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MG MGF Technical - clutch gone ,anyone help ?

rac has told me my clutch has gone anyone out their can help me fix it please
ann carwithen

The actual clutch or the clutch hydraulics? The second is a lot easier to fix :)

Does the pedal just go to the floor or do the revs rise as you are driving along with no increase in speed(clutch slipping)?
Tony

just by chance, I stumbled across this

http://www.mgfcar.de/gearbox/clutch_replacement_MGF.htm

Do you have spanners? :D
Tony

Hi Tony thank you for your response and also the link that was very kind of you, the pedal just goes straight to the floor, the Rac guy topped up the hydraulics fluid for me, i was then able to put the car into gear which i was not able to do before the fluid in my car is cloudy as well, all the garages close to me are not willing to give me a quote on fixing it for me, they all seem to think its going to be a major job in fixing the clutch- gearbox, i understand that it more the labour than the parts that is going to cost the most, or is that because i am a woman and they can get away with charging me more lol, thank you for your help :-) Ann.
ann carwithen

If the clutch worked after it was topped up, all you may need is for the clutch hydraulic fluid to be flushed through and the system bled to get any air out. That's a pretty easy job you could get done at Kwik-Fit or similar. If it's still not right after that, the next easiest job is the slave cylinder which might be leaking (should be signs of that which can be checked when the fluid's done). Unless you've got massive miles on the car, the clutch shouldn't be totally kaput. Put the car in gear with the handbrake off, and you shouldn't be able to move it!
I once many years ago (not in the MG) had all my clutch fluid fall into the road in the middle of London. Fortunately the Vauxhall gearbox had excellent syncromesh, so I was able to move off by starting the engine with 1st gear engaged, and changing gear as if I had a crash box. Interesting =8-(
Mike Cunningham

The mid 1980s Ford Transit also had this useful clutchless capability; and the very handy 'survive a cambelt failure, fit a new one on the roadside, line it up by eye and drive away' - but not both together!
Charless

Mike's assertion that bleeding air out of the hydraulics is an 'easy job' comes partly from it being done on his car while queuing for a track session at Castle Combe, with IIRC half a beer can and a rag ;o)

Giving the RAC man the benefit of the doubt, I suspect he has discovered that the clutch arm the slave cylinder operates has seized, causing the slave cylinder to give up under the strain. Replacing the arm does require the gearbox to be removed, and that's one hell of a job 8-( At the very least you'll need to have the slave cylinder seals replaced, ideally replace the whole slave assembly, and I'd recommend replacing the clutch arm with the modified design that Mike Satur sells (with lubrication channels) but if you're taking the gearbox out then you might as well fit a fresh clutch too. Expensive, but if you plan to keep the car long term, a good investment.

There is a slim chance that the clutch arm can be un-seized without removing the gearbox, but it is slim. By dribbling oil into the point where the clutch arm goes into the gearbox casing, and exercising the arm, you may get enough oil to the seizure to free it up. Exercising the arm is the hard part - a complex arrangement of timbers and a scissor jack is my technique, but absolutely no guarantee that after hours of sweat you'll have a working clutch again... 8-/ And if it does free up enough to work, absolutely no way of guaranteeing it won't seize again in the future.
bandit

Forgot to mention, check if your RAC membership can be used to have the car transported to an MGF specialist. If it can, the I'd recommend TechSpeed - http://www.tech-speed.co.uk/ - or a bit closer for collection afterwards would be MJN Motors in Bristol - http://www.mjnmotors.co.uk/
bandit

bandit's wrong on one count - I've never been to Castle Combe (must have been another Mike) - but probably right on the rest. If you can, get the whole job done by the specialists, you won't regret it as a new clutch is so much nicer to drive with!
80s Transit wasn't the only one that got away with cambelt failure - my next Vauxhall was a 2.3 Victor that chewed its belt when my wife was driving. The recovery guy was puzzled that the engine turned over on the starter, but the distributor remained static...
Mike Cunningham

Oops, wrong Mike...
bandit

Ann,

is it an early MGF with VVC engine ? (144bhp)
In this case there's a clutch damper mounted to the front. This part made problems and was recommended to removed an replaced with straight pipes.

@bandit,
the clutch arm sticky from rust cannot get fixed for long term with lubrication from above. There's an O-ring located in the clutch bell just below the surface that seals the arm bearing. The corrosion is below that seal and it's impossible to get the derivates out without removing the clutch arm.
Did that job (not alone) two weeks ago, including clutch replacement it took about 6 hours.

HTH
Dieter
Dieter

Aha! Thanks Dieter, that's useful info - probably explains why I've only a 33% success rate, perhaps the one success might have been because the O-ring had failed. So Ann, when I said 'a slim chance', what I meant was basically 'no chance'...

6hours for that job is pretty impressive Dieter - IIRC the MGR quoted time is twice that! What did you have for breakfast that day..? ;o)
bandit

This thread was discussed between 02/06/2009 and 05/06/2009

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