Lynn,
Say, whaddaya mean, DOT5. Why I oughta …. Oh, oh, never mind!
Jerry
Actually, good insight, thanks!
And surprisingly it’s not addressed in the 4.2 supplements either. Go figure as it certainly makes sense.
The Haynes manual, on the other hand , does recommend changing the fluid by the bleed out and replace process every 24,000 miles or 2 years.
I wonder if the recommendation came out in a subsequent service bulletin. I’d bet G. Camp would know.
Thanks for the reminder, Doug. I used it when I rebuilt the slave cylinder the last time. Don’t know if it helped or not, but it is SOP.
So in the E Type era there were 3 Technical Bulletins. All involved fluid grades and so on but here they are.
TB L30 jan 64 says change at 25k miles or 40k km
TB L47 jan 68 says 18 months or 40k miles
TB L56 June 65 24k (40k km) or 18 months
hope that helps
[quote=“George_Camp, post:25, topic:350259”]
So in the E Type era there were 3 Technical Bulletins. All involved fluid grades and so on but here they are.
TB L30 jan 64 says change at 25k miles or 40k km
TB L47 jan 68 says 18 months or 40k miles
TB L56 June 65 24k (40k km) or 18 months
hope that helps[/quote]
It does indeed, good to know Jaguar didn’t ignore the issue.
While looking through the Workshop Manual Supplement for something else this afternoon I came across “Section A 4.2 Including Series 2” and came across yet another maintenance schedule. This one recommended draining and refilling the braking system at 36,000 miles. Page AY.s.3 if it matters.
I am in the process of replacing all wheel cylinders on an XK-140. I removed and shipped all cylinders to Aoole Hydraulics who was recommended by someone whose judgement I greatly respect. They came back beautiful, but in the process I had several discussions with the owner about Asian brake kits, cylinders etc. As I recall, his parts come from England. He told me a major US retailer of British car parts offered him his inventory of brand new Chinese wheel and master cylinders to use as cores for $5 each. He passed. That , he said, is how bad they are,
Good information here gentlemen. I will add that I had this problem on my '55 Thunderbird and when I changed the Master cylinder I went with royal purple synthetic brake fluid. It’s been a couple years and the fluid still looks great, no leaks and the brakes work well. Pending further discussion here I would consider the same in my etype.
Well, THAT was fun! After about two hours of trying this and that, double nutting the studs and practicing some seldom used vocabulary, I finally got the clutch slave cylinder off. Monday, I’ll send it off to White Post for a rebuild which will include a brass resleeve and good quality seals. They’re kind of pricey, but this is a job that I don’t ever want to have to repeat and they give a life time warranty for their work.
It looks like the source of the black fluid in the clutch reservoir was dissolved rubber from the hose that connects the reservoir to the hard line going to the MC. All of the fluid in the line to the MC as well as all of the fluid that drained out of the line between the master and slave was a nice, clear slightly amber fluid like fresh brake fluid. I’ll order a new hose that has the proper resistance to brake fluid.
I seem to recall that someone had recommended replacing the studs and nuts that attach the slave cylinder to the bell housing with female hex head bolts. Sounds like a wonderful idea which I will do so that if I do ever have to repeat this job with the engine in place, it will be much easier.
As always, thanks for all of the advice for helping me keep my car on the road.
I did this a couple of years ago and yes it was a fiddly job but my colorful vocabulary comes out more when I am working on the rear brakes. The day I replaced the broken fork to spread the parking brake pads it was a good thing no children were around. I did not want to drop the IRS unit like I guess you are supposed to. I did not like Bill Heynes too much that day but will always forgive him since the E is such a neat car.
David
68 E-type FHC
I finished the replacement of the clutch slave cylinder and everything is back to normal. I had sent the slave cylinder off to White Post Restorations for an overhaul which included a resleeving of the cylinder. They bore out the inside and insert a brass sleeve and reassemble the unit, ready for installation. They ain’t cheap, but they guarantee the repair for the life of my ownership. Removing and replacing the clutch slave while the engine is in the car is one job that I never want to have to do again. I bought a set of flare nut crows foot wrenches from HF which made the job MUCH easier and was well worth the $11.99. 30 minutes and some minor league swearing and it was ready for fluid. I filled the reservoir, clamped on my inner tube pressure bleeder and cracked the bleed valve. After draining about 3/4 of the reservoir, air bubbles stopped coming out, so I tightened the bleed valve and refilled the reservoir to the fill line. Held my breath and pushed the clutch pedal and, lo and behold, normal clutch operation on the first try! I took the car out for a short test drive and everything was back to normal. I’ve gotta say, the two times that I’ve worked on the clutch hydraulics with a final bleeding with the inner tube trick, I’ve had no retained air or other problems. Now, she just needs an oil change and a bath to get ready for the spring driving season.
Mark,
Your inner tube pressure system sounds like a great way to bleed both brake and clutch systems. How did you attache the inner tube? Perhaps a post with a picture of the set up for the archives if the picture can show the details?
Regards,
Craig
The clutch and brake systems are slightly different in that the clutch is just plain open to the reservoir until the the pedal is depressed. This means if there is a leak past the seals at slave due to corrosion, it’ll drain the reservoir in no time at all whether the pedal is pumped or not. By contrast, faulty brakes will likely lose little fluid until operated.
This also means that the bleeding procedure ought to also be different - you should be able to simply gravity bleed the clutch as there is nothing to impede the flow from top to bottom, i.e. pumping or pressure won’t nearly make as much difference as they will with brakes.
kind regards
Marek
Marek,
That’s true of the brakes as well, no? When the pedal is released the small reservoir shut valve opens and fluid can flow both ways. In the 3.8 when this does not work, the brakes lock up due to expansion of the fluid in the brakes…
Jerry
I guess that must be right, otherwise no fluid would ever reach the calipers. It’s just very much more obvious with the clutch. Certainly opening a clutch bleed nipple will make you lose all of your fluid straight away, but opening a brake caliper bleed nipple isn’t quite as severe.
kind regards
Marek
I used the inner tube system to bleed my brakes when I did an overhaul a few years ago and it worked just fine; no brake pedal pumping was required. Last year, I installed speed bleeders on the brakes and so I just pumped to bleed them. I’ll post some pictures tonight when I get home, but basically you just cut a bicycle inner tube and clamp off one of the cut ends. Use a radiator hose clamp to attach the other end to the reservoir bottle of the system that you’re bleeding. Pressurize the inner tube until it just starts to swell. You don’t want to put too much pressure in or you might burst the reservoir. Then crack the bleed screw and wait for bubbles to stop coming out. Be sure to keep a watch on the reservoir and refill it once it gets down to about 1/4 or so full. You’ll probably have to repressurize the inner tube a couple of times during the process. Once air bubbles stop, the system should be filled with clean fluid and all of the air expelled.
