P38A Clutch slave cylinder piston bid for freedom

Hi

Approaching a junction yesterday, the clutch pedal went all the way to the floor. Upon exiting the vehicle, there was a copious amount of hydraulic fluid departing onto the road...

We were parked in a pretty dangerous place so I arranged recovery. When we got back home, laying on the bed of the recovery truck was the piston, seal and push rod for the slave cylinder!

Has anyone had these spontaneously depart the vehicle before? It's difficult to see how it could happen to be honest... I've not done any further investigation yet.

Steve

Shaft roll pins have probably failed.

Agree with Wammers roll pins have gone mine did exactly the same thing twice, get underneath and give the arm out of the gearbox a wiggle you will probably find it moves around with out any effort towards the back of the car, box out job a pain in the ariss for a couple of pins, if you do it make sure you double pin it or triple as I did.

Correct slave cylinder fitted?

As previously posted, when it happened to me I Started it in gear and got home by changing gear ,double declutchng by ear. I wonder how many members remember crash gearboxes. Wammers for one because he's old like me.

tomcat59alan said:

As previously posted, when it happened to me I Started it in gear and got home by changing gear ,double declining by ear. I wonder how many members remember crash gearboxes. Wammers for one because he's old like me.

Click to expand...

Double-declutching was fun. Seem to remember going down was harder than up.

Double-declining. Been on the receiving end of that a few times but not sure how it helps to get the car home.

Grrrrrr said:

Double-declutching was fun. Seem to remember going down was harder than up.

Double-declining. Been on the receiving end of that a few times but not sure how it helps to get the car home.

Click to expand...

It is perfectly possible to change gear up or down without a clutch, done it many times to get a vehicle back for repair.

Thanks everyone.

I'm looking at another P38 this afternoon - perhaps mine knew this and decided now would be the right time to cause me the maximum amount of hassle! It was probably it's last chance to do so

Box out is way beyond the maximum hassle I'm willing to go to on this. I'll get under there this morning for a nosey.

Hi Folks,

Could you please have a look at this video:-


My highly advanced automotive diagnostic skills (!) inform me that I should be able to just replace the slave cylinder (and possibly for good measure the push rod)?

Cheers,

Steve

How on earth did it come out though...?

stevelup said:

Thanks everyone.

I'm looking at another P38 this afternoon - perhaps mine knew this and decided now would be the right time to cause me the maximum amount of hassle! It was probably it's last chance to do so

Box out is way beyond the maximum hassle I'm willing to go to on this. I'll get under there this morning for a nosey.

Click to expand...

Box out new pins, £2 the pair and a new slave cylinder. You may even be able to reuse the cylinder if you have the bits. I couldn't because mine damaged the seal. While you have it stripped down it's worth a new clutch as well if you don't know it's history.

Grrrrrr said:

Double-declutching was fun. Seem to remember going down was harder than up.

Double-declining. Been on the receiving end of that a few times but not sure how it helps to get the car home.

Click to expand...

Bloody pre dick tiv text.

stevelup said:

How on earth did it come out though...?

Click to expand...

Defo the roll pins that hold the clutch release fork to the shaft, when they go it allows excess travel of the

stevelup said:

How on earth did it come out though...?

Click to expand...

When the pins that hold the release fork to the shaft fail it allows excess travel of the piston in the cylinder until it falls apart.

-deleted- replies crossed!

Found this whilst clearing the garage yesterday, shows the fork and the stupid pins

I'm not disagreeing with your diagnosis, but I would have thought those things have either failed or haven't. I'm only getting about 5mm of movement on the end of the lever. I'd expect it to be spinning completely loose if the pins had failed.

Bit more than 5mm, can you get a pipe on the end of the release arm and put it under pressure? The release bearing could have collapsed or pushed through the pressure plate springs, whatever its box out and see. If you have a duel mass flywheel set up then Grrrrrr's the man to speak to because he's just done his.

Someone else on here had a slave cylinder that kept popping out. Did we ever get to the bottom of it? And there was someone on here whose release bearing had ripped straight through.

You could always reassemble, bleed it and see what happens but as Tomcat says I'd imagine it'll bang straight out again. Less work than 2 days under it removing and replacing the box. It isn't difficult but it is heavy. I made up a sort of adapter plate that sits in my trolley jack saddle. @BrianDSE used a motorbike jack with wood and if I had one I'd do that next time.

I've tried applying pressure to the arm with a short length of pipe - I can barely move it, but it does feel like it is moving against a sprung load as you would expect.

I guess I know what I'm attempting at the weekend then

The first time mine went peddle hit floor that's funny I thought hooked my foot under peddle pulled it up tried again all ok and thought nothing of it, few weeks later it went big time at the most awkward moment, all I could think is when I pulled it back up the broken roll pin drop back in a bit and lasted a little longer, so the movement you have may be that , my arm would move a lot more than that.