Too much resistance when changing gears

[Temeeo]

Hi all,

the clutch pedal went all soft on me on Saturday - upon inspection I discovered leak in the clutch slave cylinder - there was a fluid coming out from the rubber boot that is surrounding the push rod when I squeezed the boot. I was couple of hundred meters from Atlas in Coolmine (Blanchardstown) so I decided to drive over (in first gear, had to stall the engine few times on lights). They confirmed that its the slave cylinder. I left the car with them and collected it on Monday.

Prior to this there was what I thought good amount of resistance when changing the gears (just enough to give you feedback )

Now it's a lot harder to shift into gears (especially the 1st,2nd, 3rd even more so when down shifting). Have they messed up something or could I possibly do any damage to the car when the slave cylinder went (i had to twice or so forcefully pull the gear stick from 1st to neutral - with engine stopped)

They have used slave cylinder thats manufactured by Blueprint:



Is anybody using the same one?

When looking on pictures of the one from camskill it looks like that the one from blueprint might be shorter? (the body looks the same size but the rubber boot looks shorter, the rod is sticking out about the same amount)

I'm being told to bring it back to them, but If it's a matter of just adjusting something I would prefer to do it myself...

[brccrx]

It could be that it wasnt bleed proper or old fluid was used and it can contain water.
Also ive seen master cylinders failing same time or shortly after the slave giving up.

That slave cylinder looks ok to me. Regardless the shorter rubber it should still do its job.

[Temeeo]

Thanks Seb,

the brake fluid is really dark in colour - like used oil. I don't recall it being that dark before, wouldn't surprise me if they have used some old fluid that they bled from brakes and stuff on other cars and it contained moisture.

Job half done for €168

[Temeeo]

How much of the brake/clutch fluid is roughly needed to flush it really well? Is there any particular brand/type that's good? And can one person flush/bleed the system or are two needed?

[brccrx]

Small bottle is more than enough. Two people needed. One to open the bleed screew while the other pressing the clutch fully down.

Let the fluid out tighten the screew back and ask your helper to let the clutch go. Then to press clutch pedal again and open the screew again and all the same as above.
Top up the fluid and keep repeating the steps till nice clear color with no bubles fluid coming out.

[Temeeo]

All is back to normal Seb, flushing/bleeding the the clutch fluid helped. Thanks!
Was impatient so ended it doing it on my own, have substituted helper with trekking pole:



Finally found a use for them
As for the brake/clutch fluid I've used Halfords 5.1 High Performance Brake & Clutch Fluid, 1l for €16 which I thought was good value.

[brccrx]

Clever, very clever Mr. McGiver

Im so surprissed about incompetence level of some mechanics! And You still have to pay them.

Anyway, car is all fixed, so hapy days.

[goz_83]

Well wear! That's a good result.

I just found a handy place in coolock industrial estate. Got 2 excellent condition partly worns on the front and tracked and balanced, all for €80. They are looking for business and I'll be returning no doubt. Need to replace rear discs on mondeo and front pads. Getting gearbox oil changed (oil supplied by me) for €30. I'm sure it'll be cheap getting the pads and discs changed all supplied by me.

[Temeeo]

Anyway, car is all fixed, so hapy days.

Thanks to you Seb, I thought it may have been gear selector bracket or linkages, who would have thought that they would mess up something simple like flushing/bleeding clutch fluid!

I just found a handy place in coolock industrial estate.

I'll keep that one in mind Goz. I know one or two places that are "affordable" myself but keeping the customer up to date or finishing the job when they said it would be finished isn't their strong suit - hence only good for small jobs or if you're not in any mad rush to get the job done.

Think I'll be doing simpler jobs myself from now on after this last experience.