New hippo teething issues - clutch & brakes

Hi all,

Mrs and I went for an upgrade from old FL van to a facelift Td4 Sport, got a few questions on some things.

The clutch bites very low, you have to make sure that you push the pedal with tip of toe so that it can be pushed far enough to work properly, clutch fluid is sufficient but quite cloudy, I was planning on bleeding it but have a few questions about the clutch pedal itself. Pedal sits roughly level with the throttle pedal but it can be pulled up from its resting position where it will sit about an inch higher then the brake pedal and it will stay there by spring pressure. When it does this it can be seen to push on a switch where the pedal pivots, pushing the pedal back down will make the spring hold it in its normal position. This does not seem correct?

Other thing is the rear drums seem to stick, not always it seems they almost release and rebind randomly, even if the handbrake or pedal aren't used. Not usually noticeable when driving but often when pulling away, have noticed it to be very bad when parking on a drive with a slight slope and using the handbrake, if only for a couple of minutes, when released it won't roll back and has caused engine to stall when reversing off. I'm planning on taking drums apart and checking shoes and mechanisms.

Any advice on these much appreciated.

not completely sure about the Td4 but I think the clutch fluid is in a sealed system, 2 cylinders, one on top of the pedal the other on a plate mounted outside the gearbox.
the mounting of the cylinder on the plate comes loose very often making the pedal get extra travel, check it before it brakes.
on the rear brakes taking out the drums and some clean & lube usually does the trick, if not cables might be starting to split and binding.

Had a slimilar problem with clutch and clutch pedal.
Low biting point and pedal sitting high. There was evidence of leak on the inside of the bulkhead, master cylinder leaking along the operating rod. Changed the master cylinder and bled the system, biting point is still very low!
The pedal has a small plastic adjusting mechanism with an electrical sensor, haven't managed to find any information out about this, but mine had worn and the pedal would keep jumping up into the higher position. I ended up using double sided tape to attach a small spacer, about 3 to 5mm, onto the petal stop. This keeps the pedal at what feels to me to be the correct position, roughly level with brake pedal.
Hope this helps.

Chris

Thanks for the replies, bled the clutch earlier some dirty fluid came out but it's not really any different. Master cylinder didn't seem to push much fluid with each pump. Can't see the slave move when pressing clutch so assume mounting plate is ok. Just seems like pedal needs to push cylinder sooner or cylinder needs to move a bit more fluid. Doesn't seem to be any adjustment on this system unlike the Defender one.

ummm, your slave cylinder is a concentric slave inside the gearbox - it can not be seen or accessed from the outside.

The bleed nipple sticking out above the gearbox allows the whole clutch hydraulic system to be bled - only a small squirt comes out with each pedal stroke.

The master cylinder can be replaced separately quite easily - it unclips from the bulkhead and pedal and there is a quick release connector in the hydraulic line. If the slave cylinder needs replaced the gearbox needs to be removed and it would be silly not to replace the clutch while it is in bits. Oh and it is a dual-mass flywheel which may well need changed at the same time. Budget a 4 figure sum for a garage to do this for you.

Mine is a 2001 model and there is no adjustment on the pedal at all.

Low biting point seems to be quite common on td4's. Mine was a pain in the ass so I cut the clevis pin off the pedal and re-welded it a few millimeters further forward, which raised the biting point up to a civilised level.

dave21478 said:

Low biting point seems to be quite common on td4's. Mine was a pain in the ass so I cut the clevis pin off the pedal and re-welded it a few millimeters further forward, which raised the biting point up to a civilised level.

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That sounds good, I shall look into doing that perhaps. Thanks for that one Dave.

I have a low biting point too. Lift the clutch pedal a gnats pube off the carpet and you have motion.