mickywillis
New member
Any ideas?
Van is a 1995 Swift Mondial 2 ltr petrol.
Last used in August when I took it in for MOT (which it passed) and then parked up on driveway.
Friday evening tried to move van but no clutch. The clutch pedal and cable are OK and can feel tension against the pressure plate.
So far I have tried towing the van in gear with clutch down and in gear. All other cars I've had that had a stuck clutch normally free off after a couple of meters towing in this fashion, freeing off the driven plate to the flywheel.
No luck doing this.
Tried jolting the van on the starter in forward and reverse, again no luck.
Ran engine for an hour to get really hot, tried towing again, no joy.
Getting annoyed now, so drove van up and down road with clutch down and stamping on brakes. Engine stalls so clutch still not freed off.
Jacked up front of van, placed on axle stands, ran engine in gear, clutch down, slam on brakes. Clutch still not freed off.
NEVER had a clutch do this and be this stubborn. I'm now at the point where I think the gearbox is going to have to come out and inspect whats going on.
Anyone have any other bright ideas to try and unseize the clutch? I'm assuming its the driven plate stuck against the flywheel? Could it be the thrust bearing rusted onto the input shaft splines or the driven plate stuck onto the clutch friction plate?
Anything I can do to avoid taking the 'box out would be brilliant. The annoying thing is , we bought the van in January and she sat on the drive until April before we used it and no clutch issues then. Also, its been pretty dry since August (a few light showers) until now, so I wouldn't have expected rust to form that badly on the clutch to cause this problem??
Thanks if you can come up with a suggestion!
Van is a 1995 Swift Mondial 2 ltr petrol.
Last used in August when I took it in for MOT (which it passed) and then parked up on driveway.
Friday evening tried to move van but no clutch. The clutch pedal and cable are OK and can feel tension against the pressure plate.
So far I have tried towing the van in gear with clutch down and in gear. All other cars I've had that had a stuck clutch normally free off after a couple of meters towing in this fashion, freeing off the driven plate to the flywheel.
No luck doing this.
Tried jolting the van on the starter in forward and reverse, again no luck.
Ran engine for an hour to get really hot, tried towing again, no joy.
Getting annoyed now, so drove van up and down road with clutch down and stamping on brakes. Engine stalls so clutch still not freed off.
Jacked up front of van, placed on axle stands, ran engine in gear, clutch down, slam on brakes. Clutch still not freed off.
NEVER had a clutch do this and be this stubborn. I'm now at the point where I think the gearbox is going to have to come out and inspect whats going on.
Anyone have any other bright ideas to try and unseize the clutch? I'm assuming its the driven plate stuck against the flywheel? Could it be the thrust bearing rusted onto the input shaft splines or the driven plate stuck onto the clutch friction plate?
Anything I can do to avoid taking the 'box out would be brilliant. The annoying thing is , we bought the van in January and she sat on the drive until April before we used it and no clutch issues then. Also, its been pretty dry since August (a few light showers) until now, so I wouldn't have expected rust to form that badly on the clutch to cause this problem??
Thanks if you can come up with a suggestion!
(mainly because of the issues with removing & refitting driveshafts)