1.2 active air con, 6 spd 112k miles-

Driving home yesterday, came to a junction dipped the clutch to change gear and the pedal hit the floor with an audible pop fron the engine bay.

Automatically assumed clutch release bearing failure and picked up a luk clutch kit after work with a view to getting it changet tomorrow,

After closer inspection tonight i have found the plastic push rod from the slave cylinder snapped off on top of the gearbox,

Obviously this needs replacing but my question is- Is this push rod likely to fail for no reason or is it probable that the clutch is u/s and this has caused the failure in some way?

Have the clutch kit so can throw it in but would rather not if i can avoid it as i have no garage at the minute so it wil be a driveway job- brrrrrrr

You sure it's plastic? Is it the rod that has a rubber concertina boot around it? A new slave cylinder should have it as part of the unit. 112,000 is quite a big mileage so a new clutch would be worth fitting in any case, unless you know you have driven the car gently from new.

simmyoto said:

Obviously this needs replacing but my question is- Is this push rod likely to fail for no reason or is it probable that the clutch is u/s and this has caused the failure in some way?

Have the clutch kit so can throw it in but would rather not if i can avoid it as i have no garage at the minute so it wil be a driveway job- brrrrrrr

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Not sure about the Stilo but in my experience of modern clutches - particularly a Punto 1.2 which is probably the same - as the clutch gets older, the pedal gets heavier (i.e. requires more force to disengage), so I think you're working along the right process. A new slave cylinder might last a while but sooner or later the clutch is going to need replacing - sometimes the release bearing wears through the ends of the diaphragm fingers, which gives a 'twong' sound one day and an even heavier pedal.

I admire the way you referred to throwing the clutch kit in... hmmmm... would take me at least six hours my Stilo needs one as well, with Selespeed and dual mass flywheel, a lot to think about... reckon it will take me five hours just to get the 'box off!

-Alex

My 1.2 has done 130k miles and I've had no problems with the slave cylinder apart from needing to bleed the clutch hydraulics last year. I also ****ed the clutch prematurely by changing into too low a gear lol I'm sure if you replaced the clutch and slave cylinder you should be fine for a long time

Being the 1.2 there is quite alot of room in the bay, i reckon 4 hours should see the new clutch in, i didnt bother starting it this weekend as i coudnt get a slave cyinder, im certain the pushrod is plastic which to me seems like a bit of a weak ling in the chain- perhaps its sacrificial? , but the replacement i have ordered has a metal rod. I had a mess abut yesterday morning and manually levered the clutch mech, it seemed to work fine and gear engaged and disengaged without any nasty noises.

I have the clutch already and dont mind putting it in, but id prefer to do it at a time that suits me and on a ramp / rather than the drive.

Now the fun part i'm really loking forward to is getting the new slave bled up!

Bleeding the slave is pretty easy as well man, metal clip on top of the hose pops up (but not right off the hose) and then pull the hose out slightly and let gravity bleed the line, then push everything back in place once the air is out

I've read the guide re bleeding and have had a look on the elearn as well and the bleed procedure looks easy enough, but as my pedal is sat on the floor due to the shaft snapping and the internal cylinder being fully extended hydraulically i'm going to need to push the cylinder back in the old slave first to bring the pedal back up- i dont want to lift the pedal manually as no doubt ill end up with an air lock somewhere.

I had my clutch replaced recently (about 80k miles), and the kit came with a new slave. So I'd assume the slave has a limited life and is expected to be replaced when a clutch is done.

Good luck with doing the job under 5 hours, I had mine in at a wee local garage I use frequently, and he took 2 days (on an off between MOT work), I had a fixed price though so it didn't bother me it took him a while.

I will say clutch feels lighter after job so could be down to the slave replacement.

Well i have always been a great believer in trying the simple things first, so picked up the new slave complete with metal pushrod, undid the two 13mm's that hold the slave on, forced the extended cylinder back inside which reset the clutch pedal to normal position, removed the crusty old rubber boot, slipped in the new metal pushrod from the new slave along with new rubber and re- fitted the slave. Didn't even need to remove the pipe. Bled the slave for 5 minutes just to remove any old fluid that might have become contaminated when the piston over extended and voila. Clutch good as new. Ill be taking the clutch kit back. Checked through all the old history and the car had a.new clutch at 68k. If and when it goes ill sort it. Until then live and let live!

simmyoto said:

Clutch good as new. Ill be taking the clutch kit back. Checked through all the old history and the car had a.new clutch at 68k.

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Sweet as, I thought it was on its original clutch therefore I thought it might have got much heavier than new by now (112k miles). Nice to hear the happy ending.

-Alex