Technical Doblo 1.9 JTD 2005: failed clutch bleeding or faulty release bearing ?

[frankal]

Hello,

I have a venerable 2005 Doblo 1.9 JTD with 256,000 km on the clock, and I love it dearly despite its inherent ugliness. I bought it second-hand at 242,000 km, supposedly with the full clutch kit (including master and slave cylinders) replaced.

About a month ago, the gears started becoming increasingly hard to shift, until the slave cylinder finally gave out (it's made of plastic ).

No problem—I replaced both the master and slave cylinders and did what I believe was a thorough bleed: reverse-filled the system (pushing fluid from the slave bleeder screw up to the reservoir). Result: gear shifting is possible but still a bit stiff, and the biting point is right at the very end of the pedal travel. Annoying.

So, I tried bleeding it another way, pressurizing the hydraulic circuit—same result.
I bled it once more, the old-school way: my wife pumping the pedal (no comments please ) while I handled the bleeder screw—still no improvement.

What do you think? An air bubble stubbornly stuck in the system? A faulty release bearing? I’d love to hear your thoughts before I go to the trouble of dropping the gearbox.

Thanks!

 

[bugsymike]

Hello,

I have a venerable 2005 Doblo 1.9 JTD with 256,000 km on the clock, and I love it dearly despite its inherent ugliness. I bought it second-hand at 242,000 km, supposedly with the full clutch kit (including master and slave cylinders) replaced.

About a month ago, the gears started becoming increasingly hard to shift, until the slave cylinder finally gave out (it's made of plastic ).

No problem—I replaced both the master and slave cylinders and did what I believe was a thorough bleed: reverse-filled the system (pushing fluid from the slave bleeder screw up to the reservoir). Result: gear shifting is possible but still a bit stiff, and the biting point is right at the very end of the pedal travel. Annoying.

So, I tried bleeding it another way, pressurizing the hydraulic circuit—same result.
I bled it once more, the old-school way: my wife pumping the pedal (no comments please ) while I handled the bleeder screw—still no improvement.

What do you think? An air bubble stubbornly stuck in the system? A faulty release bearing? I’d love to hear your thoughts before I go to the trouble of dropping the gearbox.

Thanks!

I had a 55 plate on of those with 225 k Miles on it, apart from rust I wish I had kept it as a lot easier and cheaper to work on than the 1.6 and 1.3MJs.
I bought it with an alleged clutch issue, priced accordingly at £300 around 7 years ago, without testing as 100 miles away, as soon as I went to load on trailer I knew the gearbox was shot. Luckily I picked up a recon box s/h for £80 and a dual mass flywheel then fitted a new clutch kit and ran it for four years with the only issue a crank shaft position sensor which stopped the vehicle , but 10 minutes later cooled down and allowed me to drive the other 20 miles home and to replace it.
Re bleeding I used to get my 10 year old daughters to do it as they would listen to the instructions unlike my ex wife.
Apart from that the only other method I would use is careful pressure bleeding.
Although I have had success removing a bleeder completely and just kept topping up the reservoir until all bubbles have stopped flowing out and replaced bleeder.
If possible can you jam the clutch arm at gearbox and see if you have a rock hard pedal?

 

[frankal]

Thanks for this reply.

I've ordered an 200ml syringe to reverse-fill more efficiently the clutch circuit, I suspect the one I used at first (100ml) was too small.

If possible can you jam the clutch arm at gearbox and see if you have a rock hard pedal?

Nice idea ! I'll give it a try.

 

[frankal]

Pedal is rock hard if I jam the clutch arm.

 

[ceecff]

Stay sure your new master-slave pumps are exactly for your car.
Stay sure bleeding is perfect.
Time to check internal bearing and clutch kit. Issues with pressure plate can cause hard shifting and pumps fail.

 

[frankal]

The master-slave pumps are the proper ones, and the bleeding seems OK.
I'll check the clutch next week.
I experienced the same problem with a Kia Sportage: springs on the clutch plate were broken. Maybe something like that for the Doblo ?
I'll jeep you updated, tanks for the advices.

 

[bugsymike]

Pedal is rock hard if I jam the clutch arm.

So bleeding was all good , but sadly looks like a gearbox out job.

 

[frankal]

I've just ordered a clutch kit

 

[bugsymike]

I've just ordered a clutch kit

Mine had a dual mass flywheel also, so you may need to check the condition of that, there are ways online to show how to do that, but basically there should be no free movement.
There is springs that control revolving movement clock wise and anti clock, but also it should rock or tip which would indicate excessive movement.
As I understand it, if yours has a dual mass flywheel then the clutch centre plate is solid/no springs as the DMF does that job of reducing shock in transmission loads.
Check the operation of the release arm/bearing carrier also.