I'm a happy guy this evening. I just came from taking a spin in my Series
V. My clutch seems to be functioning fine.
Many thanks to everyone that contributed their thoughts on my clutch
problem. (See my original post, appended at the end of this message.)
For anyone interested, here's what I did. It's a variant of Ed's
suggestion, although it also derives from Larry's suggestion of forcing
fluid upward through the system.
First, I manipulated the clutch "arm" and slave-cylinder piston manually.
Pushing the arm forward forced the piston into the slave cylinder. My
intent was to pressurize the master cylinder and work the piston out of it.
I'm not sure this actually happened, but I did cause about a teaspoon of
fluid to overflow the master cylinder reservoir.
Second, I got into the car and pumped the clutch repeatedly, its full
travel, as Ed suggested. At first, the clutch pedal depressed freely, i.e.
no resistance. But after 15 or 20 strokes, it started to feel a bit better.
Basically, I completed the two-step procedure 6 or 7 times. Each time after
forcing the piston into the slave, the clutch pedal depressed freely for
the first couple stokes. However, each time, it became resistant sooner.
After 3 or 4 times, I thought I had it fixed; the clutch felt pretty good;
but, it still didn't work.
After 6 or 7 times, the clutch pedal regained a very firm feel and the
clutch seems to work normally.
I'm not sure the first step, manipulating the slave cylinder, was necessary
or that it accomplished what I had hoped it would, but the combination
seems to have worked.
Again, many thanks for the various ideas. If nothing else, they inspired me
to experiment and may have saved me from an unnecessary rebuild. Of course,
tomorrow's another day; I may still have problems with the cylinder. If
that should occur, I'll keep the other ideas on hand.
--Jon
My original post:
> I went to flush the hydraulic systems on my Series V this evening, just as
> I've done in years past. No problem with the brakes. However, after
> bleeding of the clutch hydraulics, the clutch no longer works.
>
> There's no resistance in the clutch pedal and the slave cylinder doesn't
> operate. I'm guessing that the piston assembly in the master cylinder
> traveled further down the bore of the cylinder than it normally does and
> that it's "stuck" there. I've tried lightly tapping the cylinder to knock
> it free. In desperation, I also tried warming the cylinder with a hair
> dryer. I'm faced with having to rebuild the master cylinder; it's been
> several years since I've done so.
>
> Does anyone concur or think differently?
> I'm open to suggestions.
>
> Actually, I had a similar problem once before, also after bleeding the
> clutch hydraulics. As I recall (from several years ago) tapping the
> cylinder solved the problem. I was careful this time to only depress the
> clutch pedal half to two-thirds of its full travel hoping to prevent it
> from happening again.
>
> --Jon
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