Freelander 1 FL1 td4 clutch pedal dropped to floor - master or slave

Clutch pedal dropped to the floor on my FL 1 td4 with zero travel.

Lifted pedal and it’s seemingly OK again.

Is this more likely a failing master cylinder than slave?

I’m slightly confused as Island 4x4 state on the item listing for both Britpart and LUK (I’d buy LUK) “Do Not Bleed” yet Haynes give bleeding instructions.

How difficult is it to change the master cylinder and should it be bled or not?

Many thanks

Island 4x4 also state that slave should be replaced at the same time:

Must only be fitted by a specialist and with a new slave cylinder (DO NOT BLEED!!).

Rave makes no mention of this, I assume they’re covering themselves for a bad seal.

There’s no way I’m removing the gearbox myself and with the age / mileage of the car (2006 105k) I would need to factor a clutch while the gearbox was out and it’s probably not viable to spend that cash on it.


Car is driving normally now but with the clutch problem on my mind.

There's no need to replace the concentric slave if it's not leaking.
The MC is connected to the concentric via a quick coupler, and is prefilled so bleeding shouldn't be needed. However in my experience, air can enter the pipeline during shipping, so bleeding is often needed. The system takes DOT 3 or 4 fluid.

Nodge68 said:

There's no need to replace the concentric slave if it's not leaking.
The MC is connected to the concentric via a quick coupler, and is prefilled so bleeding shouldn't be needed. However in my experience, air can enter the pipeline during shipping, so bleeding is often needed. The system takes DOT 3 or 4 fluid.

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Thanks Nodge.

I got a LUK master cylinder being delivered today.

Hopefully not to fiddly to replace with my big hands. Is there a knack to the quick connector since I don’t have the LR tool?

I’ve got a pressure bleeder but just wondering if the old trick of leaving the clutch depressed overnight would work if there’s any sponginess?

Haynes suggests if pressure bleeding it would need lower pressure than for bleeding brakes.

Master cylinder has arrived. For some reason I was expecting a removeable reservoir cap with the talk of bleeding even though I knew the one on the car wasn’t removeable .

Now I’m nervous to fit it I case I end up with more problems as I don’t have a universal cap adapter for my pressure bleeder.

Why couldn’t LR have used a more standard hydraulic system?