Car battery

[David Lang]

New battery, started 1st time.

Anyone know anything about hydraulic clutches?

[Huge]

Precisely.

What about them/it?

[ARW]

The world would, IMHO, be a better place if breathing required a minimum amount of intelligence.

[john]

Usually requires master/slave service kit and new hydraulic fluid.

Check for leaks at the master cylinder connected to the pedal and the slave cylinder mounted on the clutch housing (usually the easiest to remove and service). If no leaks evident take your pick as to which might be passing but the slave gets all the dirt as it is the lower and more likely to get damaged internally.

[David Lang]

Thanks. AIUI there is a shared master (with the brakes) and separate slaves. Brakes seem OK, so slave seem more likely. Cheers

[The Natural Philosopher]

What is the symptom? you disengage the clutch but gearbox is still connected to the the engine?

That's not the hydraulics. That's a rusted up clutch plate, and this is the way you free it up.

Start the car with it in first gear. Or reverse. And change up to about second by matching revs carefully to get it into gear.

On a quiet bit if road, get up towards peak revs in second - or maybe first - and stamp hard - really hard - on the brake and the clutch together.

That should free the clutch from the pressure plate and flywheel.

IT makes a frightening noise, but that is how you do it.

The only alternative is to put a new clutch in.

[Huge]

Indeed.

[damduck-egg]

Will he be able to that or will it have that infuriating feature of modern cars that won't let you start unless the clutch is depressed? Will depend on where the sensor is located I suppose, it might think you operated it from the pedal position even though the plate hasn't moved.

G.Harman

[The Natural Philosopher]

AS I keep pointing out Darwin is not survival of the fittest,. it is merely propagation of those not sufficiently dysfunctional to fail to generate offspring.

[David Lang]

No, clutch pedal flops down to floor, so can't operate clutch at all.

[The Natural Philosopher]

lost fluid somewhere

check levels and pump it like crazy.

that should be enough to get it to a garage.

could be a leak anywhere in the circuit.

[Roger Mills]

Then check the fluid level. If the shared system is like the one on my Volvo, the clutch feed from the reservoir is at a higher level than that for the brakes. Obvious safety feature, so that if you use fluid, the clutch gives up before the brakes stop working.

So top it up and then fully pump the clutch pedal a few times. That will hopefully restore the clutch function. Then keep a careful eye on the fluid level, and have a leak investigated urgently if the level keeps falling.

These days, the clutch slave cylinder on a lot of vehicles is integral with the release thrust bearing inside the bell housing - which makes it a major operation to replace it.

[David Lang]

I've topped that up.

Logical!

I have tried that to no avail.

:-(

I think (& hope) this one is external.

Thanks.

[ARW]

Are you suggesting that the ability to get an erection should require a certain level of intelligence?

[The Natural Philosopher]

NO, I am saying that the reverse is true. The ability to impregnate women and have babies requires no intelligence at all, otherwise the human race would probably have died out years ago.

[Fredxxx]

Except that there are studies that support the concept that intelligence is inherited, and unfortunately less intelligent families have more offspring.

We're doomed!!!

[Fredxxx]

Was the fluid level below the clutch feed?

My instinct says its your clutch master cylinder but first bleed the slave cylinder. Usually it's enough to open the bleed nipple and allow the fluid to emerge. If that doesn't make the clutch pedal have any resistance then it is the master cylinder.

If you see fluid dribbling from under the car, it'll be the slave cylinder!!

[Adrian Caspersz]

Yup.

Idiocracy --

[The Natural Philosopher]

Idiocracy.

That was the whole point of classical warfare. To cull the population of young stupid males.

[Janok]

Trouble with that line is that anyone who has ever had anything to do with breeding knows that you have to cull the females, its useless to cull the males, because any male can f*ck lots of females and presumably lots of that kept happening with some of the males away at the war.