Geo
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I purchased a manual 4200 GT in December last year thinking that at 25000 mile I should have little or no problem from the clutch. Well, after about 200 miles the changing gear became a bit balky and at 250 miles the clutch wouldn't release properly with the pedal going about halfway down before feeling resistance.
At first I thought I had a hydraulic leak, but could see no evidence of this anywhere, also the fluid level was sitting on the upper mark of the joint Clutch/brake reservoir. I then suspected that air had somehow entered the system so decided to bleed it.
Let he fun begin!
I jacked up the car on axle stands and crawled underneath to access the clutch bleed nipple. This was extremely tight and had to be freed off using a ratchet and socket before using a spanner for the bleeding operation.
To make things nice and easy (laughs like ****), I purchased a pressure bleeder. This is an excellent piece of kit that holds up to 2.5ltr fluid and pressurises the system at about 20PSI. Once fitted to the reservoir and pressurised, the clutch pedal jammed rearwards I crawled under the car and released the bleed nipple. Did the fluid flow out in a flowing stream, did it ****. With the bleed nipple open, there was only the slightest drip of fluid from the end of the plastic hose.
After lot of head scratching, I eventually discovered that the brake fluid on the line down to the master cylinder had solidified having the appearance of solid calcium or icing sugar. Although the brake fluid in the reservoir was fresh and had obviously been changed as required in servicing, the fluid in the clutch line had never been changed since it left the factory fifteen years ago! I suspect there will be quite a few cars that have a similar shared clutch and brake reservoir system suffering from ancient fluid in the clutch line.
I removed the master cylinder and opened it up only to find a build up of this hard white deposit inside. The hose that feeds the master cylinder was like a rod of iron, and when flexed cracked and crunched. I blew it through with a high pressure air line and a large quantity of white pellets shot out. After a bit of experimentation I discovered that boiling water dissolves this deposit very easily.
Not happy with price that Maserati charge for a new master cylinder, I purchased one for an Audi TT/A3 ( Sachs Clutch Master Cylinder 6284000032 or 6284000033) which is exactly the same dimensions inside and out. The only difference is the length of the actuating rod is about 25mm too long on the Audi version.
I dismantled the new cylinder and replaced the piston and rod assembly with the original from my car. It is a bit if a fiddle as it I'd not meant to be taken apart. It involves compressing four plastic barbs while gently pulling on the rod to allow the cap to come out. As the cylinder was getting binned, to save time I just cut the cylinder with a hacksaw to free the rod.
The most awkward part of the job was locating the ends of the circlip that holds the rod into the clutch pedal. You are working upside down lying on your back and unable to see how the clip lies. I used a piece of plasticine and pressed it into the back of the pedal where the rod goes. When carefully removed, you will have an impression showing the orientation of the circlip ends, and you will also see what size of circlip pliers you need for best fit.
Once fitted the new cylinder was easy to bleed using the pressure bleeder, but do ensure that the pedal is jammed fully to the rear first. If the rod is more than 1mm into the cylinder, it won't bleed.
Cost of cylinder £26.26 and Pressure Bleeder £45.91 both prices included carriage.
The car has covered about 1700 miles since replacing the cylinder and everything is operating perfectly.
MANY THANKS TO EDWIN247 for help in sourcing master cylinder from his post here: https://www.maseratilife.com/forums/coupe-spyder-gs/86257-4200-gt-clutch-master.html
At first I thought I had a hydraulic leak, but could see no evidence of this anywhere, also the fluid level was sitting on the upper mark of the joint Clutch/brake reservoir. I then suspected that air had somehow entered the system so decided to bleed it.
Let he fun begin!
I jacked up the car on axle stands and crawled underneath to access the clutch bleed nipple. This was extremely tight and had to be freed off using a ratchet and socket before using a spanner for the bleeding operation.
To make things nice and easy (laughs like ****), I purchased a pressure bleeder. This is an excellent piece of kit that holds up to 2.5ltr fluid and pressurises the system at about 20PSI. Once fitted to the reservoir and pressurised, the clutch pedal jammed rearwards I crawled under the car and released the bleed nipple. Did the fluid flow out in a flowing stream, did it ****. With the bleed nipple open, there was only the slightest drip of fluid from the end of the plastic hose.
After lot of head scratching, I eventually discovered that the brake fluid on the line down to the master cylinder had solidified having the appearance of solid calcium or icing sugar. Although the brake fluid in the reservoir was fresh and had obviously been changed as required in servicing, the fluid in the clutch line had never been changed since it left the factory fifteen years ago! I suspect there will be quite a few cars that have a similar shared clutch and brake reservoir system suffering from ancient fluid in the clutch line.
I removed the master cylinder and opened it up only to find a build up of this hard white deposit inside. The hose that feeds the master cylinder was like a rod of iron, and when flexed cracked and crunched. I blew it through with a high pressure air line and a large quantity of white pellets shot out. After a bit of experimentation I discovered that boiling water dissolves this deposit very easily.
Not happy with price that Maserati charge for a new master cylinder, I purchased one for an Audi TT/A3 ( Sachs Clutch Master Cylinder 6284000032 or 6284000033) which is exactly the same dimensions inside and out. The only difference is the length of the actuating rod is about 25mm too long on the Audi version.
I dismantled the new cylinder and replaced the piston and rod assembly with the original from my car. It is a bit if a fiddle as it I'd not meant to be taken apart. It involves compressing four plastic barbs while gently pulling on the rod to allow the cap to come out. As the cylinder was getting binned, to save time I just cut the cylinder with a hacksaw to free the rod.
The most awkward part of the job was locating the ends of the circlip that holds the rod into the clutch pedal. You are working upside down lying on your back and unable to see how the clip lies. I used a piece of plasticine and pressed it into the back of the pedal where the rod goes. When carefully removed, you will have an impression showing the orientation of the circlip ends, and you will also see what size of circlip pliers you need for best fit.
Once fitted the new cylinder was easy to bleed using the pressure bleeder, but do ensure that the pedal is jammed fully to the rear first. If the rod is more than 1mm into the cylinder, it won't bleed.
Cost of cylinder £26.26 and Pressure Bleeder £45.91 both prices included carriage.
The car has covered about 1700 miles since replacing the cylinder and everything is operating perfectly.
MANY THANKS TO EDWIN247 for help in sourcing master cylinder from his post here: https://www.maseratilife.com/forums/coupe-spyder-gs/86257-4200-gt-clutch-master.html
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