I recently bought a 93 Volvo 850 GLT non turbo. I was told that the clutch and slave cylinderneeded to be replace but that everything else with the car was fine.

So I put to and ordered the slave cylinder and priced out a clutch kit. I proceeded with removal of the transmission to gain access to the clutch. Once doing so I viewed the clutch which was in need of being replaced and the clutch release bearing which had heated up and melted total destroying it.

I decided that it would be cheaper to rebuild the clutch disc and pressure plate and get a new bearing. I also purchased aused clutch line and used master cylinder. I began installation of the clutch, release bearing, transmission, clutch line and used master cylinder. Everything went fine with the exception of breaking a few rusted bolts and such.


Now here is the problem!!!

I installed the new clutch slave cylinder when it arrived. I noticed that once installed it was fully compressed against the clutch release fork.

I then bledthe clutch hydraulic system and it should have been working fine but one full depression of clutch pedal only pushes the clutch slave cylinder which pushes the fork only half of the way out. In doing so the clutch never disengages and the transmission cannot go into gear while running.




Now I got creative and got myfriend to push the clutch pedal inandI was able to jam a ratchet in between the fork and the hole in the transmission casing for the fork to go through to the release bearing.

Now once the clutch pedal was released the fork would spring back with the slave cylinderand stop on the ratchet, but the pedal would only be half was up. I then got my friend to pull the clutch pedal up and I proceeded to fill the clutch / brake reservoir to the correct level. Now on pushing and holdingthe clutch pedal down again while the slave cylinder is sitting at its correct location, the fork is working correctly and the clutch correctly disengages(Enough so that I got my friend to whilecontinuing tohold down the clutchpedal, start the car and put the transmission in and out of gear.)

Then wereleased the clutch pedal slowly and it retracted the slave cylinder but right near the end of the pedal travel the slave cylinder contracted all the way back (It sounded like a loss of pressure in the hydraulic system at the end of the pedal travel). Again we pushed the clutch pedal down and the same problem occurred the slave cylinder would only come out half way.

Just by writing this I'm starting to convince myself that the clutch master cylinder is defective especially since I bought it used.
(This is the only thing that can reasonably explain the pressure loss that I heard). I guess I'm going to take it back and get another one. I'll let you know if this fixes it.

I also thought that since I rebuilt the clutch.The wrong clutch could have been previously installed and thus the destroyed release bearing.

I asked a few mechanic friends what they thought and the said it sounds like a bent fork but I have doubts about that.

Any help you can give me would be great. I'm stuck since I spent most of my budget and don't have a car which I need to get to my new job.

Thanks Dreas.

 

I personally don’t like to install used clutch components because I hate going back there right after the job is done. I only install OEM disk, pressure plate & release (throw out) bearing.

I hope the attachment is of some reference.


JPN

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/B1FFE15188814F5AB2B205C5BCD2A7AD.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/DADFCD77E2B946378C138610B48EFEED.jpg[/IMG]

 

So it turns out that I didn't secure the pressure plate bolts tight enough and this caused the fins on the pressure plate to push against the throwout bearing thus not allowing the slave cylinder to sit at the proper location and maintain hydraulic pressure.

Thanks for all who replied.