I've had my TA a week today and absolutely love it.

However, about 2 minutes from home this morning, the clutch went down and didn't come back up.

I coasted to the side of the road and killed the engine. I pulled the clutch back up with my hand, and pushed it back down. It stuck again. I tried three or four times but the same thing kept happening. The clutch just felt dead.

I called my girlfriend who drove to my rescue. When she arrived I went to demo the problem, but it had cured itself. The clutch popped back up as normal.

I was able to get myself to work without further issue, but I'm obviously going to take it back to the dealer for them to take a look.

I wondered if anyone else had experienced something similar...

Check your clutch fluid reservoir under the bonnet, If it is low you may have a leak.

Personally I would park it and call the AA - you have cover included. Sounds potentially very (i) dangerous and (ii) damaging to you new car.

RobinPJ said:

Personally I would park it and call the AA - you have cover included. Sounds potentially very (i) dangerous and (ii) damaging to you new car.

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Yeah, I'm parked pretty near the dealer so I'll drive it there after work. I'm definitely not driving home in it.

RUI said:

Check your clutch fluid reservoir under the bonnet, If it is low you may have a leak.

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That's an interesting thought... I have noticed a small damp patch where I've parked. It definitely wasn't oil, so I thought it was just condensation from the A/C - but perhaps not...

Check under the gearbox - I'm not sure if the TA uses a concentric type slave cylinder, when these fail it's a gearbox off job to fix

Thanks. I'm taking it in at 5pm, so will hopefully know something then.

My two week old 500 had to have a new master cylinder for the same reason. i would sit at lights with engine off (stop start) and couldnt pull away until I had prised the clutch back up with my toe. Watch they don't try and claim you have been riding the clutch - its the stock answer from Fiat.

Was the pedal catching under the floor mats, had this loads of times, takes mats out problem solved

Mal126 said:

Was the pedal catching under the floor mats, had this loads of times, takes mats out problem solved

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have that in my bravo every now ant then, keep meaning to fix the mat in place

Parlpoe said:

My two week old 500 had to have a new master cylinder for the same reason. i would sit at lights with engine off (stop start) and couldnt pull away until I had prised the clutch back up with my toe. Watch they don't try and claim you have been riding the clutch - its the stock answer from my Dealer.

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Why on earth would they say that- it doesn't "fit" with the fault? It's certainly not the official Fiat excuse.

I'd put good money on faulty seals in the clutch master cylinder folding over, it was a common issue early-on with Panda's and 500's. Thought they'd sorted the issue by now.

Well, I got the predictable line from the dealer: because they can't reproduce it, they can't diagnose it.

I'm not happy with that, but between me and the guy who looked at it, that clutch has been depressed hundreds of times this afternoon and we were unable to replicate the problem. He checked the fluid, and that's full.

I appreciate the advice that it could be hooking on the mat, but believe me, that's the first thing that popped into my head. I was pulling and pushing the clutch with my hand this morning and I can guarantee the mat had no involvement!

Parlpoe said:

My two week old 500 had to have a new master cylinder for the same reason. i would sit at lights with engine off (stop start) and couldnt pull away until I had prised the clutch back up with my toe.

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Interesting... and this happened only intermittently? The guy at the service department said it could be the master cylinder, but they needed a bit more evidence before they would replace it.

D4nny8oy said:

I'd put good money on faulty seals in the clutch master cylinder folding over, it was a common issue early-on with Panda's and 500's. Thought they'd sorted the issue by now.

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Thanks. I'll see how it goes. If it happens again, I'm not leaving that place til they've replaced the master cylinder!

I can almost Guarantee that its geting stuck under the matt. Next time it happens just pull the matt backwards.

I had the same issue on the Marea and it was a clutch cylinder too.

can also be the slave cylinder or low brake/ clutch fluid or air in the system

volxstu said:

I can almost Guarantee that its geting stuck under the matt. Next time it happens just pull the matt backwards.

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Thanks. But I'm sadly not that dumb. It would make life easier if I were.

As I said, the mat was my first thought and I eliminated that straight away.

Venters said:

I had the same issue on the Marea and it was a clutch cylinder too.

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Right. Everyone seems to be saying the same thing... Clutch cylinder it must be.

Thanks for that. I guess I'll be playing Russian Roulette for a little while until the problem firms up or goes away.

allen_b said:

Thanks. But I'm sadly not that dumb. It would make life easier if I were.

As I said, the mat was my first thought and I eliminated that straight away.


Right. Everyone seems to be saying the same thing... Clutch cylinder it must be.

Thanks for that. I guess I'll be playing Russian Roulette for a little while until the problem firms up or goes away.

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Or you die in a ball of fire.

Right. My least favourite option, but at least I won't have to worry about the clutch.

allen_b said:

Right. My least favourite option, but at least I won't have to worry about the clutch.

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I REALLY hate the way Google now knows what I am reading, so an ad for "Mr Clutch" has come up when reading this thread. And no matter how many times I delete the cookies, they keep coming back.

Give me my privacy back you ****ers!

Maxi (or anyone else IT savvy) - is there any way to stop this long term?

RobinPJ said:

I REALLY hate the way Google now knows what I am reading, so an ad for "Mr Clutch" has come up when reading this thread. And no matter how many times I delete the cookies, they keep coming back.

Give me my privacy back you ****ers!

Maxi (or anyone else IT savvy) - is there any way to stop this long term?

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+


= Privacy

RobinPJ said:

I REALLY hate the way Google & Facebook now knows what I am reading, so an ad for "Mr Clutch" has come up when reading this thread. And no matter how many times I delete the cookies, they keep coming back.
Give me my privacy back you ****ers!
Maxi (or anyone else IT savvy) - is there any way to stop this long term?

Click to expand...

[ame="http://download.cnet.com/ccleaner/"]CCleaner - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Downloads[/ame]

This should do it.

For me - my facebook entry (Yes - unfortunately I had to create one - I had to have some way of checking out people and it would be a bit Irish of me asking someone for their facebook and then not having one myself - my one is now unfortunately getting full of long 'lost' relatives - luckily no ex-girlfriends have jumped on the bandwagon ). Well I must of being on the FF checking out the squeaky brake problem and now it is up on facebook for everyone to see and I cann't get rid of it. Luckily I have had no comments against it.