Technical Help with clutch diagnosis

[gandhimate]

Hi all,

I've had my 1.2 Active GP for a few months now and I have always had an annoying issue with the clutch pedal.

When the clutch is lifted up to the biting point, it sort of slightly 'sticks' and doesn't want to come up any further for a brief moment. I don't notice it on faster shifts from 2nd, 3rd etc, but if for example, I am on hill at traffic lights and need to lift the clutch pedal in a more acute way, it is very noticeable.

When the engine is off, or the car is in neutral, the pedal operates perfectly smoooooth. This is just in first gear and has caused me a few stalls from time to time, as the clutch will stick and then release a moment later, causing the pedal to jump past the bite point and makes moving off somewhat jerky. Quite annoying as this is my first car and getting used to driving is hard enough haha

I had a mechanic friend have a very quick look at it and he seemed to think it could be the slave cylinder, perhaps the rubber inside has gone stiff, and is preventing it from releasing smoothly.

I'm keen to get any thoughts on this, or has anyone had a similar issue?

Any help is appreciated, as I'd rather have the issue half way diagnosed before taking it to the garage/attempting anything myself.

Thanks!

 

[Bernievarian]

It has always been easier to shift gears while the car is moving than when it's stopped... I'm not saying that's the carbon interface that causes the jerk ;-), actually like the rubber theory; if it's an external slave (not co-axial), I guess it can be removed and cleaned / replaced .

BRs, Bernie

 

[gandhimate]

Thanks for the response Bernie.

I'll have a look at getting the slave cleaned/replaced as soon as I can!

As it is only first gear that's affected, could it be a deeper issue with the gear itself, or could this still be a symptom of a dodgy slave cylinder?

As a test, I selected the different gears while the engine was off, and first gear was the only problem gear, the clutch pedal releases smoothly while selecting 2nd, 3rd etc.

Hope this makes sense!

 

[Bernievarian]

I can't see any reason why the 1st gear would interfere with the clutch pedal return.

As going into 1st gear is usually the first thing you do when launching the car, it may be that the slave need some kind of 'warm-up'; next time, try the 2nd gear FIRST TIME and see if the symptom migrate...

BRs, Bernie

 

[Steve145]

Might sound obvious, but check the clutch pedal isn't catching on the floor mat.

Might be you don't push it all the way to the floor when changing up through the box, so are only getting a problem when pulling away?

 

[gandhimate]

Thanks for those suggestions, I'll give them a shot when I'm in from work tonight and let you know how I get on.

I'll try removing the mats and pulling off in second

Cheers