Henry Frye wrote:
> When the pedal is depressed, the clutch disengages. But when you put her
> in gear and let out the clutch, the clutch doesn't engage promptly. I
> have the tranny tunnel off so I can see the linkage, and the linkage is
> _slowly_ moving back to the noraml, engaged position. The crazy thing is
> if you work the pedal up and down repeatedly, the master cylinder "pumps
> up" to the point where the pedal is rock hard and will _not_ move from
> the top of it's travel, and the clutch is disengaged. After a few
> seconds, the clutch will again slowly engage, but only if I take my foot
> off the pedal.
>
Henry,
I've had this same problem more than once before with my TR3A. I
adjusted the pushrods on the master and slave cylinders and solved the
"pumping up" problem. The clutch action was still very sluggish so I
attached a large spring to the clutch release shaft to help the clutch
to engage. This improved the situation, but didn't solve the problem.
I replaced the seals in both cylinders and noticed little improvement.
But I noticed that the master cylinder piston uses an "o" ring that is
not included in the rebuild kits abailable through Moss or Victoria, so
this seal did not get replaced. I think now that the old "o" ring may
have swelled to the point that it was binding the piston, thus causing
the sluggish motion.
After driving the car in this condition for years, I finally recently
replaced the master cylinder, which included a new piston with new
seals, and the problem is solved. For the first time in years, I can
burn some rubber --- it's great (until I have to replace the
tires)!!!.
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