[DeTomaso] Failure modes for hydraulic clutch circuit

Tom Shinrock tmshinro at aol.com
Sun May 6 10:39:16 EDT 2012


 Charles,
I had the same thing happen to me when I drove on my trek from Iowa to the Fun Rally in Phoenix.  After 10 hours of driving to Oklahoma City to meet up with the Engles brothers and others to continue our drive to Phoenix, I found that my clutch went to the floor with no resistance.  I couldn't get any clutch separation to start the car.   A quick check did not reveal any leaking fluid at the slave but I found the fluid level in the master was very low.  Fortunately I was in a Walmart parking lot when it happened so I went and bought some brake fluid and filled the master reservoir.  I got enough of the clutch back to start the car but I had to pump the clutch to shift gears.  Turns out I only had to drive a couple of blocks to the hotel where I met up with Chuck and others for dinner.  I explained what had happened and Chuck offered to let me drive to his garage to bleed the clutch.  We found out that the slave seal failed and the fluid had leaked into the boot that surrounds the push rod.  I'm in momentary shock knowing that I need a slave cylinder and I'm 10 hours from home and scheduled to drive on to Phoenix at 8:00 the next morning.   What was I going to do?e

The Detomaso gods were smiling on me because Chuck just happened to have a slave cylinder on the shelve so we swapped out the bad one for the good and the car was good to go for the rest of the journey.   

If your master and slave are 12 years old, then I'm guessing that one or the other went bad.   I've been told that they should both be replaced at the same time.

Good luck.

Tom
#5186

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: CharlesMcCall <charlesmccall at gmail.com>
To: detomaso <detomaso at realbig.com>
Sent: Sun, May 6, 2012 8:19 am
Subject: [DeTomaso] Failure modes for hydraulic clutch circuit


Full story coming up - just come home from a Supercar event in northern
Spain with 150 cars present - including McLaren, 50 Ferrari, 20 Porsche,
Lambo, Maserati, etc. And one lone DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S, carrying the
DeTomaso banner. 

 

It was a 4-hour drive away from home, so this was to be a shakedown before
the long trip to Le Mans Classic in a couple months. Good thing, because
just about everything on my car has shaken. 

 

Gasoline is dripping onto the ground under my car, which is not a good sign,
but I'm on my way to put the car on a lift to see where it is coming from. 

 

My question is related to the clutch system. I have no clutch. The pedal
goes to the floor with no resistance and there was no effect to pressing it.
The fluid reservoir was empty - someone stole my brake fluid! This was in
the middle of a 3 hour excursion in the mountains, and nobody had brake
fluid so I spent the afternoon shifting by matching rpms, and if I had to
stop for whatever reason, I had to start with the car in first and lurch
into motion, then match revs to shift into the remaining gears. It was NOT
fun. 

 

When I finally found a gas station I bought brake fluid. I didn't have to
add a whole lot to fill the reservoir. Pumping the clutch pedal a billion
times started to create some resistance, and some movement in the clutch
slave. Opening the bleed valve on the clutch let some liquid out, so if
there is air in the system it will be somewhere in the middle and not at the
end. 

 

TO drive, I need to pump the clutch a dozen times and then it works as
advertised. After an hour cruise on the highway it is much less effective
and I need to pump again for it to work. 

 

Do these symptoms match the classic failure of something? Clutch master, for
example? Where should I be looking for the fluid that leaked out? The clutch
master and slave are at least 12 years old, and may be original to the car,
along with the red plastic line to the slave. 

 

Charles McCall
Raising Pantera Awareness Across Europe
1985 DeTomaso Pantera #9375
 <http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2323>
http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2323

 

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