Harryman,
I am a happy, tail waggy puppy!
Well, not literally, and I'm not sure for how long.
Followed your advice...went down to halfrauds and purchased a clutch and brake bleeding kit for the princely sum of £4.49, and a small container of Dot4 fluid. Didn't break the bank, for once!
This kit did not need to be submersed in liquid according to the instrcutions, just a receptacle for the fluid was required....in the shape of an empty pop bottle.
Well, cracked the bleed nipple, bit of fluid came out. Tightened, and put rubber hose on. Cracked nipple open. So far, so good.
Pumped clutch....suddenly got very hard.....then nothing. Nothing at all. From your posting, means possibly a blockage followed by a good flow? Anyway, hubby couldn't see any air bubbles.....but the fluid! It was dark green almost brown in colour.
Then I topped up the reservoir which had dropped considerably (by the way, the fluid in there looked alot cleaner than the fluid coming out the other end!)
Having topped up, re-opened bleed screw and continued with the pumping, expecting clutch to get some pressure back. Seems this was wrong as nothing. BUT clean fluid was coming out, with no air bubbles showing in the pipe,
so we called it a day, did the screw up nice and tight, lowered van from axle stand....and tried the clutch
Nowt.
No pressure at all.
Truly despondent, but ever hopefull, turned engine on, and found that the only place the gear stcick would go was neutral!!!!
Got fed up, and went to Mum's for tea.
Came home, about 1.5 hours later, and there was some pressure on the clutch....oooer. Pumped it a few times....little more pressure!!! Woohooo!!!!
Called hubby to make sure not delusional, and he checked the pedal then the operating arm while I depressed clutch. He confirmed that the arm was moving more than previously, but not sure if more than before we started. So, fired her up....and found all gears, including reverse! Do you think she is ok to drive now?
So...why did we need to wait for the clutch to get pressure back?
And having clean fluid at the clutch, have we "changed the fluid", or does that involve bleeding the brakes, too?
Was the failure down simply to fluid in "pooh" condition??
I would just like to THANK everyone who has contributed to this thread. Without this club, she would probaly have been to the garage having god knows what changed!
Just hope it lasts...
Emma
) to see if spurts of air do or do not come out, that bleed nipple is open enough to get a good flow (can be sensed by pedal pressure too, if alone, lack thereof) and when clean fluid starts to come out is usually the point one would stop, then nip bleed screw back up and go top-up the reservoir.