The clutch finally went last night. Pedal had been soft for a couple of days and finally went last night.. got progressively more "floppy" and then finally no gears.. just managed to get off the A303 without causing chaos!

Presume it may be a master cylinder problem. Anyone else encountered the same?

Had this happen in a Lancia Thema many years ago - it was the master cylinder seals. It basically happened quite sudden, which surprised me. Cheap and easyish fix, in a larger engine bay. Presume the master cylinder is on the passenger side.

Thanks.. I like the sound of "cheap and easy". Luckily, we have a decent garage in the village and they will have a look this morning.

I should correct my 'cheap and easy' statement..............

It was the year 1993BT (before tinternet) and we had no money - so it was DIY time. Motorfactors listed nothing for the Lancia I didn't know which 'FIAT' cars had hydraulic clutches and a visit to the scrappy suggested most were cable.

I then figured that the older FIATs like the 124s had hydraulic - so I checked a Lada. Sure enough - hydraulic.

Spent 50p on some new 'Lada' seals and then lay upside down in the Thema (master cylinder inside the car) for a while popping the master cyclinder off. Luckily the Lada seals were perfect. Cylinder back on, bled. Job done.

Them were the days.

Well the good news is that it shouldn't be too expensive, although not quite as cheap as the "Lada" fix.. nice work by the way..

Slave cylinder appears to be leaking, once they source the part it should be quick to swap over.

It's quite interesting driving without being able to release the clutch - I had the feeling that the cable was a bit dodgy on a Cinquecento Sporting some years back, just before we were due to set off for Italy, so I drove round changing gear a lot till, sure enough, it failed. Then had to do about twenty miles on B roads across Devon to get it to the garage, clutchless gearchanges and not stopping.

babbo_umbro said:

Then had to do about twenty miles on B roads across Devon to get it to the garage, clutchless gearchanges and not stopping.

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I had a similar challenge but bottled and stopped when I realised I'd have to get through the now signalised A303 Countess Roundabout near Stonehenge. My downfall!

Dan Friel said:

I had a similar challenge but bottled and stopped when I realised I'd have to get through the now signalised A303 Countess Roundabout near Stonehenge. My downfall!

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Yes - I never used to notice any particular problems at that roundabout in the past - presumably it was a time-of-day thing - but it's a lot worse now they've spent millions of pounds improving it.

Had a clutch cable snap on a Renault 5 GT Turbo about 20 years ago, deep in the Yorkshire Dales. We on holiday so had to drive the thing back to the nearest dealer (Rippon I think) without a clutch. Gearless changes were broadly OK, but when coming to traffic lights I had to roll to a halt in neutral, switch of the engine, select 1st and then start the motor in gear when the lights changed. A bit jerky for sure, but once warm the engine started quickly and it actually became quite good fun...

Had a clutch cable snap on a Renault 5 GT Turbo about 20 years ago, deep in the Yorkshire Dales. We on holiday so had to drive the thing back to the nearest dealer (Rippon I think) without a clutch. Gearless changes were broadly OK, but when coming to traffic lights I had to roll to a halt in neutral, switch of the engine, select 1st and then start the motor in gear when the lights changed. A bit jerky for sure, but once warm the engine started quickly and it actually became quite good fun...

Indeed - I've had two other occasions than the Lancia. Worst was leaving Sheffield city centre in rush hour. FIAT Seicento. I figured I'd just see how I went clutchless. I normally change the odd gear now without clutch (mainly in overseas hire cars) - but the full box clutchless is different and very entertaining.

Stop-start in traffic is quite difficult - let the other cars pull away enough for your 1st gear lurch and then nudge back into neutral on deceleration!

Got home no bother - even reversed onto the drive.