Hi all,
I'm a bit of an interloper in that although my car has a Rover SD1 engine, it is in a on-off aluminium bodied effort I put together 22 years ago. It was last on the road in 1990. I decided to try and resurrect it recently, but the clutch refuses to disengage. Anyone got any ideas? The idea of taking the engine out again does not appeal. Also underneath the gearbox and diff. (Jag XJ6) are puddles of oil indicating the seals have presumably dried out. Will they have to be replaced or will they come alive again if the car is run? Any sugestions would be greatfuuly received.
Regards, Ewan

hello mate if the slave has not been used for a long time the seals will go as u said there is puddle of oil on the floor best bet is to buy a new one there about 25-30 quid not alot good luck mate,

If the slave is working and the clutch is corroded to the flywheel then I've heard of two remedies:

Jack drive wheels clear of floor, run engine up to a decent speed in gear, put the clutch down and jam on the brakes. The shock is supposed to seperate the clutch from the flywheel.

Or:

Run engine until thoroughly warm (approx 1 hour), then jam the clutch pedal down with a piece of wood and leave overnight.

Hello Ewan,

I guess you have not really told us the nature of the failure - Either -

Pedal goes right down and nothing happens. or

Pedal wont go down because clutch is frozen solid?

If the former, that just happened to me during winter storage and I refilled the clutch system to no immediate avail, left it overnight (in disgust) and, Presto, the next morning it was fixed. What's more the seals healed themselves and it hasn't lost fluid in 8 weeks since.

If the latter then both the methods mentioned so far do work.

My son swears by the shock method but then it worked for him because he used the get the engine warm, start the car in gear, lurch into motion, drive off, then slam on the brakes and straight into reverse with no mercy - worked every time.

I was gobsmacked when he demonstrated it to me and when questioned about breaking something he simply replied -

"Dad its a Rover SD1 transmission system, they deal with 150 - 200 ft lb of torque all day, every day, they are impossible to break, and the weakest part is the frozen clutch - it always gives way first". Shocking

Never done it, but I'd heard good reports of the constant pressure method with a piece of wood on the pedal too, so when faced with the same, a friend of mine tried it and it was like magic - working fine the following morning.

I seem to recall he had a fan heater blowing onto the bell-housing overnight to warm things up a little.

Good luck anyway.

Depending on the storage conditions you might have to drop the box and work the plate off the flywheel manually. My P6B (LT77 conversion) had been stored for about six years in brutal conditions, the car had undergone all kinds of shock therapy to get the clutch to disengage. Pedal action was fine.

The box eventually had to come out after I bought the car, and the clutch plate came off in bits after some seeing to with a hammer and chisel.