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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Strange clutch happenings

Hi, took the midget to work the other day whilst the weather is still good and an odd thing happened:

I pulled out of a junction and accelerated fairly quickly in 1st and on the upshift to 2nd the clutch pedal went to the floor with no resistance. It felt as though the pipe to the slave had split/come off.

I got to work with some well timed clutchless shifts and good timing at junctions and expected to see fluid under the car but there was none and the master cylinder had lost no fluid.

After 5 mins of scratching my head a colleague came out and we spoke about what happened and for the hell of it I tried the pedal again and it felt normal, started the engine and got all gears and the car went out for a lunchtime run and got me back home with no drama.

Has this happened to anyone before and would I be on the right lines to think that it could be the seals in the either the master cylinder (on the car when I bought it 7 years ago) or the slave (less than 500 miles old).

Car is a 1275 with ribcase box and standard clutch.

Thanks
Mark
Mark Whitmore

This happened to me in an Audi A4. The clutch master on one of those has fluid both sides of the piston and the seal was worn so holding the clutch pedal in when balancing on the clutch made the clutch slowly disappear as the fluid moved past the piston. Rest it all for a while, fluid goes back, all feels fine. Drive on.

Don't know if the midget is that sophisticated and mine is still on axel stands with a stuck clutch so I havn't got far enough to help anymore I'm afraid.

Best of luck, someone will know more, Dave
Dave Squire - Notts

Mark,

see 'Stumped - clutch release bearing' thread as at 22nd July as I have the exact same issue. I can drive for approx 10 miles before the same symptoms as you have begin.
Seal kit for the master cylinder has been obtained and will hopefully go into tomorrow. So we'll see.
Jeremy
Jeremy 3

This thread was discussed between 26/07/2012 and 27/07/2012

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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