Clutch Problems

Hi there,

I have recently purchased a 2004 TD4 Sport. When purchased the bloke said the clutch release bearing needed replacement, but may last for months yet. This was all taken into account in the purchase price. It was noisy when the clutch was engaged but I put up with it for the last few weeks while i researched changing it myself.

Just done a 200mile round trip. Reversed int the drive and as I released the clutch the clutch pedal stayed down! So my assumption is the clutch has now gone as I can't engage any gears and the clutch remains down if pressed while the engine on.

Sooo:

A - was the noise when the clutch was pressed actually the clutch release bearing or just the clutch getting to the end of its life?

B - has the clutch actually gone or is it the master cylinder or both?

C- If I change the Clutch, Flywheel, Clutch release bearing and poss master cylinder, does anything else need doing at the same time?

Car has only done 70k so am a bit sceptical that the clutch is actually finished, could it just be the master cylinder?

CONFUSED, any advice would be really appreciated, I don't want to commit myself to an expensive job if I don't need to.

hiya

i would have thought that the pedal staying down could be a stuck slave or possibly the master cyl, have u checked underneath to see if the slave rod hasnt stuck out etc,

i would check both for any leaks etc first, possibly bleed out the system and go from there

would have thought the noise if a release bearing but when i use to replace the bearing always dropped a new clutch and pressure plate in there in case the pressure plate fingers were worn of broken and seemed alot better to renew the complete clutch and bearing at the same time seeing youve got to take the gearbox out anyway

ref the clutch it would normally slip if it was worn etc

when u get the gearbox out, check there is no oil ingress in there from a seal,

clean everything out so its spotless , check all the seals in the slave and master cylinder, pipes and make sure there are no leaks anywhere and replace the clutch fluid so its all been checked and done

hope that helps abit , ive now got an auto but know there are plenty of other guys here that may have better advice than me

gary

i imagine the clutch release bearing has ground its way through the release fingers so trapping the bearing , difficult to check because all linkage is internal, it is also possible by coincidence that the master cyl has decided to pack up, so you need to check this.

Have a look under the car to see if any fluid is dripping out of the bell housing when the clutch is pressed............I'm assuming you can lift the clutch pedal up by hand?
You could also take the top off the clutch fluid reservoir to see if it drops when the pedal is depressed.
They use a concentric slave which are known to go once they get noisy ........mine lasted about a year before it finally went.

I got it onto stands this morning and proceeded to spend the next hour removing the engine tray, that was much harder than expected! Anyhow there is no fluid at all in the reservoir and once the tray was off it was leaking all over the bottom of the bell housing. My assumption is that it must be the slave, thanks for the responses guys would you agree the same?

Yep.. Slaves eaten itself.
Gearbox out job so you might as well do the clutch at the same time.