2012 Panda Lounge 37K miles
Noticed my clutch pedal getting heavier to press (or my left leg getting weaker
Clutch not slipping, fully de clutches and biting point about the same.
Don't know much about clutches but I'm guessing maybe a thrust bearing issue?
Anyhoo, is there anything I can check before spending all this year's beer money on a new clutch?
Mainly do urban driving and I don't ride the clutch pedal but in towns, it's often unavoidable
Thanks for any pointers
Phil
I've been thinking about this and comparing your symptoms to ours with Becky (2010 Panda 1.2 Dynamic Eco) - is your engine also the 1.2 4 cylinder?
Ok. Becky - at 63,000 miles - was beginning to make little (quite quiet) squealy noises just at the point where her clutch was biting. - I thought it was probably rivet heads squealing on the flywheel/pressure plate), Once locked up there was no slip and she drove well. There was also a slave cylinder problem which was making a high pitched squeak as you pushed the pedal down and, more quietly, as you let it up. It didn't seem awfully heavy in operation but we'd only owned her for a few months thus didn't know what a "good un" should feel like.
I hoped, as the car is my wife's shopping car so does very short journeys only, that it would last 'till the good weather comes and I could fit a new one myself. but both the squeal and squeak were getting worse and the pedal a little heavier. I got talking to my local Fiat indy - Kenny Harrison - and he made what I thought was a very "honest" offer of just under £300 to do it for me using a good quality Valeo clutch. (the slave cylinder cost an extra £28). I asked him to keep the stripped out parts which he obligingly did and they were sitting on the floor for me to examine when I went to pick up the car. I was a little disappointed in my diagnosis when I saw that the clutch driven plate was only about two thirds worn - definitely not on the rivets - Oh dear, thought I, wasted my money here! The slave cylinder didn't look that bad either! However then, as I was looking at the driven plate, I realized that although not worn out it was quite well cooked being almost black and a bit "smelly". Becky's previous owner must have been a clutch pedal rider!
Driving home with the new clutch it was immediately apparent how smoothly the clutch took up the drive compared to the old one and how much lighter the pedal now felt
Reflecting on this we should realize that a heavy clutch pedal is often an indicator of wear on the driven plate. Modern clutch spring are now, pretty much universally, of the diaphragm type. When at rest (totally relaxed, as they are in their box) they are saucer shaped - ie dished - The outside edge of the saucer bears on the pressure plate. Half way betwen the center of the saucer and it's rim it bears on a fulcrum point and the center is where the release bearing exerts itself. When bolted up to the flywheel with a driven plate clamped between the pressure plate and the flywheel the Diaphragm will be almost flat. When you press the clutch pedal it, ultimately, applies force to the release bearing which presses against the middle of the saucer and pushes it overcenter so releasing the driven plate. When the driven plate is new (with nice thick friction linings) and thus the diaphragm is virtually flat when at rest, it does not take an enormous amount of force on the release bearing to send the centre of it overcenter. As the clutch friction faces wear they loose material (so the plate as a whole becomes thinner) So the pressure plate now must move closer to the flywheel face to effectively clamp up the driven plate. This means that as the clutch wears the diaphragm becomes more and more dish shaped as the friction faces wear. The more dished the diaphragm becomes the more pressure it needs to depress it. So a worn clutch will have a substantially heavier pedal action when compared to a new one.
With Becky we also had a slave cylinder problem which, I suspect because of the squeaky noise, was something to do with the rubber seals inside gripping the walls of the plastic cylinder (I'm not too sure about these plastic cylinders - after a lifetime of working with aluminium ones which I've never heard squeak?) So I think Becky's clutch squeal on take up was because the lining was cooked hard and the slave was probably squeaking because of general wear? Don't really know about the slave, but the new one doesn't squeak!
Becky had specific problems with her burnt pressure plate and worn slave cylinder but more generally it's possible to say that a diaphragm clutch, because the diaphragm becomes more dished as the clutch lining wears, develops a heavier pedal action. This action means the clutch is self adjusting and will usually go on working, and getting a little bit heavier and heavier until the friction faces are worn out and then, quite suddenly, over quite a short period of time, the clutch will start slipping and once it starts slipping it will only take the likes of one hill start on a steep slope to turn it into toast and needing a tow wagon.
PS. Being hydraulic our clutches are totally self adjusting and the bite point will remain pretty much the same right up until the lining is worn out. Cable clutches (like our old Felicity had -1992 Panda Parade) require periodic adjustment to take up the slack as the lining wears. Although many manufacturers have developed mechanical self adjusters (often with strong springs to deliver severe injury to the fingers of the unwary) so you don't actually have to turn a nut on a thread every few months!
