td4 hydraulics

I have been messing with this all day today and its wrecking my head now and I am not able to think straight.

So, I changed the clutch a while back and fitted a new slave and master cylinder at the same time. The parts are separated by a quick-release coupling in the pipe. The slave side of the pipework is metal, and from the master cylinder to the coupling is plastic.

All was well until the new master cylinder fell to bits after a couple of days use. I still had the old one, and an old,old one from years ago in my spares pile, so with a bit of faff, I soon had one good one and one pretty good one out of the three.

This morning I fitted the good one and the pedal was floppy as granny tits. No amount of bleeding did anything. I swapped it for the other one and quickly the pedal got stiff and it felt fine. Happy days. Well until I did about 20 miles and it started getting harder and harder to select gears until I had to switch off the engine each time I wanted first.

So more bleeding and it got better, but didnt last again.

Looking at older threads, some other people have had problems with the quick release coupling, especially on a Borg and Beck branded slave cylinder, which mine is. Sure enough the coupling was wet with fluid. A few hours ****ing about with o-rings made no difference.

So, on the advice os another member here I sacked it off and binned the plastic tube altogether. I braised a brake pipe union onto the barb on the master cylinder and ran a bit of brake pipe down and fitted male and female brake pipe fittings in place of the quick release thing. This seems to be not leaking, although its hard to tell as the whole place is swimming in fluid.
After much stress bleeding it, the pedal now feels ok, but the clutch is not disengaging fully. When I try for a gear it wont go in and the car starts to creep forwards.

so, some questions...

1 - what the #### am I doing wrong?
2 - how can I fix this?
3 - the brake pipe is smaller internal diameter than the original plastic pipe. Its 3mm i/d as opposed to the original which was 4mm. Does this matter? my tired brain says no, for a full stroke of the master cylinder piston, it will push out its volume of fluid no matter what. However, it seems to only be transferring half of what is needed to disengage the clutch.

old master cylinders will have poor seals you would be better buying a new one

jamesmartin said:

old master cylinders will have poor seals you would be better buying a new one

Click to expand...

Was thinking the same.

Can you not get the one that broke after a few days replaced under warranty? Is it a genuine LR one? I've had problems with them in the past and had to have a couple of goes until one worked. Unfortunately you're not spoilt for choice here: the LR ones are crap, but the patent ones are utterly awful. Get a new genuine/replacement genuine one.

Not exactly spoilt for choice then! Lol

Easier said that done when you live here. postage back to UK will account for most of what might be refunded under guarantee and frankly I cant be waiting weeks for this.

The old master cylinder was only 6 months old anyway. Off the car it works fine, displaces the correct amount of fluid and if the pipe is plugged, builds pressure no problem. Its only when connected to the slave that the problems start.

sounds like you need both then for complete fix ,old m/c dont store well, fluids hydroscopic, working without without the pressure of clutch isnt much of a test

If you buy a genuine Land Rover one and it fails you have 2 years warranty and they'll cover the labour to replace.

Think that covers some postage

oh yeah, I will just send this unbranded one back to Landrover, I am sure they will send me a cheque.

The old "wedge it down overnight" trick works its magic again.

I let the pedal up this morning and there was a gurgle from the master cylinder as air was released and it is working fine.

Just need to keep an eye on it for leaks now.

well done hope it is ok in the future.

Never knew about the wedge it down trick, I shall try to remember that!
I had to back bleed mine to get it almost workable. Was never perfect though

Hi all, I just joined the forum but have been nosing around for months... Is that stalking??

Anyway, I have very similar issue to above. Just had a leaky slave and since the box was out anyway, I thought I'd put complete kit in. Clutch cover, plate, slave and master. All LUK bits so reasonable quality. The DMF seemed OK; springs a little weak but doing the job OK.

Now its back together there is very little pedal to disengage the clutch. It bites about 20mm from the floor and the clutch will drag unless you bury the pedal in the carpet. The fuid has been manually bled but still no better I'm going to try the bit of wood trick tonight but has anyone got any other tips or ideas?

Thanks,

Bob

im having a similar ball ache...

did you fit landy master cylinder or patent one?

It was an unbranded one.

Try bleeding by pumping 10 times then letting out only the tiniest spert. Repeat about 5 times. Basically the only way to get the air out

roccotune said:

Try bleeding by pumping 10 times then letting out only the tiniest spert. Repeat about 5 times. Basically the only way to get the air out

Click to expand...

Well, I tried the wood trick and it made no difference. I then fitted a genuine LR master and no change

Then l tried bleeding using above method and got a bit more pedal movement.
A hell of a lot better than as I got it back from the garage but still not great.

It is usable as it is though so, I reckon I'll just have to live with it as it is for now.
:frusty:

As I have mentioned in other threads, there is a chance that the master gets an air lock as the clutch pedal does not push the piston all the way down. I think this is why the item is sold 'pre-bled'.

It is a bit tricky but I solved mine once and for all by removing the master, carefully taking out the circlip and the push rod, replace the circip, bleed the clutch by pushing the master plunger RIGHT to the bottom, do this a few times.

Then replace the push rod. If you add 3 or 4 mm to the push rod it lifts the bite point about 10 to 12 mm at the pedal.

Hope this helps.

bobtooke said:

Well, I tried the wood trick and it made no difference. I then fitted a genuine LR master and no change

Then l tried bleeding using above method and got a bit more pedal movement.
A hell of a lot better than as I got it back from the garage but still not great.

It is usable as it is though so, I reckon I'll just have to live with it as it is for now.
:frusty:

Click to expand...

As I advised it does seem to be the best way but it can take time, it took weeks to get mine correct. Basically a bleed like that every weekend for a few should see it sorted. I did it 3 times over 3 weeks. Crap design!