[Chris_C2000]

Had a bit of a trek tonight. Bout 120 mile bounce all over the places trip. Last stop was to visit GroovyLee and borrow a caliper piston rewind tool. He also gave me a brake fluid top up and a HUGE jubilee clip and LOTS of really good advice Cheers m8ty!

Now.. On the way to his my clutch biting point started decending from midway to the floor. At his house it was ok. Could get it into gear. Two miles (of 20) on my way home I stopped for fuel and couldnt get it into first. Rolled the car forward a bit and it slipped into first, 10 miles down the road and was poping the clutch 4-5 times while rolling forward to get it to go into any gear, 1 mile from home the biting point must have decended past the floor because it was trying to pull away/stall while I held it at the last set of traffic light. Last mile in second!

Before my nightmare journey home GroovyLee suggested it was probabily my clutch slave cylinder (It appears to be leaking oil all over the place at the moment) but I just thought I'd check now I have a fuller story as I probabily have 1 (short) journey left in the car and I want to make sure it's right!

And tomorrow I have the kids on my own so anywhere the car goes they have to come with me!

Notes: 1997 P1 2.0 TS
Thrust Bearing *is* whining at the moment

I swear the car's complaining because I overworked her doing such a long journey

TL;DR: Clutch biting point decending, is it slave cylinder?

Cheers,
Chris

 

[SimonT]

Sounds like correct diagnosis of leak (especially as you can see it is!!!). Because of lack of & therefore contaminated fluid you have to push the pedal further/harder to move the clutch plate. Just the same is if your brakes need bleeding and they need a number of pushes to operate, or at least feel harder. Similarly a few swift pumps of the clutch may help to get it in gear but you are just pumping fluid out at the same time so ideally fix it asap. I gather it is a cheap and easy replacement.

 

[seadart]

if its leaking its deffo the problem .. slave cylinder about twenty five quid I think.. and about an hour to change and bleed..

you can do your brakes at the same time

 

[Chris_C2000]

Wish I understood how these things worked! Learning but slowly

 

[groovylee]

glad you got home in one piece dude she'll be all sorted in no time :thumbs:

 

[EauRouge]

remember clutch & brakes are serviced by the same hydraulics tank so do not let it run dry as you will have to bleed brakes as well as clutch.

 

[Starkers]

remember clutch & brakes are serviced by the same hydraulics tank so do not let it run dry as you will have to bleed brakes as well as clutch.

+1.

So keep the resevoir topped up, it is not exactly the most efficient option (fluid will continue to pisz everywhere) but it will get you where you need to go.

Also, clutchless gear changes are reasonably easy to perform, if you know how to do them (they are not hard with a bit of practice).