Right. here goes.

Clutch died on us last week, went to climb a hill, foot on clutch, and the clutch didn't dis-engage ( couldn't get a gear.) Started in first, limped home.

Into my workshop, Diagnosed master cyl as the problem, after seeing a fairly poor output.

Replaced with a known working unit from a 300tdi. Its the type with the "fork" end for the pedal, and the output on the end face of the master cyl.

Tried to beed it for a bit, no luck. Decided to remove the slave to check for leaks etc. Slave checked out ok, the piston didn't want to come out of the bore - due to a small build up of crap. Cleaned it all out, Cleaned threads, cleared the crap from the bleed nipple, Filled with fluid. Functions like i would expect a slave to : Push piston in by hand, Fluid comes out of feed hole. Block feed hole, open bleed, Push piston, fluid comes out.

Fork rod was in place, but i noticed a fair bit of "endfloat" on the clutch fork. I'd guess at 1 inch, but when re-fitting the slave, there was still a need to apply pressure to the cyl in order to fit bolts ( that means its pushing the pison back into the bore)

So, must be a pipe issue i thought. Removed all the pipe from master to slave, blew throught with the compressor, Absoloutly fine. Noticed a small crack on the male end that goes into the master. Used a cut off tool to remove the damaged part. It still bottoms out before the threads run out if that makes sense.

re-fitted all pipes after cleaning the threads in the buff. Figured it MUST be a air/bleed issue. Grabbed the midivac. When sucking from the bleed nipple, it just seems to pull air, hardly ANY fluid. Tried for 20 mins. made up a back bleeder with a old 044 fuel pump i had lying around. Tried to back bleed for 30 seconds....Lock the nipple off, No pedal. even trying to manual bleed it from there didn't work....( front end jacked up) Clutch down, open nipple, close nipple, pedal up then down, open close....Like 50 times. hardly any fluid out.

Am i loosing my mind ??

The new master has LOADS of pressure behind it, Sprays out like it should, and instantly pushes fluid past your finger if you try to seal it off. No fluid leaking from either the master into the footwell, or the slave into the housing.

Any opinions welcome, I don't know landy's well, but i've never had this much problem bleeding a hyd system before. My only theory is that the pressure plate, or the thrust bearing has died, and is allowing the piston from the slave to go out too far, thus allowing air to enter. that would however, show as fluid leaking into the housing.

HELP !

 

the plot thickens.

after much messing around, i've discovered the following things :

the old master cyl has a sliding metal collet on the shaft - the new one does not - both appear to be the same - can anyone suggest what this sliding collet does ?? it looks like it may just be to stop the rubber grommet grabbing hold of the shaft.

also, whilst trying to bleed the system for the 900th time, we dedided to use the old one but not connected up to the pedal. connected up the hyd line, nipped it up, and to my suprise, the pipe was spinning in the fitting. nipped it up some more, still spinning. rammed it home....still spinning.

does that indicate that the pipe is shot, or the threaded nut. that could allow air to be drawn in, as opposed to fresh fluid from the resv. hence when the piston strokes forward, its pushing fluid and air into the system.

 

I wish I could help you man.

 

Update for those of you watching from a distance.

As i mentioned, when i removed the slave, i inspected it, blew it through, cleared the bleed nipple etc.

tonight we made and installed a new zinc pipe master to flexi, then vac bled every component with an industrial ( think hgv ) vac bleeder.. Master vac bled no probem, pipe, no probem, flexi no problem....put it on the slave bleed nipple ( open) and suddenly it was pulling a massive vacuum. Removed bleed nipple, Slave bled no problem.

Cleared the nipple out again, refitted, bled for half a second, then blocked up again. On closer inspection of the slave ( removed by now) The mesh screen at the bottom of the bore is torn - hence allowing the crap into the bleed nipple. New slave and flexi on order ( hope i ordered the correct one!)

 

All my Rovers but one have manual gearboxes, but I don't read short hand so I don't feel like trying to sort through everything you've written.

 

Yet you had a burning desire to post a pointless rant ?

I'd hardly call it shorthand (one word, not two) - I write shorthand on a daily basis at work, and there is very little chance of you being able to read it !

Thanks for your input.

 

Not a rant, nor even a burning desire, just saying write intelligibly so it's not a struggle to read. If you want help that is.
So, indeed, there was a point.

A rant would have been if I just made a general complaint about people on forums who can't seem to construct a sentence using basic rules of grammar.

 

But, as i'm sure you understand, my post is far from shorthand. Perhaps too many commas. Pehaps grammatically incorrect. Perhaps even spelling mistakes. As a mild dyslexic, i think i did ok. Its only you that seems to be intolerant.

Anyway. Completely off topic, do you ever go jogging ?

 

Not intolerant, just lazy.

No, I can't jog because of bad knees from a logging accident.

 

Gearbox dropped out today, 2 odd hours.

Clutch is well goosed

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cfnk1rt94k...2014.09.45.jpg