Technical Clutch help

[stilo16v]

My clutch is really ruining the car for me , the judder seems worse than ever.

It still doesnt judder all the time, i found if the clutch is warm it judders less, using more revs also makes it judder less too.

There is still loads of nite left in the clutch, doesnt feel like its about to start slipping any time, but the bite is fairly high, might just a be stilo trait though, im not sure, as the pedals are all level.

Its also hard to get a smooth gearchange due to the odd clutch.

I think it needs replacing, its only done 40K miles

 

[Deckchair5]

1.6 clutch should be as smooth as silk. So somewhere, the plates aren't meeting and slipping nicely. As your judder changes with temperature then it could well be contamination on the plate which you might be able to burn off with time or some wild extravagant pull aways.

Nothing to lose, if it doesn't fix it then you're looking at a clutch change anyway

Mine's as sweet as a nut at 72k miles but it's easy to provoke massive slipping if you don't fully connect the horses to the chariot before you use the whip

 

[stilo16v]

The clutch is at its best when the car has been stood for hours and its a cold morning/evening, then it works perfectly. Once the car heats up it starts to judder, when sitting in a traffic for a while the judder gets worse.

Ive just been out in it then, at one point i went to pull away - the car was juddering and vibrating as i was bringing out the clutch, i had to put 3Krpm on to get it to move off smoothly

I imagine people around are thinking i can't drive , it is embarrassing.

The car is getting used more than it was now, it seems to be getting worse quite quick. I think ill keep my RAC card handy

I think it may be contaminated yeah, although im not sure how to get rid of it. I have tried being a little harder on the clutch, but it makes it worse.

The clutch feels quite dead, some how! Say if your on a slight hill and you bring the bite up, the car bites and holds on the clutch, but then even if you bring the clutch out, what seems like half an inch more, the clutch is still holding still, you need to bring it out a lot more for the car to begin to move. It doesnt slip though.

Not that i make a habbit of riding the clutch! Far from it, i was just testing it out.

I did hear the 1.6 clutch can be bled? Is that so? If that is the case i wonder if it could benefit from new fluid and bleeding?

When it was in getting its cambelt replaced, at a Fiat specialist, i asked about the clutch, they said it feels ok but if you want to stop the judder you will have to get the clutch replaced They didnt even seem to know what the cause of the clicking was

 

[Deckchair5]

Ok quite a few points there

"Say if your on a slight hill and you bring the bite up, the car bites and holds on the clutch, but then even if you bring the clutch out, what seems like half an inch more, the clutch is still holding still, you need to bring it out a lot more for the car to begin to move".
That's quite normal for the 1.6, mine does that too, it's what i would call a soft clutch and usually very smooth

The clutch is at its best when the car has been stood for hours and its a cold morning/evening, then it works perfectly. Once the car heats up it starts to judder, when sitting in a traffic for a while the judder gets worse.
That's a classic clutch plate contamination symptom.
Simply try to burn it off down to some fresh material, that's what a new clutch will give you. Just put the handbrake on hard and try to pull away with a fair amount of gas on. If the clutch starts to smell - good as it's starting to burn off - but then give it a rest. Try again a bit later.

I did hear the 1.6 clutch can be bled? Is that so? If that is the case i wonder if it could benefit from new fluid and bleeding?

Yes it's real easy to bleed a 1.6 clutch, have a look in the Stilo Guides. Air can do funny stuff and can sometimes cause judder but you'd normally expect the bite point to go low if it needs bleeding

Does the clicking clutch happen the same when the engine is cold as when it is hot?

 

[stilo16v]

Well after looking around at old threads on here im not sure bleeding it will do anything, the bite is high rather than low and it doesnt change when i pump the clutch.

Ill give your idea a little try, nothing to lose i suppose! Although after being a bit hard on the clutch yesterday to try and achieve the same thing it seemed to make the problem worse.

I wonder if there is something leaking onto the clutch

The clicking happenes all the time, but i can only hear the creaking pedal when im driving, and not whats going on under the bonnet. Although with the engine off there is a lot of clicking coming from the engine bay, mostly when the clutch is around half way depressed.

 

[stilo16v]

I did try whay you sugested, not too much, i didnt want to burn the clutch out!

Today, though, it does seem a lot better, its not juddered once.

I hope it stays that way