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MG MGF Technical - Broke again

Halfway through my journey home last night, went to change down, clutch peddle hit the floor with no resistance; I managed to limp the remaining 60 miles using the old Bedford crash gearbox techniques. I’ve now topped up the fluid reservoir (it was 1/2 empty) and have clutch facilities back to a fashion , the peddle still travels to the floor with little resistance, the clutch bites about ½” from the floor and the car creeps slightly when a gear is engaged, no apparent air in the system (checked by pumping the peddle). I have checked the master cylinder and can find no obvious leaks, so I’m assuming it’s the slave cylinder, before I start dismantling is there anything I should be wary of, also are there photographs of the offending item that anyone is aware of, I’ve checked the archives found lots on the clutch but no pictorial diagrams.

As always, many thanks to anyone that can assist.

Les
Les Lewis (P551POT)

"Bedford crash gearbox techniques" - Shows a certain age!!!

I had my slave clutch cylinder out a while ago, and was amazed at the crud in it in a 4 year old car. I cleaned it all out, flexed the seal a bit between my fingers, put it all back again, and it worked fine. While I was at it, I replaced the rigid steel bundy tubing, the rubbish "brake" flexible, and replaced the lot with SS Goodrich flex. Lubricated the release bearing rod as best as possible as well.
Jerry Herbert

Found the required photos on dieter’s site; Thanks Dieter. However would still welcome any helpful comments.

Jerry, your right, but not that old :-)just spent a long time driving green vehicles.

Les
Les Lewis (P551POT)

You had seen this, did you ?
http://www.mgfcar.de/epc/5754.htm
Dieter

I had actually missed that page, hopefully I will get away with the repair kit apposed to the whole slave cylinder, once again many thanks dieter.
Les Lewis (P551POT)

One possible cause of the slave cylinder failing is the siezing of the clutch lever as Jerry mentioned. Once you've removed the clevis pin that joins the slave cylinder arm to the clutch lever, see how easy it is to move the free end of the clutch lever to and fro - if it's in good order there should be nearly 1cm of almost resistanceless play, if it doesn't move at all then the lever shaft may be seizing in the gearbox casing - the Achilles heel of the PG1 gearbox. Getting oil or grease down the shaft isn't straightforward, but worth a go nonetheless - replacing the lever involves removal of the gearbox, which is about 8 hours labour...

Good luck!
Mike Hankin

This thread was discussed on 04/08/2006

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