Was out in the country, and as I got back into town dropped into 3rd which made a hellish high speed grinding noise, just coasted up to the lights then.

Got throguh town a little bit, with a few more dodgey gear changes to find that the clutch would not disengage, stopped the engine went into 1st with clutch down, turned it on again now the engine was working a bit, and when I stopped breaking she rolled forward almost like the clutch was just at biting point, although fully in.

Got round the corner pulled up and topped up the system, problem would now appear to be intermittant, i.e. drove round the back of my house and I could not get it out of gear, seen sticks broken I didn't try to hard. Then I did another circuit (in 1st) and then it did work.

Now, there has been a fluid leak down the clutch pedel, so do you think the problem is; leak has caused an air intake, and needs bled? But what will that leak be? some gasket in there, how, what, were, part number?

Cheers

if it leaking from tit cylinder then you either have to replace the seals or the whole cylinder. if it wur me i replace the cylinder..

Ok, last night, was driving about then the clutch was stuck again, had to go in 3rd the rest of the way, on the way home a few hours later it worked, stiffly but it worked, there was a lot of rolling down hills and straigth into 3rd.

Today, I went out this morning, and there only one bad gear change, when I was going into 3rd from fourth, so currently its working, but its just a matter of time I think untill I have more problems.

What is behind the pedal, i.e. where is that fluid coming from? Is it the case of changing whatever is in there?

A mechanic I spoke to this morning also thought it was the slave as they are a known problem.

discomania said:

A mechanic I spoke to this morning also thought it was the slave as they are a known problem.

Click to expand...

so this mechanic, is it a mechanic or just someone that's slept with a mechanic?
if you have fluid coming from behind yer pedal how can it be yer actual slave cylinder ? unless of course the laws of gravity cease to exsist on you landrover. i think you need to find a real mechanic. you can borrow mine if you like.

I'm assuming this is on a Defender. Fluid dripping from the pedal means it's the clutch master cyl. Paddocks do new master cylinders for about £10 for a pattern or £20 for a genuine. Air pulled into the system tends to self bleed while the vehicle sits (air rises) which might explain the intermittent problem. When its missing fluid the spring goes past midpoint and keeps the pedal to the floor unless you pull it back up.

Disconnect the clutch pipe from the cyl then remove the whole pedal assy which is held by 6 bolts through the panel under the steering column.

You have to twist it 90 deg to get it out which involves a bit of messing but the new cylinder will take no time to fit once it's on the bench. I have had difficulty bleeding mine properly but once it's working ok just using it for a couple of days will self-bleed any remaining stubborn air.

Clutch master cylinder. every 30000km problem. fluid starts getting mysteriously lesser by the weeks. Assuming you check your clutch fluids weekly, rite? slowly you see a small patch of oil on your floor mat. and one fine day, when you hit the clutch, it goes all the way down.

ok, assuming you're crusing on the highway when it happens, you pull the gear lever out to neutral, and pump the clutch pedal a few times to allow you to do a gear change, provided you still have a lil clutch fluid left.

however, when you're really stuck, in the jungle, you may try goat's milk in the system and get it fixed as soon as you're out. you will then require to flush the entire system and change both the clutch master pump and the slave.

usually you go, like change the master cyclinder once, apply a repair kit when it leaks next and then change the whole thing again. the slave usually lasts twice as long as the master pump.

happy landy-ing.

Clutch master cylinder.

Our TD5 Defender has just eaten 2 master cylinders within the last 2 months. First one failed with all the symptoms described. Initially, wife complained of leak in footwell - this turned out to be clutch fluid.

Cylinder replaced by Land Rover under warranty . This cylinder failed a few weeks later. Another cyclinder raplaced by Land Rover under warranty .

I think there are some dodgy components out there and that perhaps Ford Quality Assurance is becoming more commonplace.....

it's a land rover thing, they all leak. ha ha. but sometimes it's really annoying that the QA is so sucky.

imagine on a modern day td5 with the same clutch pump used on a SIII. so now you tell me..

I wanted to keep the defective cylinders and overhaul them, but the nice repair man said they had to go back to LR for inspection. That made it a repair ubder the warranty.