Clutch leak

Afternoon all,

Not long after buying my 300 i noticed a slight dribble of fluid dripping off the pedal. This got worse and worse and i was starting to get worried. then it stopped checked the fluid level, it was still there so i topped it up a little. not had a problem with it yet (2weeks later). Is this a sign that my master cylinder is about to give up?

If it is, how much of a job is it to remove/replace? haynes says to take pedal box apart etc. but i thought i may be able to just pull it out or is it more difficult than this want to get it done this month before Morocco incase it goes out there.

cheers for your experienced help!

G

You can get a kit with all the seals in it and Mate has just done his. Might be worth getting a spare set of seals for Morroco just in case.

I have a set of seals here for both, they are easy to do, just strip the old cylinder down. Note the way that the seals sit as you can put them in the wrong way round - lubricate them with a little fluid as you build it.

Also when you have all the fluid out etc, it would be worth getting the slave kit too and just doing the lot; there are some who say that because you have done the master the slave will now recieve full pressure and blah blah blah... But as I say, the fluid is the hardest part to be honest so I would go all out and do the whole system.

It will probably cost you less than £20 inc. fluid.

yer i took the slave out on my old 90 and thats easy. can you pull the master out without undoing the pedal box etc? how long would it take? to be honest, i will prob just buy the master and slave instead of the seal kits... Im bound to put it back together wrong! and the units are pretty cheap anyway. Will prob do it before Moroc and maybe take the old 'uns as spares incase.

G

Adz helped me replace mine and it was pretty straight foward and easy. I think we pulled the whole unit including the pedal thru the hole it goes thru in the bulkhead. Took us about 4 hrs I think. The hardest part was bleeding the bastid thing afterwards.

My slave cylinder leaked for a while, then it got really bad and emptied the fluid one night. Got home, put some fluid in it, ordered a new seal kit, it hasn't leaked for over a year now, just cos it heard me on the one ordering the seals.

Who knows...

The haynes manual is right on this occasion. You'll find it very hard to get to the master cylinder without taking the pedal box out, Its only six bolts inside the footwell anyway so no big deal. Should be about 2 hours work replacing the master this way, then however long it takes to bleed it.

Thanks for your insight ladies and gents. Grunt gave some good bleeding tips a while back when i changed the slave on me old 90. will set aside a day on a weekend to get it done before October

G

Griffdowg said:

yer i took the slave out on my old 90 and thats easy. can you pull the master out without undoing the pedal box etc? how long would it take? to be honest, i will prob just buy the master and slave instead of the seal kits... Im bound to put it back together wrong! and the units are pretty cheap anyway. Will prob do it before Moroc and maybe take the old 'uns as spares incase.

G

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The best plan is to undo the union on the master, and undo the bolts holding the box to the bulkhead, then remove the pedal box through the engine bay (worth taking the bonnet off), this should only take about 15/20mins, then its cylinder out time, 2 bolts and the push rod nuts, then it depends if your fitting new cylinder or rebuilding your own, if your rebuilding it and you've never done it before give yourself 30mins plus refit time, 15/20minutes to get the new one in.

Putting the box back in takes as long as it takes to get the bolts back in, put the pipe back on and thats the top end done.

Get down below with a 11mm spanner? and remove the pipe from the slave, take the two bolts out of that and it will come off pretty easily. Again if your rebuilding it give yourself 30mins or so, refitting will take about 10minutes.

Then open the bottom bleed nipple and have someone pour fluid into the main resivoir until it pours out of the slave, let them keep pouring until it runs quite clear then lock the nipple off and get the fluid pouring person into the drivers seat, get them to start slowly pushing the clutch as you undo the nipple a little, the fluid will come out quite fast now, once they are nearing the end of the pedal travel get them to tell you and you can tighten the nipple up. Top up with fluid and do this another 2/3 times.

I always go for the fluid pouring through the system method as it saves time and works on my 90 everytime.

I would say if your rebuilding and your new to rebuilding you could do it in about 3 hours.

If your just replacing the cylinders take an hour off that. Once you have done the cylinders once you will be able to rebuild them in 10minutes each.

cheers disco,

will go for the straight replace. may order the seal kit for both though and do the old ones to take as spares? not a bad idea me thinks

Cheers,

G

Griffdowg said:

cheers disco,

will go for the straight replace. may order the seal kit for both though and do the old ones to take as spares? not a bad idea me thinks

Cheers,

G

Click to expand...

Yeah I did that - when the one in the landy goes faulty I rebuild the old one and then swap it out.