On my old T16 I had done quite a bit of clutch work. I rebuilt the master and slave cylinders and fitted a new pressure plate, friction disc and release bearing. Unfortunately the rebuilt slave cylinder burst a seal as soon as the clutch pedal was pressed and the brand new replacement leaked.
Well the clutch system worked okay for almost one year, but gremlins again returned to give me grief. I'd known for a while that the slave cylinder was leaking and the rebuilt master cylinder also started going.
I would loose the clutch pedal when manoeuvring (master cylinder) and there would be a small puddle of fluid underneath the car when left overnight (slave cylinder). The fluid level in the reservoir also dropped.
For several months I topped up the reservoir as at the time I had no facilities to do the replacement. However, inevitably something else happened to finally spell death for the clutch assembly.
Hydraulic fluid leaking through the front of the slave cylinder contaminated the grease in the release bearing leading to premature failure. I could hear and feel the dry bearing through the clutch pedal.
On the way home one day the release bearing finally gave up and I completely lost all clutch action. I was stuck in 4th gear yet somehow managed to get the car home without changing gear or stopping :nono; I strongly suspected that the release bearing had broken up completely.
In addition, fluid from the leaking slave had also contaminated the friction disc leading to intermittent slips and juddery take-up.
Well by then I had the garage kinda sorted out and was able to tackle the clutch job. Bear in mind that I expected to replace most components: master and slave cylinders, friction disc, release bearing and perhaps pressure plate too.
When I did the clutch job last time, I didn't remove the bonnet but this time I decided that I would. It's straightforward, and massively improves working at the front of the engine bay. Remember to remove the washer jet hoses first though!
I made up some protecting pads for the bonnet from old box packaging. I glued them together properly, but at that time tape'll did the job.
There's a channel here cut so that the bonnet edge rests securely:
Access to the clutch requires that all inlet to turbo piping be removed. This is how the engine bay looks before starting.
Air filter, air mass meter, AMM --> turbo inlet and turbo outlet --> intercooler all have to be removed, along with the EGR pipe. There are vac hoses to the APC solenoid and BOV that should be removed; I put these somewhere fairly obvious so that I don't forget to put them back!
...the engine bay looks like this:
Here you can see the plastic spawn-of-Satan clutch cover:
The clutch cover is held in place with three bolts. There is also a bracket for the bottom radiator hose that attaches to the front-left side of the clutch cover and into the gearbox. That bolt must be removed also.
I found it necessary to also remove the EGR pipe in order to get the clutch cover off.
Getting the cover out is tricky and involves wiggling it around. It's quite robust though and seems to tolerate the twisting needed. The job would probably be made easier if the clutch pipe is removed first.
The pressure plate, flywheel and slave cylinder are revealed. Something here don't look right to me:
You can clearly see that the release bearing is badly off-line and the bellows dust seal is damaged.
The proper Saab tool used for compressing the clutch. The tool is used when disengagnig the clutch using the pedal is not possible. The ring you see on the groud fits around the release bearing and then into the tool's fork. There is a lever on the tool's handle that hooks onto the pressure plate. The clutch can then be levered into a compressed state.
The fork end of the lever, and the ring that fits around the release bearing:
The ring opens up to fit around the release bearing (or whatever's left of it) and then closes into a circle. The fork-end of the lever then engages with the ring and with the hook on the pressure plate the clutch can be compressed.
To get the lever's ring in place, I found it necessary to cut away the rubber bellows around the dust cover. I'd hoped to re-use the bellows seal, but it was too badly damaged, plus I discovered a spare in the garage
These are spacer rings used to keep the pressure plate in compressed state so that it can be removed. There is a large ring and a small ring. The smaller ring is used on earlier pressure plates with shorter compression fingers:
As the spacer is sprung steel, it will hold itself in place on the pressure plate's inner ring while it's being compressed. When the clutch compresses, use a screwdriver to nudge the spacer into place. If the spacer isn't fully seated then it could pop out.
This is the primary chain cover. Behind that are the chains which link crankshaft drive (via clutch) to the gearbox. Also inside there is the clutch input shaft which must be withdrawn before the clutch parts can be removed.
At the front of the primary chain cover is a rod spring. Push in one end of this rod to unhook it from the drive cover. There's a circular cover that fits onto the front of the housing which you can pull away easily.
You'll then see a cross-shaped plastic part. This is an oil sprayer that lubricates the primary chains. It screws into the clutch input shaft and can easily be removed.
Circular cover and oil sprayer:
Time to withdraw the clutch input shaft. Screw a bolt into the end of the shaft and lever it back using the Saab tool or a pry bar. The shaft is held in place with a spring clip and will release suddenly and can damage the radiator unless care is taken (put thick cardboard behind the rad). The shaft cannot be fully withdrawn but it doesn't need to be for clutch removal.
You can see that the genuine Saab clutch tool has a cutout that fits around the bolt for levering out the input shaft:
With the input shaft withdrawn and clutch cover off it's time to remove the slave cylinder. I decided to clamp the flexible clutch hose to minimise fluid loss during removal.
The cylinder is held in place with hex socket bolts and they are a nuisance to remove with an Allen key because the dust seal gets in the way. In the past I had replaced the hex socket bolts with hex head bolts and removal is now no longer a problem. A ratchet spanner is a godsend for removing the bolts.
If the slave cylinder's piston is pushed in when the clutch pipe's out then hydraulic fluid will be ejected at speed onto the paintwork. To prevent that, tightly screw a spare cylinder nipple into the cylinder.
The pressure plate fits onto dowels in the flywheel and is held in place with six bolts. You will need to turn the engine over to get to all the bolts so make sure the gearbox is in neutral.
The pressure plate may need to be gently prised away from the flywheel with a screwdriver/pry bar. When it falls off the flywheel, you'll be able to wiggle the slave cylinder out and then lift away the rest.
If you plan on reusing the pressure plate or friction disc, then ensure that neither is contaminated with grease.
With the slave cylinder, pressure plate and mangled release bearing removed, here's how it looks:
The back of the primary drive case. This is where the slave cylinder fits (note the location of the bolt holes). You can see the hole where the input shaft emerges to engage with the friction disc and flywheel.
The slave cylinder and ruined release bearing/cover on the bench:
Well the clutch system worked okay for almost one year, but gremlins again returned to give me grief. I'd known for a while that the slave cylinder was leaking and the rebuilt master cylinder also started going.
I would loose the clutch pedal when manoeuvring (master cylinder) and there would be a small puddle of fluid underneath the car when left overnight (slave cylinder). The fluid level in the reservoir also dropped.
For several months I topped up the reservoir as at the time I had no facilities to do the replacement. However, inevitably something else happened to finally spell death for the clutch assembly.
Hydraulic fluid leaking through the front of the slave cylinder contaminated the grease in the release bearing leading to premature failure. I could hear and feel the dry bearing through the clutch pedal.
On the way home one day the release bearing finally gave up and I completely lost all clutch action. I was stuck in 4th gear yet somehow managed to get the car home without changing gear or stopping :nono; I strongly suspected that the release bearing had broken up completely.
In addition, fluid from the leaking slave had also contaminated the friction disc leading to intermittent slips and juddery take-up.
Well by then I had the garage kinda sorted out and was able to tackle the clutch job. Bear in mind that I expected to replace most components: master and slave cylinders, friction disc, release bearing and perhaps pressure plate too.
When I did the clutch job last time, I didn't remove the bonnet but this time I decided that I would. It's straightforward, and massively improves working at the front of the engine bay. Remember to remove the washer jet hoses first though!
I made up some protecting pads for the bonnet from old box packaging. I glued them together properly, but at that time tape'll did the job.
There's a channel here cut so that the bonnet edge rests securely:
Access to the clutch requires that all inlet to turbo piping be removed. This is how the engine bay looks before starting.
Air filter, air mass meter, AMM --> turbo inlet and turbo outlet --> intercooler all have to be removed, along with the EGR pipe. There are vac hoses to the APC solenoid and BOV that should be removed; I put these somewhere fairly obvious so that I don't forget to put them back!
...the engine bay looks like this:
Here you can see the plastic spawn-of-Satan clutch cover:
The clutch cover is held in place with three bolts. There is also a bracket for the bottom radiator hose that attaches to the front-left side of the clutch cover and into the gearbox. That bolt must be removed also.
I found it necessary to also remove the EGR pipe in order to get the clutch cover off.
Getting the cover out is tricky and involves wiggling it around. It's quite robust though and seems to tolerate the twisting needed. The job would probably be made easier if the clutch pipe is removed first.
The pressure plate, flywheel and slave cylinder are revealed. Something here don't look right to me:
You can clearly see that the release bearing is badly off-line and the bellows dust seal is damaged.
The proper Saab tool used for compressing the clutch. The tool is used when disengagnig the clutch using the pedal is not possible. The ring you see on the groud fits around the release bearing and then into the tool's fork. There is a lever on the tool's handle that hooks onto the pressure plate. The clutch can then be levered into a compressed state.
The fork end of the lever, and the ring that fits around the release bearing:
The ring opens up to fit around the release bearing (or whatever's left of it) and then closes into a circle. The fork-end of the lever then engages with the ring and with the hook on the pressure plate the clutch can be compressed.
To get the lever's ring in place, I found it necessary to cut away the rubber bellows around the dust cover. I'd hoped to re-use the bellows seal, but it was too badly damaged, plus I discovered a spare in the garage
These are spacer rings used to keep the pressure plate in compressed state so that it can be removed. There is a large ring and a small ring. The smaller ring is used on earlier pressure plates with shorter compression fingers:
As the spacer is sprung steel, it will hold itself in place on the pressure plate's inner ring while it's being compressed. When the clutch compresses, use a screwdriver to nudge the spacer into place. If the spacer isn't fully seated then it could pop out.
This is the primary chain cover. Behind that are the chains which link crankshaft drive (via clutch) to the gearbox. Also inside there is the clutch input shaft which must be withdrawn before the clutch parts can be removed.
At the front of the primary chain cover is a rod spring. Push in one end of this rod to unhook it from the drive cover. There's a circular cover that fits onto the front of the housing which you can pull away easily.
You'll then see a cross-shaped plastic part. This is an oil sprayer that lubricates the primary chains. It screws into the clutch input shaft and can easily be removed.
Circular cover and oil sprayer:
Time to withdraw the clutch input shaft. Screw a bolt into the end of the shaft and lever it back using the Saab tool or a pry bar. The shaft is held in place with a spring clip and will release suddenly and can damage the radiator unless care is taken (put thick cardboard behind the rad). The shaft cannot be fully withdrawn but it doesn't need to be for clutch removal.
You can see that the genuine Saab clutch tool has a cutout that fits around the bolt for levering out the input shaft:
With the input shaft withdrawn and clutch cover off it's time to remove the slave cylinder. I decided to clamp the flexible clutch hose to minimise fluid loss during removal.
The cylinder is held in place with hex socket bolts and they are a nuisance to remove with an Allen key because the dust seal gets in the way. In the past I had replaced the hex socket bolts with hex head bolts and removal is now no longer a problem. A ratchet spanner is a godsend for removing the bolts.
If the slave cylinder's piston is pushed in when the clutch pipe's out then hydraulic fluid will be ejected at speed onto the paintwork. To prevent that, tightly screw a spare cylinder nipple into the cylinder.
The pressure plate fits onto dowels in the flywheel and is held in place with six bolts. You will need to turn the engine over to get to all the bolts so make sure the gearbox is in neutral.
The pressure plate may need to be gently prised away from the flywheel with a screwdriver/pry bar. When it falls off the flywheel, you'll be able to wiggle the slave cylinder out and then lift away the rest.
If you plan on reusing the pressure plate or friction disc, then ensure that neither is contaminated with grease.
With the slave cylinder, pressure plate and mangled release bearing removed, here's how it looks:
The back of the primary drive case. This is where the slave cylinder fits (note the location of the bolt holes). You can see the hole where the input shaft emerges to engage with the friction disc and flywheel.
The slave cylinder and ruined release bearing/cover on the bench: