Stiff Clutch

[sollyboy]

Hi Pug Lovers
Think I've got a problem with the old clutch , went on a long run up to Birmingham from Swansea, got to Brum and noticed that the clutch pedal was harder to press and in its final few inches to it bottoms out it would feel like a click . removed the sound proofing board and had a look to see if any thing was fowling the mechanism, looked all fine . Has anyone got any idea what could be going wrong . I hear that a new clutch is very expensive , the car is a 99 hdi glx on 17300 miles.
All the best Sollyboy

[steve_earwig]

Hi there Sollyboy, I don't think I can offer much apart from sympathy as I bet all this has already gone through your mind: I'd have thought there's only two places that could go stiff - pedal end or clutch end. I've never had to play with the clutch on one of these so I don't know if there's any way of getting to the release bearing pivot shaft (without taking the sodding 'box off ) but the pics in Haynes seem to show it being pull though the outside of the 'box so maybe it's worth seeing of you can spot this and perhaps squeeze some grease in there. I suppose it's possible that something's stiff the pedal end but it seems unlikely, as does the hyraulics but then what a bastard it would be to find it was this after you had the box off.

I dunno, maybe squirt some WD around the pedal shaft and possibly pull the slave cylinder out and, being careful not to shoot the pin or whatever it uses over the hedge into next door's, see if it moves freely.

[mjb]

possibly pull the slave cylinder out and, being careful not to shoot the pin or whatever it uses over the hedge into next door's, see if it moves freely.

That's step 2.

Step 1 is to get under the dash, pull the master cylinder ball joint off the pedal (it's on the left hand side iirc) and see how the pedal moves when disconnected. Should spring up for most of the travel, and spring down near the end, but it should be smooth

Then put it back and do as steve said. If it's all ok there, I'm afraid it's probably going to be expensive

[Captain Jack]

Could also be air in the hydraulics

[mjb]

Nah air makes it easier to press