Technical Heavy clutch.

[klu01dbt]

I have a 1.1 09 Active Eco. 113500 miles

Current problem is a very heavy clutch. It has been heavy for at least a few years now. Clutch changed in the last year made no difference. Clutch hydraulics all changed a few months ago, again no difference. Pedal not sticking and makes no noise, returns fine when foot taken off. When pedal disconnected from clutch hydraulics it moves freely with no stiffness.

Any ideas?

 

[koalar]

disconnect the slave cylinder and see if the problem is hydraulic or mechanical

just be careful not to pump the plunger all the way out.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I had a very "entertaining" time trying to sort out the clutch on my boy's 1.4 8 valve Punto. I won't bore you with all the irrelevant details but I did discover something about it I hadn't previously known. In the hydraulic line, about half way between the slave and master cylinders, there is a hydraulic accumulator - the purpose of which I'm still rather confused about - however if yours has one then maybe it could be causing some sort of restriction?

Also worth considering on higher mileage older vehicles is that all sorts of "weird" things happen when flex hoses begin to partially collapse internally. I've had some strange things to do with this in braking systems but there's no reason why the flex hose down at the clutch slave cylinder shouldn't suffer internal collapse. It's difficult to see because externally there's no sign.

It's always worth considering this obscure fault when being tempted to clamp off a flex hose whilst perhaps changing a wheel cylinder or caliper on an older vehicle. The inner liner on the hose may well suffer crushing from which, due to age, it can't recover. Most typically this manifests itself as an inability to bleed it through afterwards.

 

[chris3234]

I had a very "entertaining" time trying to sort out the clutch on my boy's 1.4 8 valve Punto. I won't bore you with all the irrelevant details but I did discover something about it I hadn't previously known. In the hydraulic line, about half way between the slave and master cylinders, there is a hydraulic accumulator - the purpose of which I'm still rather confused about - however if yours has one then maybe it could be causing some sort of restriction?

Also worth considering on higher mileage older vehicles is that all sorts of "weird" things happen when flex hoses begin to partially collapse internally. I've had some strange things to do with this in braking systems but there's no reason why the flex hose down at the clutch slave cylinder shouldn't suffer internal collapse. It's difficult to see because externally there's no sign.

It's always worth considering this obscure fault when being tempted to clamp off a flex hose whilst perhaps changing a wheel cylinder or caliper on an older vehicle. The inner liner on the hose may well suffer crushing from which, due to age, it can't recover. Most typically this manifests itself as an inability to bleed it through afterwards.

The save cylinder hose appears to be a sort of semi flexible plastic rather the rubber like a brake flex
Should this should be less likely of a cause
Could be wrong however

Edit just noticed this was the panda section not the 500 where I was just reading about sure if it has the same slave cylinder layout

 

[DaveMcT]

The clutch hydraulics are soled complete with plastic lines prefilled with fluid. A sealed QD bayonet connector keeps the fluid where it should be. When I did mine, the connector would not release so I had no option but to replace master and slave at the same time.


That's good sense anyway as both will be worn, but my old connector was so corroded internally it was not far off leaking. I cut it open to look. Maybe there is corrosion blocking the fluld flow.

If the whole hydraulic system was replaced, the problem must be a pedal fault or the release lever behind the clutch is damaged. Pedals can bend so check for that. Release arm problem?- you know what that means.