freelander clutch help

[barty]

I have a problem with the clutch on my 05 TD4 freelander, the pedal has to be pressed right to the floor to change gear and it seems to be getting worse, the clutch is not slipping and my thoughts were hyraulic but the slave cylinder in I'm told inside the gearbox and so its gearbox off time, now its silly to take that off without changing the clutch anyway but ive been told that it MAY have a DMF (duel mass flywheel) but I'm pretty sure that it doesnt. Does anyone know for sure?
Been quoted £570 for new clutch and slave cylinder is that good ?

[froggy]

Hydraulics are a two part sealed system so come pre filled . The fluid absorbs water over time so can give you a soft pedal. The bracket that holds the slave can crack and distort giving you the same issue . Slave Cyl is external but hard to see without pulling the big pan off from underneath . If its not slipping and no release bearing noise then you have a hydraulic issue .

[dave21478]

^^^thats the system for the 1.8 petrol.
The TD4 is also a two part hydraulic system, but the slave is a concentric cylinder inside the gearbox.

First and foremost, try the easy and cheap stuff. Check the fluid level in the master cylinder - wee black thing on the bulkhead next to the brake servo. The rubber cap stretches off the top. Fill with DOT4 if needed. Next, try bleeding the system. Its hard to see as there is allsorts of pipework in the way, but follow the plastic hydraulic line down from the master cylinder to the top of the gearbox, where it disappears inside the casing. Right next to it there is another bit of pipe sticking out towards the right hand side inner wing. It has a bleed nipple on the end. Needs one spanner to hold the main body and a wee spanner to slacken off the nipple. open the nipple a quarter turn, get an assistant to push the pedal down, close the nipple, let the pedal up and repeat for several strokes and see if this helps.

If that is no good, or only lasts for a short while, next up try a replacement master cylinder. If you are changing the clutch anyway, you need to change the slave and of you change the slave, you should really change the master too, so no harm in trying a new master beforehand. They are available from any landy spares place. Unclip the pushrod from the pedal and the master cylinder unclips from the bulkhead by giving the whole thing a quarter turn. The hydraulic line has a quick release union above the gearbox (anodised green colour) To separate, you need a special tool, but can get away with long nosed pliers. Push the plastic lockring inwards and push the two halves of the union together and they should then pull apart - sometimes works first time, sometimes takes an hour of faffing - keep at it. Try pumping the pedal every now and then to pressurise the joint.

The new cylinder comes prefilled with fluid so just fit to the bulkhead and pedal and snap the union together. If that works - great. If not, try bleeding it some more. If still no joy, the problem is probably the slave, which needs the gearbox off. It does have a DMF, so replacement is expensive although conversion to single mass flywheel is possble. A couple of guys on the landy forums have done this with no reported ill effects so far.

Mine would fade over a month or so, with the bite point getting lower and lower. Bleeding would cure it for another month before it started failing again. I put a new master cylinder on and it has been fine since then.

TD4's bite point seems to be pretty low as standard, but as the hydraulics fail you eventually get to the point where it is literally on the floor and even then will crunch into first or reverse - time to take action - hopefully its just the master cylinder, which is well worth the £60 or so to try out before dropping the box, and if it turns out to need the box down anyway, having a new master cylinder is a good thing.

[barty]

Dave , thank you, ill try all that you say and ill let you know how i get on. I have checked the fluid level and I'm not losing any but i guess it could be that the seals are letting go. Thanks again for your help