Technical Fiat Bravo 07 - clutch link break

[Louisstanley]

Hi all who read this, new kid on the block and my first car is a second hand 08 reg 1.4 fiat Bravo 07. Bought it literally two days ago, fully insured, what could be better? Well nothing.

Yet today on the way back from school an issue, a big issue arose as whilst slowing down into a space inbetween cars to give way to oncoming traffic, I pushed my clutch down as normal, maybe a little harder, but, POP. The noise was very noticeable and I realised my clutch was stuck to the floor of the car. Just out if common sense I realised the problem, flicked on my hazards, and rolled it back into a safe spot, yet what acctually was it?

well I've read through the forum and it seems people have had similar if not the same issue as me and well I was wondering.... Why?

Now I'm not one to act like a head car designer and I'm not shaming fiat what so ever but I believe the cause of this may be a design fault. Basically in most cars you should be able to push the clutch all the way to the floor, therefore it will stop there and can't physically go further. Yet in this case the design doesn't work like that, and instead the maximum depth of push on the clutch is caused by the link itself, therefore if pushed hard enough, the link will pop out of place, then allowing the clutch to finally hit the floor.

My cars currently gone in for repair, so I'll report how things go. Yet in the mean time it would be great to hear your words, stories and advice on the matter

Cheers, Louis

 

[Matthewr1990]

Hi all who read this, new kid on the block and my first car is a second hand 08 reg 1.4 fiat Bravo 07. Bought it literally two days ago, fully insured, what could be better? Well nothing.

Yet today on the way back from school an issue, a big issue arose as whilst slowing down into a space inbetween cars to give way to oncoming traffic, I pushed my clutch down as normal, maybe a little harder, but, POP. The noise was very noticeable and I realised my clutch was stuck to the floor of the car. Just out if common sense I realised the problem, flicked on my hazards, and rolled it back into a safe spot, yet what acctually was it?

well I've read through the forum and it seems people have had similar if not the same issue as me and well I was wondering.... Why?

Now I'm not one to act like a head car designer and I'm not shaming fiat what so ever but I believe the cause of this may be a design fault. Basically in most cars you should be able to push the clutch all the way to the floor, therefore it will stop there and can't physically go further. Yet in this case the design doesn't work like that, and instead the maximum depth of push on the clutch is caused by the link itself, therefore if pushed hard enough, the link will pop out of place, then allowing the clutch to finally hit the floor.

My cars currently gone in for repair, so I'll report how things go. Yet in the mean time it would be great to hear your words, stories and advice on the matter

Cheers, Louis

That's funny, my clutch hits the floor? :/ maybe it's been tampered with by a previous owner so they didn't need to push it as much as it has a fair bit of movement for a clutch especially when compared with a recent Mondeo i drove which probably had less than an inch movement between fully on and fully off?

 

[Louisstanley]

That's funny, my clutch hits the floor? :/ maybe it's been tampered with by a previous owner so they didn't need to push it as much as it has a fair bit of movement for a clutch especially when compared with a recent Mondeo i drove which probably had less than an inch movement between fully on and fully off?

Yer I think it must be a one off design issue, but thanks for the comment , we'll see what the news is today or tomorrow and I'll let you all know

 

[tomtom2011]

I had the same issue and it was the result of a silly little piece of plastic connecting the ball joint to the clutch rod wearing on one side !

 

[Louisstanley]

I had the same issue and it was the result of a silly little piece of plastic connecting the ball joint to the clutch rod wearing on one side !View attachment 140464

That's exactly it! The exact same thing for me also, it's all fixed now and I know what the issue is if it happens again . Thanks for replies.

Guess we'll keep this up as it may be useful for others in the future .

Cheers, Louis