Allegro Club International

[AlexB]

Howdy!

I think my clutch has failed. I'm in luck if I can get it into 4th. Just had to do 30 miles in one gear and it wasn't much fun. The master cyl was the guilty cause on my last Allegro so I'm assuming this to be the case again (?)

My car is needing a little more recon than first thought for this years' show season!

Cheers,
Alex.
_________________

'When you're travelling economy, go first class'

[Colin T]

You can check for leaky master cylinder seals quite easily by removing the parcel tray, stuffing your head in amongst the pedals, peal back the rubber boot on the master cylinder and look/feel for clutch fluid.

You can also peel back the boot on the slave cylinder and look/feel for fluid that that has got past the cylinder seals. I'd do that first as it's easier to get at.

I don't know why a clutch problem wouldn't affect 4th gear as much as the others, maybe someone else can help with that.
_________________
Hell has frozen over...... the car formally known as 'Heap' is back on the road!

[Richard Howe]

It's probably down to the torque; the clutch isn't disengaging the engine at any time, but the engine's able to force the clutch to slip without stalling out or causing unwanted movement. I've driven an ADO16 stuck in 3rd because the clutch failed, one foot on the brakes & one on the accelerator meant I could cause just enough drag to keep the car stationary, and just enough grip to allow me to pull away. Not much fun, and I only had to go a couple of miles rather than Alex's 30!

One thing I will say is that my issue wasn't caused by a cylinder failure, but by a vacuum in the system caused by an improper unvented cap on the clutch reservoir. The Allegro uses different caps/reservoirs but it's still worth checking that the system doesn't need bleeding if there's no sign of a leak elsewhere.
_________________
...that's why Allegro will look as good 5 years from now as it does today.