Are there any Landrover experts on here, My girlfriends Freelander is playing up, first the clutch peddal was juddering, then that stopped and now the cluch is slipping, but only when first setting off, it seems to sort itself after about five mins of driving.

My suspicions are that the master cylinder or pipework is knackered, has anyone else had this problem?.

I really dont want to have to change the cluch as it looks like a real swine of a job.

Thanks in advance.

My freelander (1.8 petrol) clutch went pop, turned out to be the slave cylinder exploded, was quoted 150 quid just for the parts, it turns out the whole hydraulic system is a sealed unit, master - pipework & slave all in one unit with the fluid sealed in so no need to bleed it ever. I picked the sealed unit up off ebay, brand new from a parts dealer for 60 quid, the whole job takes about an hour if youve not done it before, its surprisingly easy to do, only fiddly bit is connecting pushrod to clutch pedal.

When i took my old one off, i realised the bracket that holds the slave cylinder is an incredibly bad/weak design & they are liable to splitting, which mine had and was probably the cause of the extra tension on the slave, you can see it quite easily with a torch, im thinking maybe its your bracket that is possibly split & 'giving' a bit.
Before i replaced the master, slave etc i got a friend to weld the bracket adding a bit more strength to the original bad design.

Only problem is if its your bracket, you will still need to fit a new hydraulic system because as soon as they are fitted, you plant your foot down on the clutch pedal and a plastic retainer on the slave snaps so its all ready for use, if you remove the slave after this, a new system is needed.

Hope this all makes sense, apologies for the essay but it may point you in the right direction, hopefully its not the actual clutch thats on the way out.

Regards Andy

This one on ebay even comes with a new bracket so might be worth a look at yours with a torch before you go too far

Ebay Item number: 160526876476

Still only about 60 quid delivered

It looks as if the TD4 versions may have a slightly different set up with seperate master and slave ???

[Edited on 3/1/11 by Andybarbet]

PG1 gearbox with external slave cylinder ---- Don't know about the Freelander but on other Rover models that use the PG boxes the clutch fork is operated by a crossshaft that runs directly in the alloy of the bellhousing. You may well find this crossshaft is partially seized, you may be able to free it up without removing the gearbox.

The general received wisdom on cars with this gearbox (800, MGF, MGTF, 2 litre and Diesel 200/25 & 400/45s & Montegos/Maestros) is not to pressure wash the gearbox area and give the exposed bearing and occasional lube with an oil can

Had that same problem on a montego years ago the crossshaft was part siezed and applied pressure to the clutch in turn causing it to slip