Clutch Woes

The Original Tom · Guest

Hi all,

My Defender has been laid up for the last 4 months, pending the carbs being rebuilt. Now that's done, I've started her up, and gone to pull away, and the clutch goes right to the floor Crying or Very sad

. It was fine a month ago, because I had to get her towed to my new house.
On checking the fluid reservoir, it was completely empty except for a thick black sludge at the bottom (which I cleaned out).
Today, I went to bleed the clutch, and with the help of a friend I've put an entire liter of fluid through the system. It started coming out a hideous grey/black colour, and after the first 500ml, started to run the right colour.

However, things are just the same as before, and I can't select any gears!
There's no fluid in my footwell, so not sure if its the master cylinder, and the bell-housing drain plug is out, and none is flowing through the hole. The pipes are fine and not leaking. WTF is it going??
And do you think it sounds like a new master cylinder (yes please, nice easy job) or slave cylinder (booo, crappy job!)

I really want to use the Landy for a festival at the beginning of next month, if only because I'd actually like to be able to leave the car park!

Cheers all.

The Original Tom · Guest

Oh, and which slave cylinder would I require? I'm leaning towards FTC5071 as it's apparently the correct one for a V8 with LT77 or LT85 (mine is the 85).
I'm fairly sure I currently have the FTC5072 fitted, as the vehicle used to be a 4-cyl with an LT77, and I think I swapped them straight over - might explain why the clutch was always so heavy!
Would I need a new pushrod?

w3526602 · Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 4:32 am Post subject:

Hi,

Replace both master and slave, and hose if it has one. False economy to not do so. If one cylinder fails, the other will not be far behind, and Sod's Law requires that it must happen at an inconvenirnt time.

602

The Original Tom · Guest

Thanks for the reply. Both cylinders are on their way to me now. Apart from the plastic clip on the release fork, is there anything particularly tricky to trip me up / ideas to make life easier?