Clutch bleed driving me mad

I fitted a Borg & Beck clutch
New Slave Cylinder
New Leaver and new Master Cylinder, so everything is new I removed the clutch damper and fitted the line straight to the slave, there are no leaks anywhere. Since fitting the clutch about 8 months ago I have continually tried to get a decent clutch pedal but it just will not get there, I get enough to drive about but at times it does get difficult to change gear, so back home for another go I’ve bleed the normal way, I’ve bleed with ezeey bleed I’ve tried just about every way known to man but still not enough clutch, the slave is the correct way up, I am not a novice when it comes to vehicles I’ve done just about everything in repairs but this ------- clutch is driving me mad so much so that I am considering selling the bloody thing.

not unknown for masters and slaves to be faulty in the box....dont rule them out cos their new.

^^^ ...so for the clutch kit.... happened to me with bran' new AP kit, i had to remove the box again to put another one... which worked fine.... use a piece of wood or something and put it between the pedal and the seat as to block the pedal fully down and leave it so overnight (or for at least 6 hours)...if u have a good/strong pedal and it still doesnt engage imo the clutch is not good...you must have made sure that the pushrod was not worn aswell

I've had the same and have just been driving round the problem. Is the flexible pipe between the bulkhead and the slave made of rubber? On other cars I've experienced these breaking down on the inside and closing up, which would obviously prevent getting a well bled hydraulic line.

Changed both my clutch cylinders after the slave failed, and I am now crunching through the gears cos it won't bleed. I have tried to bleed it well over 10 times using different methods, and even tried the above method of holding down the clutch pedal overnight..
I have heard that the damper can be hard to bleed, so it may be that..

Had same problem on a previouse 300 tdi, ended up leaving it for a week as I got ****ed of with bleeding it so used my other car and after a week I started it up to try the clutch and it was perfect..Hope this helps...Tony

sierrafery Thanks for the imformation I will try what you suggest with the pedal and see if it has any affect , I’ll let you know tomorrow.
NickVyse
Thank you for your help, the main feed pipe down to the slave does have the curly pipe in line, but it’s hard plastic, worth a thought though thanks.
JonnyP
Yes the damper can be difficult to bleed so I took mine out of line in case it was that causing the problem, I have found the damper to be of no help at all indeed my local Landrover garage told me the damper serves no purpose . so took it out of line and fitted feed pipe straight to slave. Sierrafery made a valid point about the push rod, I did not check length but it did look ok. It appears almost like the master is reaching it’s full travel but needs another 1”, but the clutch is correct identical to the original, the slave is of good quality as I will not buy Brit Part crap the master cylinder is also of good quality , I have changed many clutches over the years in Range rover classics this is my first disco but the setup is the same, Ive had the gearbox out incase I missed something but no all ok. It just will not give me full engagement.
Tony S
I use the car all the time perhaps it was disco fairy’s that rectified yours, I’ll be on my knees tonight

U can try to insert a small nut/bearing ball or something which fits within the slave cylinder between the piston and the pushrod which will make the pushrod to go deeper if u see what i mean... i used a 3mm spacer made on the lathe once and it made the trick with a "lazy" clutch.

sierrafery said:

U can try to insert a small nut/bearing ball or something which fits within the slave cylinder between the piston and the pushrod which will make the pushrod to go deeper if u see what i mean... i used a 3mm spacer made on the lathe once and it made the trick with a "lazy" clutch.

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I see what you mean clever idea well done you, I had a singular problem years ago when I fitted a Nisson diesel conversion into a petrol two door Range rover classic, the push rod was short by 2” I think as soon as you pushed the pedal the push rod dropped out, so I welded a bolt shank on the end of the push rod shaped it job done. But on the RR classic you could get at the fixing point through the side of the gearbox. Ok thanks for your idea I’ll give it a go as soon as I can get onto it.

sierrafery said:

U can try to insert a small nut/bearing ball or something which fits within the slave cylinder between the piston and the pushrod which will make the pushrod to go deeper if u see what i mean... i used a 3mm spacer made on the lathe once and it made the trick with a "lazy" clutch.

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I tried that with mine - made no difference.

Gunny said:

...I’ll be on my knees tonight

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sierrafery said:

U can try to insert a small nut/bearing ball or something which fits within ... make the pushrod to go deeper if u see what i mean...

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Well put ¼ inch nut in the slave no difference, completely out of ideas now I have tried everything, makes no bloody sense at all, had long discussion with mechanic colleague last eve neither of us can make any sense at all, Replaced clutch with identical clutch, replaced lever as exiting one had done the classic split on the pivot, replaced slave cylinder , replaced master cylinder, bleed system as I have always done clutch not 100%, so took clutch damper out of line suspecting maybe holding air, rebleed clutch still the same, bleed the clutch with pressure no air, still the same not 100% release.
What the F--- is going on.

sounds like the fork isn't pushing on the clutch correctly. Are the slippers moving freely and is it pivoting ok

redhand said:

sounds like the fork isn't pushing on the clutch correctly. Are the slippers moving freely and is it pivoting ok

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Well I’ve had the engine out 3 times to take another look and I can’t see anything out of place all seem to work as it should.

I just put a thread up also Gunny on my clutch problem,

Mine just wouldnt bleed up,

Tryed the method of leaving clutch pedal down to floor, bleed nipple open, did absolutly nothing,

Decided to try drip bleeding it again with the pedal up, my younger brother just thinks its the way to do it, (everyone has their ways I suppose) left it a good few hours, well it was about 5 hours or so as I forgot about it to be honest, fluid had dropped a bit in master cylinder, tryed bleeding it again as normal, clutch down open nipple,etc, after 5 minutes or so, clutch works fine now,

Might be worth a try mate,

Think you get to the stage you will try anything, even i you have already tryed it.

Good luck

then IMO the clutch is not good...as i said, happened to me once with new AP clutch.

Tryed the method of leaving clutch pedal down to floor, bleed nipple open, did absolutly nothing,

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^^^^ this method is worthless with the bleed nipple open... it must be closed as the fluid within to "push" slowly the air back up through the master cylinder

I don't know where your bite is but mine was right at top a was slipping with new slave arm and new ap clutch kit . Noticed that when I removed slave the plunger was half way down so pushed it fully into chamber with a screwdriver then replaced and bled now it's fine, I think air was being trapped in slave and when plunger pushed all the way in no air trapped so fluid filled cyl and not air ...