Fried clutch, possibly ... ?

Disco 300 Tdi '96/'97 P reg, 3 door, manual box, no engine ecu/becm etc. Had a new clutch at 60ooo miles and we're close to 120ooo now ....

So, went out yesterday, gentle laning, mostly dry no issues, went into a small quarry we use sometimes and did a few mudholes, hillclimbs etc and all was well. Drove home and all was fine till we got to other side of Doncaster from our house.

Set off from roundabout as normal, but revs went way up and speed slowing down, changed into second, same thing, into third same thing, straight to top and got going something like so bimbled along at 40.

Next roundabout same thing, and similar all the way home at every roundabout/junction I stopped at.

No variation on temp gauge, no water loss, no oil loss, all systems look good .. indeed this morning just been for an hours spin around Donnie and all feels well, up to temp as normal, everything feels fine. No clutch slipping, in fact I slipped the clutch myself on one roundabout and it dropped back as it should and all was well.

So, anyone any clue as to what might have happened?

Must admit to being flummoxed, only thing I can think of is that the clutch somehow got hot on it's own and just said "feck off" for an hour or so and now that it's cooled down it's OK again. I think it's pointing me towards fitting a new clutch anyway, but I'd like to know if anyone else has had this or has a clue about it.

have you had a looksie at the clutch fluid maybe..:confused2:

Looks fine as of 10 mins ago ...

Now, funny thing ... I always put wading plugs in when I go out, just in case it gets deep. This morning, well 10 mins ago, the timing case one is still there, the bellhousing plug isn't ... sooooo is it possible that water got in and cooked the clutch? Seems like it to me, but ...

It seems odd as it happened 30 odd miles from the water/mud and an hour or two ... Hopefully it's temporary as it drove OK this am ..

you would have thought that you would have felt the difference straight away if water had got in..
We broke down yesterday with my mates cooling system going tits in his disco.... aaarrrhhh bloody airlocks are brill... managed to get back after 5-6 stops to realease the pressure and let it stop gargerling,

heggars said:

you would have thought that you would have felt the difference straight away if water had got in..

Click to expand...

That's what I thought and is what's making me wonder what happened.

I had the same thing on a diesel Passat and a diesel Astra Van - I felt the clutch slipping after a bad gear change at a roundabout (put it in 4th and not 2nd to pull off on both occasions and rode the clutch too much to get em moving!) - clutch felt like it was knacked and was stinking but after 10 minutes of careful driving it cooled down and was fine afterwards on both vehicles. Both cars are company cars and to my knowledge they still haven't had to have the clutch changed.
Might have just slipped, overheated and kept slipping until the plates cooled down.

i woder if some **** had gotten in and somehow was holding the thrust pressure onto the spring allowing the clutch to slip. it certainly sounds like slip, and strange its now gone.
First indication of a clutch "getting to the end of its life" is slight slip when you put it into top. As i've said on previous "clutch" threads, my focus slips when i put it into top under acceleration, but only a little, so i know a clutch will be needed soon.

My disco's clutch will slip a little bit occasionally usually on a hill in 4th or 5th gear. Seems random as I can't make it do it for weeks then it'll do it a couple of times. Even towed the remains of another disco on a trailer up a big hill to the scrappers the other week and it didn't slip. Probably is on it's last legs but it'll have to do for now.

Its on the way then... don't panic yet though. I first noticed my Focus about this time last year, its done 25000 m since then including two trips to Poland and its only slightly worse now... I will do it this spring though....

It'l only have to last me a month or two and it'l be getting broken for spares anyway so shouldn't be a problem. If it does go tits up it'll just bring the fateful day forward a bit.