Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 17:09:56 -0700
Reply-To: Eric Unrau <eunrau@YAHOO.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Eric Unrau <eunrau@YAHOO.CA>
Subject: Re: Clutch Problem?
In-Reply-To: <001001c1e0b9$7aba8420$9501a8c0@informs.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"
OK, so I finally got a chance to take a close look at my clutch today:
1) Brake fluid was at the "MAX" mark, exactly where it was when I
checked it 3 or 4 months ago. No leaking fluid on or under the carpet
near the master cylinder.
2) I crawled under the van and had my helper pump the clutch. 1st time
down the slave barely moved; 2nd time a bit more; 3rd a bit more; and so
on, but at best, it only moved the lever about 5-7 mm. No evidence of
leaking fluid.
3) Time to bleed the system. At first there were lots of bubbles, and
really dirty brake fluid, then as the fluid cleared, the bubbles became
less frequent. Problem was, the bubbles wouldn't stop coming. We
pumped about 1.25 litres through the system and although the fluid
cleared, the bubbles kept coming. At the end, there was no randomness
to the bubbles; there seemed to be one big one per cycle at the same
position on ever clutch stroke.
So, where is all this air coming from? I don’t think a bad slave would
introduce air while bleeding the system, so it must be the master. Of
course I'm just guessing here, so if you mechanically minded folks out
there on the list could give me some more advice, it would appreciated.
One other thing. After bleeding the system, crawled under to have
another look and the clutch lever is moving 12-15mm, this seems good,
but noticed that the whole slave unit flexes quite a bit as it pushes
the lever. Is this normal?
Thanks all.
Eric
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eric Unrau
eunrau@yahoo.ca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Chris Stann
Sent: April 10, 2002 11:00 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Clutch Problem?
<snip>At times, it seemed that the clutch was not working at all;
while pulling into a gas station I was trying to shift out of 4th and
managed to stall the engine with the clutch pedal fully depressed.
Eventually I learned that double, triple, quadruple clutching improved
my shifting success rate, and constant clutch pumping at a standstill
would allow me to get into 1st when necessary. <snip>
Eric,
A few things to check based on my experience, and I am sure others will
add:
1. Brake fluid level - is it too low? Air may have gotten into the
system.
2. Have friend press clutch and check hydraulic clutch action at the
transmission. Are things moving like they should?
3. You may have air in the system - bleed.
4. Your slave cylinder maybe bad or going bad - check and replace.
Fairly
easy except for that ONE bolt...
I'll leave the rest to the list.
Chris,
'85 Westy
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