Clutch issues on a freelander 1.8 2002 model

Hi, guys been struggling along in trying to get my wife freelander back on the road.
It broke down a few weeks ago with the clutch pedal going to the floor. She was towed to a garage where they claimed the clutch had gone, they quoted over £1000 to fix. We promptly towed the car away from them. On inspection the bracket holding the slave cylinder had failed, the slave cylinder was free and the pin had popped out of the clutch release arm, consequently when she tried the pedal the piston and pin were ejected out onto the road somewhere.
So I bought a new bracket and master / slave cylinder assembly off fleebay. Fitted it and it didn't work. Nothing on the clutch pedal. I tried the clutch release arm thinking dam the garage was right only to find its fine, so hunted around again and found that typically my year they changed the part code for the master cylinder assembly, so I ordered and fitted the correct part number. I didn't get to test fully, but tried it on the drive and it all worked ok, clutch released and could select gear. The rear brakes had stuck on, and there was more than enough bite to drag them free. I decided that since it worked ok I would fit new dics and pads to the front old ones were almost to metal, and found it need new carriers, since I can only work on it on a Sunday morning, its taken a couple of weeks to get to the point where I could fully test drive the car. only to find that after about 15 miles its a pig to change gear, the clutch pedal started to get soft, to the point where I was double declutching to change down, selecting gear from a standstill in a load of grinding, and standing in gear with the clutch pedal depressed the car is creeping, If I put my foot on the brake to hold it the engine stalls. The pedal feels like it needs bleeding, but the system is sealed.
How in the hell do you get air out of that system?
Anybody got any suggestions...

Any air in the system will work its way up to the master cylinder, eventually. Have you made sure that the clutch release lever bearing is oiled? It's vital that the lever is free to move. This is often the reason the slave cylinder bracket fails in the first place.

I picked up a K from a damaged (scrap) car auction. They had obviously been through the same process as it had a new bracket and hydraulic kit installed but still wouldn't work. The release lever was completely siezed. I put a ring spanner over it so I could hit the other end of it with a hammer to free it up - but it still wouldn't budge. I ended up with some angle iron on the other end of the spanner so I could hit it with the biggest axe I've got - that won the battle.

However, something is still f**ked on mine - cos it makes a awful sound. I don't know the history to mine and I haven't got the box off yet to see what else is crapped out. Its still a 'project' sitting in the garage.

Its a good idea to drop a bit of oil on where the release arm goes through the bell housing each time you do a service on the engine. I, of course, always forget to

The clutch release lever is free, its well greased, I can put a spanner on it and move it upto the spring tension of the clutch easy, then with more pressure continue until I feel the clutch release against the spring. I'm Sure the hydraulics have air in them, but the more I press and release the worse it gets. The test drive had must be 50 plus gear changes in it, so would have thought any air would have worked its way back by then.

The first thing to do is to push the slave cylinder fully in. This will push most of the fluid back up to the master cylinder. Push the pedal right down, then push the slave fully in again. Sometimes the clutch lever doesn't push the slave all the way in, hence why you need to do it manually.

Ok cheers will give that a shot

Has the clutch fluid been changed recently. If not I bet its as black as coal and runs like water. It`ll feel like a new clutch afterward.

The whole system is new, and its a sealed system in that no bleed valves. The whole thing is plastic.

daveb500 said:

The whole system is new, and its a sealed system in that no bleed valves. The whole thing is plastic.

Click to expand...

Sorry Dave I didn't realise that. I thought it was the same system as an MGF. I had an MGZS that had the same system ie sealed and plastic and had the same problem. It turned out the bracket that held the slave had bent and wasn't giving full travel for the piston.

Its a daft system, Ive also renewed the bracket as it was that, that caused the failure in the first place. I've bought 2 sets of master cylinders and slave cylinders, first one was as if no fluid in, but when I took it back off and opened it it was full. Then I found my car had a different part number, but no discernible difference between old and new. Atleast it works of a sort. Will just keep going at it.

When I changed the wife's clutch cylinder I hung the master cylinder up and the slave at the bottom just to make sure the air was in the master cylinder and not in the slave also the mechanism can get very tight a bit of easy spray onto all the joints worked fine and I think may have caused the problem that was about 5 years ago and touch wood is still fine .

I've heard of cheap ebay brackets bending, also did you take off the funny plastic cover on the slave. It has two taps which flap about but I don't think it should be removed.
Where did you get the master/slave, I've heard of cheap ones not working for long if at all.

This first I bought off Ebay and that didn't work at all, the second I bought from Craddocks. No I left the clips in place but disengaged the 2 wings on the slave when it was in place, if you do that too soon then the piston pops out and you will get air.

Are you sure the master is secure in the bulkhead. The system is very simple so if the master is secure, correctly fitted and moving properly then the problem must be at the slave or in the clutch itself.

Yes its clipped in place. The whole system is secure. But feels very spongy.

daveb500 said:

Yes its clipped in place. The whole system is secure. But feels very spongy.

Click to expand...

It sounds like it has air in the system.
I've found that air sometimes needs to be pumped out before the cylinders are fitted. I've found this is best done by allowing the slave to be literally hanging below the master. Then fully push the slave cylinder fully in, as to empty the slave of fluid and any air. Then allow the slave to come out again, slowly before pushing it in again. Sometimes this needs to be repeated several times, but it will displace any air trapped in there. Fingers crossed, it will work better when it's refitted. It also helps if you can eliminate any free movement of the slave before it acts upon the release lever. There were spacers available for this at one time. I've not seen them for a while though. So you may need to rig up something to do that.

An update, finally managed to get time to go and work on the freelander. well its fixed itself. Clutch is working fine now. So yes it was air in the system following fitting the new master / slave cylinder. My guess is the air has made its way up the line whilst its been stood for a couple of weeks.

You made the mistake of cutting the flaps, they are designed to break at the first press of the pedal,

Nope, left the flaps in place until the clutch was depressed. The issue didn't materialise until I had driven 15 miles. When it was first tried everything was fine. All I can conclude is that there was air in the system from manufacturing, and that initially it must have worked itself into the wrong point. Given air will rise to the top in a fluid eventually, and because due to time available I had to let it stand for a couple of weeks it must have worked its way to reservoir. After driving it last night there does still feel to be air in there, but is not too bad, also looking at the slave cylinder in the new bracket the free end moves around when depressing the clutch pedal. Reading a post further up, the poster stated they put some zip ties around the slave cylinder as extra insurance. I did that and took the car for another test, and it does feel better. I would say that the whole design smacks of penny pinching. Given this vehicle was designed at a time when Land Rover and Rover were in deep trouble, you can clearly see thins in the components used. I have followed this issue through a number of forums on vehicles using this engine and there is a similar theme, its a pity nobody has come up with a more conventional fix.

Did you still have the plastic clip that is supposed to hold it in position?
BTW on mine I partially pushed the clutch with the slave not fitted, it popped the rod out but was very lucky it didn't let air in. I just shoved the rod back into position, refitted it and all was well so it isn't as fragile as we might think. At least the original one isn't, I've also messed about with the unit out of the car and the tabs not securing the rod in position with no problems.