'98 V70 5 Speed Non-Turbo, FWD -- Clutch Gone

Post by **E Showell** » 30 Nov 2015, 05:42

Driving home from a Thanksgiving visit to the inlaws, I lost my clutch on I-80 in PA near the Water Gap. Minor drama later and I was able to pull the pedal up by hand and shift between 2nd and 3rd by rev-matching -- without much seeming effectiveness from the pedal, although it was moving up and down. I couldn't get the car into first. I am assuming the clutch master cylinder went. I haven't looked at it. It was dark and I dropped it at my mechanics since I won't be doing the replacement (no time).

Edited to delete references to "clutch cable" since clutch is hydraulically activated, not cable operated as correctly pointed out by Blockpartie, below.

Thanks.

Blockpartie · Post by **Blockpartie** » 30 Nov 2015, 05:48

What clutch cable?
These cars only came with a hydraulic clutch setup that at one point was updated to get rid of the seperate master / slave cylinders. Apart from handbrake (2x), throttle (1x) and gear selector (2x for MT, 1x for AT) there are no mechanical cables to be found.*

*ignoring the ventilation system

Post by **E Showell** » 30 Nov 2015, 08:46

Correct, no cable. Clutch master cylinder failure?

Post by **abscate** » 30 Nov 2015, 09:33

Stinky brake fluid smell down near the transmission??

Don't forget to do that RMS while you have that M56 out

Nice job getting home. Did you practice that before or did you wing it??

Post by **cn90** » 30 Nov 2015, 10:00

Happened to my 1983 BMW 735i stick shift years ago.
Slave went out.

Even if only the slave is bad, the guru's recommendation is to replace both slave and master as a pair.
Master $80 to $110.
Slave about $80.

Stick to FTE parts, which are OEM parts...
http://www.eeuroparts.com/Cars/Volvo/17 ... #clutch/1/

Post by **tryingbe** » 30 Nov 2015, 10:18

Look at the car and see which clutch part is leaking fluid.

There is the master cylinder, line, slave cylinder. Depends on your chassis number, you can have external slave cylinder or internal. External means you can change it while the transmission is in the car, internal means transmission have to come out.

Post by **E Showell** » 30 Nov 2015, 12:01

Don't know VIN yet. Engine was replaced a few years back and my recollection is that there is an internal slave cylinder. I know the slave was replaced at that time, but do not believe the master has ever been replaced. Tip -- replacement interval on clutch master cylinder -- before 300K miles.

Steve -- I did a bit of rev matching on the way home without advance practice. Needless to say getting out of gear was easier than getting in gear. Never did succeed in shifting into first. Started from stoplights in second and went between second and third, with a few brief forays into fourth. Total trip distance without clutch was only about 45 miles spent between 25 and 50 mph.

Post by **E Showell** » 30 Nov 2015, 14:51

Mechanic's report -- clutch slave cylinder (internal of course) -- blew up, soaking clutch with fluid. Says he doesn't know how I managed to get it back to him. Need to replace slave and he says clutch because of the fluid soak -- I have to agree with him on that one (as to replacing clutch soaked with hydraulic fluid). Should a clutch slave cylinder blow up after approx. 60K miles and probably about three years? Original lasted beyond 240K miles.

Post by **abscate** » 30 Nov 2015, 17:25

Clutch parts aren't too bad in cost and they do last forever on these cars. Mine has survived 3 teens and pulling a 3500 pound boat

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 30 Nov 2015, 17:41

A Sachs Volvo clutch will last around 250k miles. I think mine bit it at 236k or 263k, I can't remember for sure, but the clutch disk was still functional. There was not a lot left before the rivets but it hadn't started slipping. In my case the throwout bearing went bad and it ate the fingers off of the pressure plate. I have the external slave so I just reused it and it is still working fine.

...Lee