General Newbe with Fiat 500 year 2009, 1.2L, broken wobbly Clutch Pedal

[A1EK]

Hi All

First post here on this great forum, I am a member of many other forums for Mercedes, Audi's, Range Rover VW, but today I picked up a little bargin ! hence why I have decided to join !
I have just bought a great little Fiat 500, year 2009, 1.2L in white, it has 80K miles and I bought her for £700!! it has a years MOT too.
I have noticed that the clutch pedal has snapped at the welds a the pivot bar at the top, to which I believe is a very common fault on these cars along with Fiat Panda's.
I am therefore looking at replacing the clutch pedal, I pay try and weld myself or just buy another.
I found two great info sheets on this forum on the clutch pedal removal, but just wanted to know if anyone has done the job and to gain any tips?
Thanks in advance.

 

[jrkitching]

I am therefore looking at replacing the clutch pedal, I may try and weld myself or just buy another.

Do not do this. If the pedal is made stronger than its original design, it could cause serious injury.

The clutch & brake pedals are designed with a certain amount of 'built-in' weakness. This is to protect the driver's legs and feet in the event of a serious frontal collision. If the worst should happen, the pedals are supposed to break first.

On older cars without this feature, folks would quite frequently end up breaking their foot in a frontal collision.

Don't try to repair a cracked pedal by welding, or you could end up with a broken foot in an accident.

It's been said that secondhand replacements can be obtained reasonably easily from a breaker.

 

[varesecrazy]

Hi

Search on here works well

Broken clutch pedal | FIAT 500 (2007+)

As per the title, the wife's 2010 Fiat 500 1.2 Pop clutch pedal has broken near the weld where it pivots. This is a common fault I understand. Does anyone have a guide on how to replace the pedal? Is it a relatively easy job? Thanks in advance!

www.fiatforum.com

 

[steveras57]

Give yourself enough time to do the job allowing for"complications"!
be prepared to twist yourself into lots of awkward and uncomfortable shapes! if doing outside have something on the ground such as old carpet etc for insulation! a good led torch will help see whats going on!
dont rush!
plenty of used pedal boxes on E-BAY!
take care !

 

[John202020]

Take the drivers seat out, having first disconnected the battery?

 

[steveras57]

Take the drivers seat out, having first disconnected the battery?

Always a good idea! lots more room and a nice comfy place for a kip if it all gets to much!

 

[A1EK]

Do not do this. If the pedal is made stronger than its original design, it could cause serious injury.

The clutch & brake pedals are designed with a certain amount of 'built-in' weakness. This is to protect the driver's legs and feet in the event of a serious frontal collision. If the worst should happen, the pedals are supposed to break first.

On older cars without this feature, folks would quite frequently end up breaking their foot in a frontal collision.

Don't try to repair a cracked pedal by welding, or you could end up with a broken foot in an accident.

It's been said that secondhand replacements can be obtained reasonably easily from a breaker.

thanks for the feedback, I understand where you are coming from. Can you remove just the clutch pedal? or do you need to remove the assembly with the brake and accelerator pedals? The images I posted seem slightly different to my car

 

[A1EK]

Okay so the images I posted were a different set up and did not help unfortunately. However I think I have managed to fix the pedal without removal using some inventive solutions and working in situ. I will create a video to explain,

 

[steveras57]

Okay so the images I posted were a different set up and did not help unfortunately. However I think I have managed to fix the pedal without removal using some inventive solutions and working in situ. I will create a video to explain,

Are you completely certain that what you have done is safe? not worth saving a few quid if it cost you your life!

 

[A1EK]

Are you completely certain that what you have done is safe? not worth saving a few quid if it cost you your life!

I am sure its fine, the pedals are a poor design, I get you have to have a fatigue point due to |Encap regulations, but I also take it as pinch of salt having worked in engineering all my life. I will tack weld the pedal at the break in situ if my repair does not hold, that way I do not interfere with the existing weld, but so far so good.

 

[steveras57]

Guess its your call! if you wasnt confident you would not use it i suppose!

 

[A1EK]

Guess its your call! if you wasnt confident you would not use it i suppose!

Hi Steveras57, I respect what you are saying and agree that you need to do things right as per the OEM design for the car.
So although the metal set epoxy held the peddle better and stopped it slopping side to side, it didn't hold it to the main spring mechanism. So I have now as a said tack welded at the break around 5mm, it wouldn't take a lot to snap the weld, but it seems to be holding well, the weld was not interfering with the existing weld I only joined at the break. I had to bend the upper right tab that engages against the white plunger as it gave a fault on my dash, I managed to clear it with my Autel diagnostic, I gave the tab a slight bend so it pushes the plunger once more. I managed to do it all in situ.

 

[steveras57]

Glad it went well for you! and you got what you wanted done with minimal stress!