A few observations which confirm much of what has already been said :-
A recent strip down ( yesterday) has shown the broken spring problem and when part of the spring finds its way out of the housing it can jam the clutch and prevent it from releasing. A broken spring left unattended can be disastrous for the flywheel and pressure plate when fragments of spring steel find their way in between. This one was examined and found to be good two weeks ago so I think the fracture was present (hair line) but undetectable - for this reason I would recommend a new or refurbished ( with new springs ) friction plate at every opportunity. I sell a refurbished friction plate for a bit under £100:00 a new flywheel/friction plate/pressure plate assembly will cost in the region of £1200:00 - it makes sense to replace.
I have heard that the slave cylinder can fail without signs of external leakage but suspect this to be tied in with spring failure.
Approximately 50% of the clutches I dismantle have broken springs!!!
If you have had a broken spring issue with part of the spring stopping clutch release then replace the slave cylinder as well because it will have been tipped at an angle by the obstacle and they are quite fragile. There are lots of makers of concentric slave cylinders ( CSC ). Not all genuine but all of the factory ones I have seen carry the Volvo mame + part number 8675052. They also carry the FTE logo +part number 6795. searches for either will come up with lots of makers with no idea of country of manufacture - buyer beware, as they say.
I would agree with Vitesse - there is not a lot of room for an external cylinder.
A big thumbs up from me to Phil 😃. It was my broken clutch that Phil is referring to in his post and he got me back on the road again in a fantastically rapid time.
Apart from a recent rear puncture the car up until this point, had never let me down on the road, with three and a half years of summer and winter driving and having totalled more than 18,000 miles from new. I’m actually convinced that driving ‘machinery’ regularly improves their reliability ...... 🤔
Anyways, on this occasion the wee beastie had determined it was going to have fun with me, rather than me with it! Due to COVID, a local car rally had been organised in place of the annual car parade through one of the local towns. There were hundred and fifty interesting and classic vehicles assembled on the sports ground. A buzz of excitement filled the air as the secret route was revealed. Then the command was given for gentlemen and ladies to start your engines! No problems so far, all seemed good to go, but as my row of cars started to move off I went to put the car in gear and just got that horrible graunching sound - blooming clutch had gone, without any warning! I wasn’t going anywhere soon ... Hand and arm straight up in the air so people would know I had a problem and would go around me. Some offers of help but eventually I was the only one left in a big empty field 🤨.
Back to the beginning of this story, I gave Phil Bleazey a call to seek his advise, we’d worked together a few weeks before on the ‘Bleazey’ upgrades so he knew my car inside out. He offered to fix it for me if I could get it up to his workshop which was only 220 miles away... long story short, I had it recovered to Phil’s and it arrived there at midnight Sunday. By Tuesday afternoon he’d had the engine out, changed the clutch parts and put it all back together again, AMAZING turnaround and customer service - many thanks Phil!
Got the train up to Lancaster the next day, had a quick turnaround and drove back home. All systems now working as designed 😃
