Cheap patent clutch cylinder woes

Other people seem to be having plenty of clutch problems so I thought I
would add my latest to the list.

Master cylinder stopped working one weekend, on inspetion there was
hydraulic fluid leaking past the piston seal. I got hold of a master repair
kit and took the cylinder apart.
Inside there was a large amount of aluminium swarf washing around the
cylinder bore, left in side by the manufacturer. No doubt this was getting
stuck in the seals and causing fluid to leak in one direction, and sucking
in air the other. To top it off the replacment seals were completely the
wrong size and the piston was too tight to move in the cylinder.
The whole lot is going back and I'm going ot get a proper lucus unit.

Anyone seen this problem before. The cylinder was opperating OK for months
and happily returning to its rest position with a small amount of travel.

David
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DavidM djm81NOSPAMatcam.ac.uk

DavidM wrote:
> Other people seem to be having plenty of clutch problems so I thought I
> would add my latest to the list.
>
> Master cylinder stopped working one weekend, on inspetion there was
> hydraulic fluid leaking past the piston seal. I got hold of a master repair
> kit and took the cylinder apart.
> Inside there was a large amount of aluminium swarf washing around the
> cylinder bore, left in side by the manufacturer. No doubt this was getting
> stuck in the seals and causing fluid to leak in one direction, and sucking
> in air the other. To top it off the replacment seals were completely the
> wrong size and the piston was too tight to move in the cylinder.
> The whole lot is going back and I'm going ot get a proper lucus unit.
>
> Anyone seen this problem before. The cylinder was opperating OK for months
> and happily returning to its rest position with a small amount of travel.

Swarf left in the cylinders is fairly rare, but I've seen it masny times
over the years both with OE and pattern parts. The "too tight" problem
may well be that an OE seal kit is imperial and the pattern part is
metric sized - this change often even happens even with replacement OE
parts. The *only* way to safe with hydraulic sels is to order by the
number on the, or by measuring the bore carefully (with a bore guage).

PITA it is, but think about us poor mechanics who have to put up with
this sh*t every day - relax, stop getting wound up about it, and just
plod along as happily as you can, otherwise you'll die of an acute
myocardial infarction before your next birthday.

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EMB
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