Clutch master cylinder troubles

[B. Wallace]

After finally getting my '72 SeriesIII running perfectly yesterday, within 30 minutes of driving around, my clutch starts losing pedal resistance. It will engage/disengage just off of the floor. Until that point, it is slack. I think I'm at an advantage here though, because I had recently noticed a fluid leaking onto my mat, and sure enough, it's leaking down the clutch pedal itself. Now, I would assume this would point to a faulty master cylinder. If this be the case, how difficult of a fix is this? Should I rebuild it or buy a new one? Had I not seen the fluid leaking, how do you know when it is your master cylinder at fault, not the salve cylinder or something else? Any advice whatsoever would be greatly appreciated!

[jp-]

Well, if it's leaking on the mat, either your reservoir has a leak in it or your master cylinder is leaking. It should be easy to see if the reservoir is leaking. If it isn't, suspect the master. At about $40-50, I'd just by a new one, but you can rebuild if you want (If it's original, I wouldn't rebuild as there could well be internal pitting that will be very difficult to correct). Also, if your slave cylinder is original, consider replacing it as well and the flex hose. If you replace just the master, the slave will fail in a week. It's the perfect running syndrome.

Beware the perfect running syndrome. I've seen it happen. One Rover owner pulls up and says to the next, "Yeah ole Bessie is running perfectly. I've completely replaced all the ________ (fill in the blank)."

He jumps in the truck and it won't crank.

Never tell your Rover (or anyone else) that it is running perfectly. They don't run perfectly, they just keep running.

[B. Wallace]

Thanks for the tip jp, and you're right, I should never say it runs perfectly, I should say I got the engine running well. Out of curiosity (and being a first time owner), where exactly is the slave cylinder? On my FJ40 it was in the drivers fenderwell, and thats obviously not the case on these. And to replace the master cylinder, do I remove the left wing and the upper floor panel? Is there anything else? Thanks again

[jp-]

Slave cylinder is on the passenger side of the transmission. It has it's own steel bracket, if you get underneath, you can't miss it. Or just follow the line coming off the master cylinder.

[Les Parker]

Hello there,
On the IIa the slave is on a steel bracket on the RH side of the vehicle, on a Series III it is on the LH side, just behind the exhaust and starter.
It is possible to get the master off without taking the wing off, however you need to disconnect all line to the clutch master, remove the splash guard in the LH footwell, remove the 6 bolts holding the clutch pedal and extract the whole pedal/master through the wheelwell.

Hope this helps

Les Parker

[jp-]

Of course, when I said passenger side, I was referring to RHD vehicles...

[singingcamel]

floor leaking = master cylinder.

[Luke]

My experience has all been on RHD vehicles and on those at least you don't actually need to remove the whole pedal assembly - if you keep the pedal depressed with a long piece of wood or similar braced against the seat box you can use a mole-grip or similar tool to hold the nuts/bolts inside the pedal case while you undo them on the outside. Last one I did like this took about half an hour!! I'd assume it's the same for LHD vehicles also.

Cheers
Luke