Gearbox Clutch CVs clutch slave replacement
Symptoms of worn slave cylinder
Covkid: Despite changing most of the gearchange bushings some time ago and fitting a new clutch, I often had to work hard to get it in 1st or reverse. More recently I also started losing fluid from clutch line - so much so I was having to bleed line every couple of days. By now I was clearly losing a lot of fluid at slave cylinder. Replaced slave, gears change perfectly. Worth noting that even if your clutch functions, if its not disengaging properly (and not wholly obvious whether it is or not), it can have a major impact on smooth changes. The biggest indicator is probably the stiffness of the pedal. If its not uncomfortable to sit in traffic with clutch down, chances are the slave is worn out and it doesn't have to be leaking to malfunction like this.
Step-by-step replacing slave cylinder
geordie skydiver: Step-by-step replacing the clutch slave-cylinder
1. Jack up RH rear corner and remove that wheel, remember axle stands for safety!
2. Remove the two nuts and bolts holding the slave cylinder to the mounting bracket. (13mm)
3. Unscrew the hydraulic pipeline into the cylinder. (Cap the pipe with a plastic bag if you are going to leave it for any time)
4. Remove the slave cylinder from the bracket.
5. Place the new cylinder into the bracket. (after removing the blanking cap)
6. Refit the two bolts; bolt in through the bottom, nut on top. The rear one is a bit of a fiddle. Tighten to two white knuckles…
7. Refit the hydraulic pipe to its hole and tighten.
8. Remove the instrument console cover to gain access to the hydraulic fluid reservoir.
9. Remove the reservoir cap and top the hydraulic fluid right up to the brim. (Don’t worry its going to drop down soon)
10. With your helper sat in the driver’s seat, get them to pump the clutch pedal several times.
11. Get the helper to hold the pedal down while you turn the bleed nipple on the slave cylinder, some air/fluid should come out, so have a cloth handy to mop up spills, and please try not to get any on your paintwork.
12. Tighten up the nipple, have the helper release the clutch pedal, then push and hold it down again.
13. Repeat 11.
14. Repeat 12.
15. Continue doing this until you get clean fluid through the bleed nipple, and the clutch pedal has good pressure. (You may need to top up the fluid in the reservoir at some point, I didn’t)
16. Finally tighten the bleed nipple fully, replace the wheel and jack the vehicle down.
17. Replace reservoir cover and instrument console cover.
18. Take helper to the pub as thanks.
19. Enjoy much smoother clutch changes!
Bleeding
Tips
brickinit: Had a quick check on the tech forum to see what the problems would be to replace badly leaking slave cylinder and, sure enough, several gallons of WD40 were needed on the bolts and the union holding the plastic feed pipe was solid and screaming "I'll round off if you come near me"
I got the union off by unbolting the cylinder from the mounting bracket and feeding it (still attached to the pipe) into a position where I could tighten the union into the jaws of my small 'engineers vice which I'd unclamped from the bench in the garage and put on the ground under the bus'
I then wacked the cylinder several times with a large hammer in the direction to slacken it and it eventually came loose!
