190E Clutch Saga - Epilogue!

[Greg in Oz]

Some readers may remember the many chapters (threads) I posted regarding a tricky problem with the clutch in my '90 190E-2.3 Sportline. Back in May I posted a thread "Final chapter for 190E clutch saga (I hope)" which you can read at http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=94692

Well, up until this morning it was the final chapter, but I am affraid to report there is now an epilogue to the story! I did not use the car over the weekend. I got in it to drive to work this morning and the clutch pedal went to the floor and stayed there. Can you imagine my surprise after replacing the master cylinder back in May and having it behave perfectly since. Pulling the pedal up and pressing it again achieved the same outcome, unlike the intermittent symptom prior to replacing the master cylinder. I lifted the bonnet (sorry, hood) and on initial inspection the fluid reservoir looked full. Closer inspection revealed that the sections of the reservoir for the brakes were full, but the section for the clutch was empty.

I refilled the reservoir and after pumping the pedal by hand for about a minute I began to feel some resistance on the downstroke. Meanwhile, bubbles of air could be seen rising in the reservoir. By continuing this after topping-up the fluid a couple more times, the pedal no longer stayed at the floor. After a couple of minutes I had a usable clutch again (I remebered when replacing the master cylinder how the clutch master cylinder would easily self bleed so long as the slave cylinder was still full). I decided to carry the spare container of fluid in the car and drive it to work. After several minutes of driving, the clutch "feel" was back to normal.

As yet I have not looked for the cause of the fluid loss and am not sure if it has been escaping gradually or if it has been a rapid loss just recently. I suspect the clutch slave cylinder is now at fault given the failure of the master cylinder earlier this year, and the condition of the fluid when I first began investigating the original problem prior to replacing the master cylinder.

All this after being confident everything was fixed with it working perfectly for the past five months. I guess the moral of the story is when replacing worn clutch hydraulics, it is worth replacing everything. When I confirm the cause of the current problem, I will report back. For those who wish to read the whole saga, go to the thread mentioned above. It has links back to the earlier threads describing the initial intermittent symptoms and the gradual diagnosis of the fault.