Burst Hydraulic Pipe or Failed Slave Cylinder

[shinji]

So on Saturday night I was happily driving my vee back home and was slowing down to change gears to make the approach to the carpark that was 20m away, I dipped the clutch but the pedal never came back up Tried lifting the clutch pedal back and pumped a few times by hand but to no avail; the clutch petal still stayed down to the floor.

Having a peek underneath the car and found some fluids dripping....eek. It was late in the nite being stuck in the middle of the road so couldn't see what colour of the fluid was.

The vee got towed and now the investigation begins: Would it be the clutch hydraulic pipe or the slave cylinder that broke? If the hydraulic pipe or slave cylinder is broken will the (brake) fluid enter the clutch and requiring a new clutch?

I vaguely remember the slave cylinder is inside the 'box, can this be done by dropping the 'box only or will it require an engine out job?

Many thanks....

PS. sorry for the blurry pic cos the tow truck has a much stiffer suspension than my vee :rofl:

 

[shinji]

Anyone ? :help:

 

[ed_harland]

Gearbox is fairly easy to remove, no need to remove engine. The slave cylinder is inside the bell housing and an inspection of the clutch for wear or contamination with fluid can easily be done. I don't recollect anyone else having a failure of the hydraulic pipe or slave cylinder ??

 

[rustedandrotten]

Have you checked the blatantly obvious, bleed nipple, loose hose unions?
top up with fluid and pump pedal whilst some one else looks to see where it is actuallty leaking from. If the slave cylinder has failed you will only need to replace the plate if the friction material is contaminated.

 

[WONGY]

Actually there is a hydraulic pipe at top of gearbox that often fails

Mine did and clutch pedal lost pressure

Easy fix and not expensive

 

[shinji]

Thanks Ed, Simon and WONGY :salut:

Hopefully it is just something simple like what you guys have said.

Just asking in advance, how to bleed the clutch slave cylinder?