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MG MGA - Clutch puzzle

A few months ago my clutch started playing up intermittently, sometimes not appearing to operate. Then for weeks again it has been fine. Last Friday I parked the car in the garage after a drive of about 25km including driving through the city, all fine. I stopped in the yard, opened the garage door, and drove into the garage with nothing amiss. On Saturday morning I went to drive it out of the garage. No clutch. Not even a glimmer of a clutch although the pedal pressure seemed OK. It was too nice a day to spend investigating, so I just put the license plates back on the daily driver and used that instead.

Tonight it's raining, so I went and investigated with the help of my neighbour. The MC is moving freely and there are no leaks. The MC has fluid. The slave appears to be moving, and there are no worn pivots. I haven't jacked the car up to see if the release fork has bent, but the pivot for the slave pushrod looks fine and is moving when the pedal is pressed. But the clutch is definitely not working.

I do have a seal set for the MC and slave, but before I get down and dirty at the weekend, has anyone an alternative theory?

It's a Ford gearbox and a MGB clutch / release fork

dominic clancy

If you have a normal pedal pressure it would seem to me that the diaphragm is working as expected. I have had clutch discs break down and one piece of lining creates a jamming effect.
Sandy
Sandy

I went to investigate tonight and all is working just fine again. I suppose that means it must be a hydraulic problem. So a rebuild of both cylinders with new seals is next on the list.
dominic clancy

Try disassembly and a good cleaning. Sounds like something's floating around in there. Might as well do a rebuild as long as it's apart.

.....
MAndrus

Dominic

Most weird. If you substituted the word brakes for clutch I had very similar symptoms a year ago. I am pretty sure mine was caused by a little air in the system that expanded due to overheating brakes (binding disc brakes) that I subsequently identified. How that translates to your clutch system I have no idea!
Steve
Steve Gyles

Dominic, how old is the hose to the clutch slave cyl? Maybe the inside of the hose is collapsed, happens to old brake hoses...?

George
George G.

hose is about five years old, i treat hoses as service parts

dominic clancy

This thread was discussed between 03/09/2015 and 08/09/2015

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