Technical Baffling clutch issue.

[NotAPuntoOwner]

Firstly, Hello everyone im new here.
As you can tell from my username i am not a punto owner, however my partner is.

Im not stranger to any car engine but i am by no means a qualified mechanic either.

With the knowledge that her cars clutch and brakes share the same master i mosied on down to the car.

Ok il paint a picture for you, my partner took her car out some weeks ago and upon her return reported a "much softer than normal" clutch peddle, tbh i had so much on my plate at the time it slipped my mind completely, so yesterday she gets in her car and her clutch peddle is at the floor, so naturally i auto assumed a bad clutch slave or master, so with this in mind i proceeded to inspect her engine, but with no visible leaks from either the master or slave i decided to simply remove the bolts holding the slave down and inspect the unit without disconnecting its feed.

This is where it gets all twilight zone.
As many may know the the push rod on the fiat part is plastic, this was fine with no visble damage, the tip was a little worn but thats to be expected, i removed the boot and the push rod just comes away, reinstalled it with no probs, i then pushed it in by hand to check again for any leaks, no leaks but i did hear and feel a faint kind of click.

I reseated the clutch slave, compressed the rod by hand and refitted the bolts, at that point i heard a thud from the car, that thid was the clutch peddle coming up inside the car, now the clutch works again...

Now before all of this the clucth was, as i thought in need of repair, the clutch would not engage and i could not select gears, as you would expect from a failed master or slave.
I was dubious from the start as to the issue because of the shared master, if theres a leak then the brakes wont work either, but the clutch works.

Has anyone else had an issue like this? Ive done master and slave replacements on cars before, but never have experienced this.

Thanks everyone.

 

[digger58]

Sounds like master cylinder seals, is the clutch pedal free?

 

[NotAPuntoOwner]

Hi ya, yeah its opperating fine now, my missus did say that its softer than it was before the fault occured but its actually changing gears smoother than before, very strange, but i do fear it will re-occur

 

[bluejohn125]

Your description of the fault is a bit confusing, are you saying there was a problem earlier on?

My Brava 1.2 with presumably a similar gearbox had a strange failure last year.. suddenly ( I think after I lent it to someone) I noticed that the clutch PEDAL action became notchy halfway along its travel, I assumed (after asking around) that it was the release bearing even though I had fitted a new LUK clutch a few years before. I bought a new Ebay clutch and took it to a local gearbox / clutch specialist to have them fit it.

They called me back and said the clutch itself was fine, however the metal tube in the centre of the bellhousing where the input shaft goes through had broken / sheared somehow, fortunately they had a scrap gearbox they were able to rebuild mine into (at a price of course).

 

[portland_bill]

If your master cylinder is plastic, like the Panda, it is worn and needs replacement. The plastic cylinders when worn tend to get sticky, rather than leak, which might fit your description.

 

[NotAPuntoOwner]

Hi bluejohn125, her original complaint, before the limp clutch peddle was a "much softer opporation" as i saod before i was going to take a look at it but never got the time, this was roughly the end of november.

Portland bill, the main clutch master outer housing is metal/aluminium, do you mean that or the inner cylinder?

Thanks guys for the replys.

 

[bluejohn125]

I agree, your basic symptoms do tie in with a failed slave cylinder which usually indicates itself with difficulty engaging gears and a loss of fluid from the brake / clutch reservoir and sometimes a flickering red lamp on the dash.

Obviously you're not reporting a visible leak, and you think that something was maybe stuck?

I would change the brake and clutch fluid and bleed the lines, you may come across a problem such as a leak when you do this, otherwise there may just be air or contaminated fluid in the system causing sponginess or sticking.

You should find that everything feels much better after that.

 

[NotAPuntoOwner]

Yeah i think youre right there fella, gonna give the system a full bleed tomorrow with fresh liquid, and if she still gets issues il change both the master and slave out, i have loads of new fluid so its a free fix if bleeding solves the issue completely, thanks guys.

 

[portland_bill]

Portland bill, the main clutch master outer housing is metal/aluminium, do you mean that or the inner cylinder?

Thanks guys for the replys.

Many cars these days have plastic master and slave cylinders. If yours is metal on the outside, it is metal on the inside.

Metal cylinders tend to wear, eventually leaking. Plastic ones tend to stick when worn, before any leak becomes evident.

 

[NotAPuntoOwner]

Hi guys, thanks all again for the replies and advice, i bled the entire system, no air in the system at all but atleast now it has fresh fluid, no more problems to report however if it happens again il just change both units out and be done with it.
Thanks again chaps.