MGB & GT Forum

I do not want to mess with it!!!

How much should I pay in LABOR cost to change the Clutch Master Cylinder?

This is Labor cost only,no parts [ I already have the master cylinder purchased]


***The slave has already been changed - also the slave hose

2 hours would be ample....as you're supplying the parts. If you're watching or helping it goes up from there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-06-28 03:04 PM by mgbanthony.

Once on holiday in France the still existing BL garage in Bordeaux needed about the same time, including the mounting of a new MC. By coincidence they found a new one in a cupboard, not registered in their electronic book keeping. Just as well as in those years I did not carry seals with me, nowadays I carry them all.

Of course by now such knowledgable garages and mechanics are no longer around and they may require as much time learning as you do

How long is a piece of string ?

The official workshop time for clutch MC replacement is just one hour however that presupposes no peripheral problems such as seized pedal box cover screws which, in obstinate cases, can take that on their own to remove !

FWIW in some 30+ years I've never once replaced a clutch MC only refurbished them with new seals, a job which does not require full removal.

What exactly is wrong with yours ?

It's original to the car!!

It's old, it's rusty, it's leaking and full of crud

I have a new one already purchased.

I do not want to deal with any surprises [ MURPHY;S LAW ]...LOL

I also heard that bleeding it was not an easy one man job....

As per Ernie, if all goes well 1 hr and a bit.

MG mechanic quoted me one hour. Took him 1.5 as I was there. Charged one hour. 1.5 fair if no problems

I do not think bleeding is that hard. A couple of posts on this site outline excellent processes for bleeding. My sense is that the problems people have are when they have bad master or slave cylinders, leaky hoses or the bleed nipple in the wrong hole. Once all the components are functional, it is actually pretty straight forward. Either that or I was very lucky which is never the case.

There is no flat rate when it comes to MGB repair.

Maybe as low as an hour to have the master replaced if this is something they have done before and the car does not present with unexpected stuff like stripped bolts from the owner trying to do the job first.

I would quote time and materials and not expect less than two hours. You can fill in the blank as to what you expect to pay for a shop rate. As you yourself stated, it is a pain in the ass job and when bleeding stuff you need two people and you just never know if the bleeping thing will bleed or put up a fight.

Doing one this week-end so will let you know!

As a side note to this, I was talking to a local garage today that is doing some minor work on my car currently(new top, and when he offered to restuff the driver's seat for $75 I couldn't say "do it" fast enough).

In any case, most of last week he had a Midget in the shop that had come down from Ontario for MG2016. The owner started having clutch problems, and made it ~60 miles out of Louisville to this shop.

Initially, they attributed to the problem to someone leaning on the M/C at the show and breaking one of the mounts-a straightforward enough fix with a new M/C. The problem was that it had damaged the hard line in such a way that it was acting as a sort of one way valve. This meant that in the 60 miles or so it had been driven, the throwout bearing had been rubbing the pressure plate and the clutch had been slipping increasing amounts. I saw the parts that came out-the throwout bearing was virtually gone, the pressure plate had been baked to the point where there was almost no "spring" left in it, and the clutch disk had very little friction material left. The thing was, needless to say, a mess. Fortunately, I think the owner made it safely back to Ontario, but he was stuck in Frankfort for a week waiting on all the problems to get sorted out.

If you don't want to do it yourself, anything less than $150 is reasonable.

If the shop is busy that day 2 hours.

If the shop is slow that day 8 hours -

Oh - and this could be a factor - broken bolt, frozen screws etc.

Is he gonna replace the slave and hose too or are you rolling the dice down the road?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-06-28 06:50 PM by Ex-Calif.

i go to a guy and he charges 100.00 per hour i think it a fair price and if he works longer than a few hours he always cuts me a break

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The Handsome Devil

A bit over one hour. You need half hour to remove and replace the MC, you still need to check the pedal, pins, linkage and bleed the clutch. 1 1/2 hour to 2 hours I will say.

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1977 MGB Red 'Victoria' and 2018 Jaguar XE 'Meghan'
All Classics:
Married, 2 children, MG MGB May to December, Jaguar the rest of the year.