Right got stuck into the clutch this weekend. Decided to do a small job halfway through, which turned out to waste most of my day - more on that later.
Basically, found the car seemed very eager to move forward. By the third gear change I relised something was amiss when I struggled to change gear. The next change into first at a roundabout to go, didn't happen at all. So stuck my hazards on, and had an emergency crisis meeting with myself to determine what to do next. Woman beeps behind me beckoning me to go, so I stick my hand put the window and wave her past. Still fiddling trying to get in gear she beeps again waving frantically. I'm fairly certain that's the universal signal for "go passed me I've broken down", obviously someone needs to tell the dozy mare... Anyway, had a brainwave, switched off the engine then put her in first and started up. Got me home. The pedal was completely limp, so I was thinking surely there was something between the clutch pedal and clutch instead of fluid, like air!
A diagnosis back home and some advice from the e30zone, showed the issue was likely to either be the slave cylinder or master. The master is on the clutch pedal, and showed no signs of leaking. In fact, digging through the car's history (of which there are a hell of a lot of Sewell of Bishop Stortford reciepts!), showed it being replaced 30 thousand miles earlier. So looked at the slave which is attached to the gearbox, and found a fair bit of fluid near it. Put a bit more fluid in the reservoir and pushed the clutch pedal (completely lifeless) a few times, and sure enough more fluid dripping from the gearbox. So a quick trip to eurocarparts later and a new cylinder ready to go on. It has a stubborn brake union nut so plenty of heat, WD40 and a11mm flared spanner coupled with a hammer to shock it a bit, and off it came. It's easier to take the cylinder and hose off together than trying to get the hose off the cylinder in your hand.
The above picture tells you what you need to know: here's the old vs new cylinder, use a flare spanner on the union nut, shock the spanner with a hammer, and spray some copper grease on the new nut to help in the future. Bled the system, eventually. When the fluid is bubble less, tightened up the bleed valve, it was a relief to feel the pedal go hard again! A quick test revealed a working clutch once more, and a nice easy gear change.
Then there was the "little" job I thought I'd tackle. I bought some powerflex wishbone bushes a while back and it was time to fit them. What a drama....