Just bought an SII E Type. Driving it for the first time, all seemed well for awhile, then - sudden clutch failure. No pedal pressure. No grinding, just wouldn't go into any gear. Turned engine off, shifted into 3rd, used starter to get the car rolling and made it back home in 3rd.

I'm guessing the failure is either the master cyl or slave. Any thoughts out there?

Thanks very much, in advance.

 

Yeah, check the master cylinder.. the seals tend to go out on those eventually.

 

Thanks Marco. How hard is it to rebuild? Or is it just better to get a new one?

 

Rebuild in pretty easy. On Ebay now you can find a rebuild kit for $24, or a new Cylinder for $68.

 

Great! This car was supposedly completely restored, I'm guessing 10-12 years ago but I have no records indicating clutch work.

Should I, then, just replace the slave, hose, and steel lines at the same time? (My knowledge base is pre-war cars so hydraulics are not my forte).

Are there any tricks to bleeding the system once repaired?

 

The parts aren't expensive, so it easy enough just to replace them. Bleeding them is the same process and any car. Here's a link that should be helpful.

Bleeding brakes : The E-Type (XK-E) Forum : Jaguar Exp Car Forums : The Jaguar Experience

 

Thanks again. Just ordered all the hydraulic parts as well as all the reservoirs and corroded brackets, which are the parts that were not replaced during the previous owner's resto. I appreciate your taking time to answer.
Jeff

 

Happy to help! Good luck…old jags are pretty easy to work on and replace parts. Once sorted, they're very reliable. But still, I like to have peace of mind and usually have a small stock of spares in the boot..fuel pump, coil, fan motor, spark plugs, hoses, belts. In past 20 years, the only one that really came in handy was the coil.

 

Great advice. Will do. Also, will post a pic or two on this site when I figure out how.
Jeff

 

Jeff,
Last spring I had my clutch reservoir spring a leak and drove from Granny White & Tyne to Hillwood in third gear, still can not believe I made it without stopping. Either way, the bleeder for the clutch is under the passenger side floor area. It took me a little searching to find that in the manuals.

We will have to meet up sometime in the future.

Cheers,
Geoff

 

Hey Geoff,

I only had to run one stop sign, and made a righthand turn. 3rd works pretty well going around a corner at 20mph.

Both cylinders were in bad shape, so I'm replacing the clutch hydrolics including corroded original lines and clamps, hoses, all three reservoirs and corroded mounting brackets, et al. While I'm at it I'm replacing stuff I had to pull out to get to all that, including brake hoses and heat shields - those are pricey! Old ones were originals and had made a mess of the lower engine bay.

Call me. We've probably met and I assume you're either in, or have been in the NBCC. I'm in the phone book - Jeffrey Brock, but you'll have to leave your number because we don't answer that phone.

Best,
Jeff