Faulty Clutch?

[scallywag]

Hi everyone,

I seem to have a never ending series of problems at the moment. Today my drive belt pully broke into numerous pieces in the middle of nowhere. Called the AA out who very kindly drove me 90mins to the nearest Saab dealership to buy a new one and fitted for me ! Well worth the cost.

Anyway, this morning I couldnt get my car in gear. I know the Saabs have hydrolic clutches that "Need No Adjustment" ??
When I start the car the biting point is beyond the pedal travel distance when the pedal is at the floor. After about 10 mins or so of pumping the pedal, the biting point rises just so that I can get it in gear!

Does the system need bleeding or something like that or is there a method of adjusting it?

Many Thanks

[romill]

I have the same problem as of Friday last week. The guy at Saab Centre in Aycliffe told me all about the horror story that is the clutch hydraulics. It could be the master cylinder or the flexible pipe coming out of it or it could be (Oh no not that) the slave cylinder which means the g/box has to come out to change it. I had quickly bled the clutch before driving to the Saab Centre and got a quite good clutch back. Gordon at the SC had the clutch system 'under pressure' all weekend but couldn't find the fault so he gave me the car back and I said I would monitor the pedal over the next week or so. I will keep the BB informed of developments.

[ylee coyote]

you can bleed it and it is fairly simple to do so
however it does not sound as if you have air...
there may be a few things causing your symptoms
master cylinder ,slave cylinder ,or the hose between them

if you have liquid dripping it is probably the hose

if not then its the master or slave

[ylee coyote]

back2saab
beat me to it ...

[scallywag]

Im not losing any brake fluid from the resevoir(which I assume the clutch uses too) so I dont think its the hose. Is there any way I can test if its the master or slave without just changing the master?

[johncc]

Isn't there something like... clamp the hose, and if the pedal is rock solid, it's the slave, and if it's squishy, it's the master? Perhaps someone else here will know more

[romill]

I've just done about 50 miles and the clutch is still good, the 'bite' is still in the middle of the pedal travel with a little free play at the top. When I bled it I used a vacuum device on an airline so maybe I pulled out all the air that was in there and it may take a few weeks to deteriorate once more. The bleed access is really good compared to most non-Saabs.

[Peter Rawlinson]

can confirm what JohnCC is saying, i.e. clamp flex section with molegrips and try pedal, if more difficult (assuming some leakage past molegrips), then slave cylinder (in bell housing - geabox off job, might as well get clutch done whilst off! approx 350GBP for slave cylinder fitted, + 150GBP for clutch included), if still same then master (behind pedal - much easier job).

You might want to also get some help and have somebody press the pedal whilst you hold the flex section, it sometimes "baloons" rather than bursts.

HTH,

Pete

[marks carlsson]

if you want to check the hose then run your finger along the bottom of the flexi part and if it comes up wet then it is the hose thats gone, whatever part of the clutch has gone when you change it get the pipe changed to a solid copper one it stops all the hassle and is about £50 cheaper than a replacement pipe ( $55 + vat at dealer !!!!0
Beast of luck
mark