[eeedelli]

Well now I’m flummoxed – again!

The repair on the camper van wheel kept getting put back by the machine shop and I only finally got it all back together and through MOT last week, so have only now been able to get the 740 in front of it to work on.

Lo and behold, when I went to move it off the pavement after sitting there for a month, the pedal had no resistance at all and I couldn’t engage any gear after starting.

“Ah ha!” I thought, “It must therefore be the master cylinder again.” There was no sign of any leaks from anywhere and the reservoir was still full but I tried re-bleeding it in-situ. Despite not noticing any air bubbles, it restored it to its previous sub-optimal condition (floppy first couple of inches and bite point ¾” off the floor) but sufficient for me to drive it into the back yard to work on.

I’ve pulled out the “Professional Parts Sweden” seals from 9 months ago (which I suspected might have been of poor composition rubber) and replaced them with the new “AutoFren” ones, noting that the former had already worn down to 19.7mm diameter (which you’d think would be sufficient for a 19mm bore, though the front (pressure) one didn’t seem to have much ‘lip’ left compared to the new one at about 20.5mm).

Again, I checked the cylinder and noted that it was, generally, mirror polished, though with very slight dullness where the pressure seal sits at rest. (Examining with a magnifying glass did show up some tiny scores there so perhaps I’m on a hiding to nothing with seals now – maybe a new cylinder is the answer?)

I’ve just wrestled it back on the car and now find that operation is fairly progressive in terms of feel but still very ‘soft’ for the first inch or so … but the bite point is still happening only about ¾” off the floor, which seems far too low to me.

Given that I clearly had a hydraulic problem (couldn’t engage gear after leaving it standing for several weeks and re-bleeding changed that), I’m at a bit of a loss to know what to do now. I don’t really want to risk using it and end up getting stranded but I’m now not sure whether it’s actually ok as it is.

Equally, I don’t want to shell out on a new cylinder only to find that it’s the same … and very much likewise for a clutch! (The cylinder I can just about manage but there’s no way I can do the clutch itself … with my joint problems, without a proper ramp and having to work outdoors at this time of year in an area that often ends up with large puddles of standing water around the place or, at best until next summer, muddy water squirting up between the flags as you move around on them.)

Btw, this is on a B200E which, I gather, has a 216mm clutch, vs 229mm on all the others, so I’m wondering whether the lightness (compared with my cousin’s B230E, which is much stiffer) is normal after all (*) … but that still leaves the ‘soft’ first inch and the low bite point to puzzle over.
(*) Having said that, I notice that all suppliers now seem to list only the 229mm version even for the B200E, so I might already have one that size anyway without knowing - though I see from the Classic Swede site that it suggests that I'd need to replace the flywheel with a dished one (presumably from the B230E) to accommodate that - but the catcar.info parts website lists 1317359 as the flywheel for both B200E and B230E, so now I have no idea what's in there or whether I already have what's required!

Perhaps Martin’s solution and a new clutch is the answer but it all seems suspiciously coincidental that I’ve had both hydraulic *and* mechanical clutch problems simultaneously.

Also, having re-read Tony's reply about the 'worn slot' in the plastic parts, I now see what that meant and have checked. There's less than ¼" of upward travel when lifted so I don't think that's the problem here.

Any suggestions?