at the end of a thread, but I have a td4 with a dodgy pedal. I do ALL of the work myself and last night I measured 0.75mm of horizontal crankshaft float.
I wondered what the garage ACTUALLY fitted to reduce the float in yours... I've had the engine and box out two times already to try and give me a clutch pedal. This time I decided to buy another slave cylinder and yet another master cylinder from LUK.
Only seconds before fitting the box to the engine I found the float....
I haven't fitted the lump back into the car, but wondered about doing the big end shells if it would reduce the tolerances a little... Anyway. . New shells can't hurt anyway.....
Any thoughts?????

Hi, i have a freelander td4 2005.

Some months ago i changed the clutch , slave cylinder and the Dual mass flywheel .
For some months everything was ok, but last month my clutch failed again(pedal touched the floor and i was unable to change gears), so i changed the master cilinder and everything was ok.
Now after one month, its not working again(cant change gears, pedal is touching the floor) and i dont know what may be the reason
as i changed everything and replaced with new parts.

Any help will be highly appreciated!