Changing the clutch fluid

[AndyN01]

i all,

So, the job for today was changing the clutch fluid on my 2001 diesel tourer.

The pedal was feeling quite "heavy" which is not how I remembered my last manual 75.

After finding a rear brake pad "lining" that had separated from its backing plate and brake fluid the colour of my walnut dash a few days ago I wasn't too hopeful that this would be simple & straightforward.

And.....

It wasn't actually too bad but....

What came out was disgusting.

Here it is nicely contrasted against my wedgewood blue door



Suspecting that it might be yukky and reading lots of threads about the joys of damaging the seals in the slave and needing a full strip down I had an idea. Maybe completely over the top but hey I doubt it's done any harm.

My thinking went that I don't want any 19 year old gunge getting into the slave. So if I get a quick release off a dead slave I can do a "full bore" flush with my Gunson Easybleed.

And, courtesy of 2 Diesels (cheers mate), this is what I made up:



The pipe is long enough to get to a jar sitting on the undertray down by the radiator.

Here's the quick connector separated ready for bleed. It came apart dead easily with just finger pressure on the collar .



Now I needed about 20psi from a tyre to pressurise the Easybleed. Simple, just get the spacesaver out of the boot and drop the pressure.

Er, no.

It looks like the spacesaver has never been out of the boot - nice little rubbery strands all over the tread - and at some point in the past there's been a water leak resulting in a rusty wheel and rusty threads on the big securing "bolt" .

It took a fair while with copious amounts of Plusgas and working the securing "bolt" up and down, up and down until it finally released its prize of the spacesaver. The thread has since been attacked with a needle file as I couldn't find a die with the correct thread to clear out all the rust and it now spins up and down beautifully.

Oh and the spacesaver was at 18psi so wouldn't have been much use anyway.

Fortunately Trikey has Union alloy for me so I can get rid of the spacesaver.

Having done one of these before I know that you need one of the rubber diaphragm thingys with the bottom cut off so that the Easybleed seals properly when pressurised. You'll quickly find out if its OK 'cus if not the fluid pushes its way past the cap at a fair rate of knots. A nice plastic sheet & old towel are your friends just in case. Don't ask how I know.....



And thanks to the guru's for the heads up about cutting away the sound deadening or whatever it is that gets in the way of actually taking the master cylinder cap off. Much appreciated but a right pain to get at to remove.

So, duly connected up, and you've seen the result above. I put probably 300-400ml of fluid through until I was happy that it was running nice and clear.

A simple swap over to the slave pipework and another couple of hundred mil of fluid and I've now go a light pedal with about an inch or so of "free play" at the top and a bite point about in the middle of the travel.

Fingers crossed it stays that way .

I'm just wondering what the general thoughts are about whether to leave the cut off rubber in situ - which is what I've done - or draw off some of the fluid with a syringe and put the original one back. .

Another job ticked off the list.

If anyone would like to borrow the quick release for the cost of the postage just give me a shout. It can easily be adapted for an "old fashioned" push the pedal, open the nipple, close the nipple, release the pedal, procedure if you don't have an Easybleed but do have a friend .

Cheers.

Andy.