clutch not fully disengaging on my TR 85

Clutch is hydraulic so no adjustment, if the car has been sitting for a long time its not uncommon for the plates to bind together thus not allowing the clutch to fully disengage.

If not stuck and have bled everything you could have a bad master or slave cylinder.

 

Nick,

Has the whole brake/clutch fluid been completely flushed lately? And how are the brakes right now? If it has been awhile you might want the flush the whole system and replace the old brake fluid with some fresh stuff. You also might want to check and see if your slave cylinder located under the bleeder valve is leaking brake fluid. This may not be so easy but try looking at the bottom of the bell housing for seepage.

For the brake fluid I use Castro GTLMA (low moisture additive) and have had great results with it over the years with my Testarossa's ('87 & '88). Also, I use the Motive European Power Bleeder-Model 0100 that cost around $45.00 and it is worth every penny. It is a one-person bleeder and attaches directly to the mater cylinder fluid reservoir.

If it turns out to be the clutch master or slave cylinder, here are some Ferrari part numbers.

Clutch master cyl: 123416
Essentially a rebuild kit for the slave cylinder: seals-122033, 124674, 121813, 121814, 138680
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Nick -- please describe "not fully disengaging" a bit more:

Can't select any gear/can't drive?

Can drive, but sometimes balky selection (esp. getting 1st from neutral)?

If I pump the clutch pedal twice rapidly, it does disengage?

Something else?

 

Well, I can't disagree with your intuition based on those symptoms. If you've got no air in the system and no fluid is leaking out, but pumping the pedal helps -- that doesn't bode well for the clutch master cylinder. But, I'd also add that if your pumpkin hasn't ever been off/serviced in the last 20 years since birth, that's not the greatest thing either -- i.e., I'd want more diagnosis before attacking either end with $/effort (but even that task requires $/effort too ).

Don't know any easy way how to do this, but if you physically blocked the hydraulic line at the clutch housing, and pushed on the clutch pedal, maybe a rigid pedal would say the clutch master cylinder is OK and a sinking pedal would confirm that the clutch master cylinder needs replacement. Just a thought...

As far as the parts, no problem using a F dealer, but I think our collective experience here is that there are other F parts sources that can usually do a lot better on price -- RicambiAmerica, T Rutlands, FerrariPartsExchange, FerrariUK, All Ferrari Parts, etc. -- see the part sourcing sticky thread.

Sorry I can't be more helpful or specific -- let us know how it works out.

 

Something kinda strange I found with my Tr this summer was the clutch master cylinder was sticking down in the bore after about 5-10 applications. So you'd get about an inch of free travel with the pedal and you'd feel the rod touch the metal piston and then pedal pressure. Turns out there was some sort of rubber coating that was gumming up the metal piston, tore everything apart, cleaned it out and now it's working. Also check the hose from the brake fluid resevoir...mine was kinda wet and I replaced it with a bluish hose sourced from Porsche....works great. But be careful trying to remove the hose from the nylon fitting....it will break. YMMV.

Jeff Pintler
86 TR, 89 348tb

 

This kind of lengthy disuse is exactly why you get this type of trouble -- the water separates out of the (hydroscopic) working fluid, and because of the different densities, pools in a localized location which can lead to localized corrosion in the cylinder bore (at either the Master or the Slave).

Glad to hear a little exercise is improving things -- nothing you can really do except use it 'til it needs fixing