Spider clutch failure

[shay1000]

Ok, this is strange, I was driving the car on Monday night (and thinking to myself how well it was going) went home, parked the car, nothing seemed to be amiss.

Went to drive it 24 hours later, and no clutch. Well, actually there was clutch, I just could not disengage it to select gear. The pedal felt light, and in fact it sits now almost at the bottom of its travel, if I press it there is a little bit of "weight" there but still not operating properly. If I move it back to its proper position it is doing nothing until almost the bottom of its travel, when I again feel some resistance. It will sit there unless I move it back with my foot.

Oil in reservoir, approx half full. The front pad wear light glows softly when I drive, does not come on when using the brakes. I was going to do the pads this weekend anyway, so it will be up on stands.

Any suggestions? High mileage car but not the original engine (2.0 litre)
   

[Mick A]

Gday,

Check if there's any fluid leaking under the car from the gearbox area. I'm taking a guess here that the slave cylinder has shit itself.

Probably best you take it to a mechanic either way, it's not going to fix itself unfortunately!

Cheers.

Mick.

[shay1000]

not under any illusion that it would fix itself, but that does not mean I can not fix it. Anybody experienced this before?

[Cool Jesus]

Considering you haven't any fluid falling to the ground, my money's on the master cylinder. However a slave cylinder will give the same symptoms, although I'd expect fluid to leak out from the slave pushrod.

[Mick A]

not under any illusion that it would fix itself, but that does not mean I can not fix it. Anybody experienced this before?

How can anyone diagnose it without seeing the car? It's impossible. It could be a number of things. Help out a bit here instead of being lazy. Answer my question. Is there fluid on the ground?

[shay1000]

no fluid that I can see, but as hydraulic fluid is hydrophillic and there has been water on the floor that is open ended.

I have John's diagnosis, as there does not seem to be a huge loss of fluid from the common reservoir I am inclined to dismiss a leak.

Just after another pov, I described what the pedal does, thought that might be a clue, as for taking it to a mechanic, I am happy to do the work myself, and the only way to get the car to a mechanic is via tow truck, because it's going nowhere at the moment.

Reservoir is about half full, but remember the front brake pads are worn, that may account for the lower than perfect fluid level.   

[shay1000]

actually, the more I fiddle with the pedal the greater my suspicion that something has managed to get disconnected. Why this did not show up during driving is anybodies guess, perhaps it just popped apart once I'd stopped?

BTW reservoir is now full and no fluid loss apparent (needed little to fill it up anyway)

[colcol]

Is it a Twin Spark or JTS engine, as they have different clutch slave cylinders, the twin spark has a slave cylinder on the outside of the gearbox, the JTS has the slave cylinder in the gearbox in front of the clutch.
If it is a twin spark, see if you can find the slave cylinder and have a look if the pushrod is operating when someone else pushes the clutch pedal, it should move the clutch fork about 15-25mm???, unless the clutch has collapsed, Colin.

[colcol]

According to some spare part catalogue's the twin spark and JTS can use a outside the gearbox or inside the gearbox slave cylinder, my 2002 JTS has the slave cylinder in the gearbox, so when it fails, the gearbox has to be removed.
The outside slave cylinder has the bleed nipple on the housing, if it is an outside slave cylinder, just see if the pushrod is moving back and forth, when someone else presses the clutch pedal, Colin.