Birdbrain
Well-Known Member
- Posts
- 462
I’m posting this here as the clutch on my Series 3 Lightweight operates in same way as a later Defender. There’s a master cylinder then a metal pipe leading down to slave cylinder mounted on gearbox bellhousing.
Before the beginning of the lockdown I drove it into town and lost all the gears at traffic lights. The clutch went straight to the floor with no resistance. After much tooting from the cars behind me and fiddling with the 4 wheel drive & low / high ratio I suddenly got a clutch pedal again and got home without any issues. Suspecting the slave cylinder was leaking I replaced it with a TWR one. All well & good.....until it happened again. I took the slave cylinder out & it but couldn’t see anything wrong but whilst I was puzzling with my head under the bonnet the fluid level in the master cylinder suddenly went up! Ha ha. Master cylinder! I replaced this with a genuine Girling one and had loads of issues bleeding the clutch until I finally got it working, took it for a test drive and all was well.
In the intervening time it’s not moved far - just up & down the drive. This morning I drove it about 10 miles to drop some stuff off for an elderly friend whose in isolation. No problem. Got home, did some Jones then went to go out in it again. No clutch! Checking the fluid level it’s down about 2 cm from top level but I can’t see any leaks from either the master or slave cylinder.
I’m at a loss but thinking perhaps the slave cylinder piston is not returning which may suggest a clutch problem. Anyone got any ideas?
Before the beginning of the lockdown I drove it into town and lost all the gears at traffic lights. The clutch went straight to the floor with no resistance. After much tooting from the cars behind me and fiddling with the 4 wheel drive & low / high ratio I suddenly got a clutch pedal again and got home without any issues. Suspecting the slave cylinder was leaking I replaced it with a TWR one. All well & good.....until it happened again. I took the slave cylinder out & it but couldn’t see anything wrong but whilst I was puzzling with my head under the bonnet the fluid level in the master cylinder suddenly went up! Ha ha. Master cylinder! I replaced this with a genuine Girling one and had loads of issues bleeding the clutch until I finally got it working, took it for a test drive and all was well.
In the intervening time it’s not moved far - just up & down the drive. This morning I drove it about 10 miles to drop some stuff off for an elderly friend whose in isolation. No problem. Got home, did some Jones then went to go out in it again. No clutch! Checking the fluid level it’s down about 2 cm from top level but I can’t see any leaks from either the master or slave cylinder.
I’m at a loss but thinking perhaps the slave cylinder piston is not returning which may suggest a clutch problem. Anyone got any ideas?