Clutch problems! Biting point dropped to floor!

Just been out in the R having a bit of a play and I pulled up at a set of lights and noticed my clutch felt funny   

When I tried to pull off the biting point was right near the floor so i Decided to take her home, the clutch just seemed to get worse and I was struggling to find a gear.

Basically the biting point has dropped right to the floor, once in a gear the car dives fine, the clutch doesn't slip or anything.

What do you thinks happened? What should I check? Any help and advice is really appreciated guys, cheers.

Has your clutch fluid dropped?

Slave cylinder... Check for leaks around the slave cylinder on the gearbox.

OR

master cylinder... Check for leaks on clutch pedal & on the floor around clutch pedal.

Just had a look around under the bonnet an the clutch fluid looks like it's where it always has been and I can't see any obviou signs leakage although I don't exactly know what I'm looking at

I'm thinking perhaps I could of bent or broke clutch fork but I can't really tell from looking from the top.

Clutch fork - pivot is indeed possible, normally can have some creaking noises with these type failures.
Check slave & push rod to fork, you can pull rubber boot back & nose at the fork a bit.
Also check master again & pedal assembly as issues here are possible too.
Jobs above are easier with 2 people as can have someone operating clutch while you looking at things. 
If can see nothing wrong you could try bleeding the clutch a little & see if makes any improvement even if not permanent it may help indicate area at fault ...

First thing i would do is bleed the clutch slave cylinder as this is similar to what happend to mine so undo the nipple (the bit on the gearbox ) keep on top of topping up the reseivour (little pot next to the brake master cylinder) if it pumps through ok then you know its not the clutch master cylinder ...make sure your pedal is still upright ...

Thanks for the advice ill check things over tomorrow and see if i can see what's going off

What fluid should I use in the clutch?

DOT 3 to 5 brake fluid.

also check the master cylinder rod in the footwell, mine came loose one day and I couldn't get any gears, had to wind the rod back in and tighten the lock nut.

As above had the same issue couldn't select any gears later to find the master cylinder rod nut was loose adjusted it and fine ever since.

The lock nut is loose on the master cylinder rod but I'm struggling to adjust it because I cant get a spanner in to tighten it. I hope that's all it is and it's just a simple fix

think I used long nosed pliers to turn the rod and 10mm for nut?

I think it's a 12mm I had a really long spanner earlier but I'm sure I've got a shorter one somewhere that should do the job.

How should aims about adjusting it to get it right? I'm guessing the rod has adjusted itself out of position with the locknnut being so loose but I'm not sure how to adjust it to get it where it should be, ive never played about with a hydraulic clutch before

you want to be moving pedal upwards so screw the rod out of the u shape pedal pin bracket.
Just do it a little then start car select 1st gear feel at what point the clutch bites, should be biting on 1st 3rd of travel of pedal roughly.
Do check out slave rod & fork seem healthy real well though because if fault not locking bolt loose it will be down to likes of fork bending & now with full movement range bought back via adjusting pedal it would put more strain on a possible bad fork & cause full failure.
Hopefully is just that pedal adjustment though but maybe worth kissing your magic spoon for good fortune :-S ...

did you manage to sort this out?

I've not had a another look at it yet mate, I'm going to have a good look over things on the weekend.

I'm going to try bleeding the clutch, Mr B said to use dot 3-5 fluid. Does it matter if You mix them because if I top up the fluid resvour I'm not sure what dot fluid is in it to begin with lol

dont think it really matters imo I expect theres loads of cars on the road with the wrong fluids and mixed fluids :/

DOT 3 & 4 can be mixed
DOT 5 is silicone based fluid & to be honest highly unlikely it in their & I wouldn't use it in clutch system myself, although some do.
I expect you may have some DOT 3 or 4 lying about & if not it's easy & cheap to pick up anywhere.
need a little funnel to top up neatly, also worth putting bit of rag round to catch any drips as don't want be making a mess plus if spill it everywhere makes it hard trace a small leak should you have or get one plus stuff good at damaging paint & generally corrosive :-S

Its more likely you have dot 4 in there as its the most common .... you kind of need two people one to pump the pedal and the other to keep topping it up and checking for bubbles ...

I'll get my friend to help me out with it because he's a mechanic and I'm sure he's done it many of times before.

I don't know if bleeding the clutch will make any odds because I don't think the fluid has leaked or anything but theres no harm in doing it anyway.

If I get my ate to help me check it over it might shed some light as to what's happened because he. Mechanic and knows a lot more than me about these things lol

Dot 5 is not silicone based, you can mix dot 3-5

Dot5.1 is though

if the pedal is up the top bill and you have full throw on it and its moving the slave cylinder push rod to its full extent then that means the prob would either be fork or clutch related

if however the pedal is sitting on the low side you then wont have enough leverage to move the fork enough to dis-engage the clutch fully (clutch is dragging)
then this could either be a problem with the pedalbox as its a common thing for them to twist and break the top mount bolt away or they can break where the brackets welded to the bulkhead so thouroughly check the top of the pedalbox to make sure its all secure with no movement.
a fraction of movement at the top of the pedalbox will lose you over 1/2'' pedal travel at pedal end which would then cause a low bite point on clutch
my guess is its that especially if its recently got worse every time you drive her

beau_1990 wrote:Dot 5 is not silicone based, you can mix dot 3-5

Dot5.1 is though

No you can't, DOT 5 is silicone based,
Others are poly glycol based, 5.1 is a high spec poly glycol PAG.

I think Bobs hunch could be right, adjuster is almost fully wound out so could indeed be pedal mount flexed out or fork bending :-S Hope we wrong & it something more simple ...

Sorry i forgot to update this after inspecting the car last week lol.

I couldn't see anything a miss with the pedal assembly and the clutch fork moves with just a slight press of the pedal so I doubt it's a Problem with the hydraulics.

When you press the pedal it feels fine until you get to the last couple of inches of the pedal travel and it feels really difficult to press and thats where the bitting point is.

When you press the clutch pedal down to the difficult part and keep pressing and depressing it you get a lot of creaking coming from under the bonnet near the fork.

I'm guessing it's got something to do with the fork or the clutch itself or maybe even the release bearing?

I have 2 spare clutch forks and a brand new release bearing kicking about, now I just need to get the box off and inspect it but that's a job that's beyond me and my tool selection so now I need to find somebody that knows what they are doing but will not charge the earth to do it.

Mr B wrote:

beau_1990 wrote:Dot 5 is not silicone based, you can mix dot 3-5

Dot5.1 is though

No you can't, DOT 5 is silicone based,
Others are poly glycol based, 5.1 is a high spec poly glycol PAG.

I think Bobs hunch could be right, adjuster is almost fully wound out so could indeed be pedal mount flexed out or fork bending :-S Hope we wrong & it something more simple ...

sorry i got 5 and 5.1 the wrong way round !

you can use dot 3,4 or 5.1

not dot 5.

you would be better spending the money on a set of tools and doing it your self over paying someone else, its not rocket science just a pain.