Clutch pedel dead? Been to the garage but?

[PLuKE]

Last week my clutch pedel started to feel funny, Had been driving around most of the day and then the biting point of the clutch changed, the biting point was right at the bottom so as soon as you release the pedel it was biting. I parked up for a few hours at work, got my in my car to head home on it was work and the pedel had no feeling at gear changes was horrid, anyway after 2 miles it stopped working.

Got it to the garage the next moring as wasnt much fluid/little left, so the pickup for the clutch made it stop. Now the guy garage had a good look couldnt see any leaks from the brakes or master/slave cylinder. He refilled and bled the system and left it overnight and all was still well. Had the car back now for 1 week. The fluid level hasnt dropped much maybe 3-4mm by messuring by eye.Filled it up to near the top few days ago and its dropped down abit again. But must of dont 150miles if not alot more! since having the car back and its not really dropped much to say if it was leaking somewhere.

Any ideas if the fluid level with fluctuate?

CAR: Seat Ibiza MK4 TDI

[stevieturbo]

If its using fluid, it's leaking, it's as simple as that !!!

[anonymous-user]

Can you see the slave cylinder on these? i suspect it's a Concentric Slave, hence it'll be in the middle of the bellhousing. Did your mech look for any telltail leak or dampness around the bellhousing area??

[PLuKE]

I beleave he did, he is a trust worthy guy as friends and family use him. He did check everything as i am aware. He did say it could well be leaving in the gearbox, could this happen?

Somebody did say " the clutch slave is concentric i.e. it actually fits around the gearbox input shaft" would that mean leaks could happen inside the gearbox so you wouldnt see any drips/leaks etc under the car etc?

Thanks

[Magic919]

The slave cylinder is normally outside the gearbox. So leaks will be in the bell housing and can potentially contaminate the clutch.

[Steve_D]

If it is a concentric slave and there was a particularly good seal of the bell housing and engine then the missing fluid could be sitting inside the bell (Laughing at you).
As has been said before, if the fluid went missing from the master cylinder and there are no external signs of the leak then it has to be inside which will = expensive.

Steve

[anonymous-user]

Sometimes "concentric slave" leaks can take a while to show themselves, as a slow fluid leak into the bellhousing seems to get absorbed by the "clutch plate dust" that coats the inside of the housing, and also distributed by the spinning flywheel, so it can take a couple of system "top ups" before enough fluid is lost to become completely obvious around the bellhousing/engine joint etc.

if your clutch starts to judder then this would also point to a contaminated pressure plate by the clutch fluid etc.

For now, just keep the system topped up and keep a close eye on things.

[PLuKE]

Thanks Max,very informative information. Will keep a close eye on things. My car has a remap so slipping or juddering clutch will happen just from the extra torque.

Once the clutch has picked up the fluid will it need a new clutch plate aswell?

Thanks
Luke

[Steve_D]

PLuKE said:

.....Once the clutch has picked up the fluid will it need a new clutch plate aswell?

Thanks
Luke

If the slave has gone the box will need to come off (or engine out).
At that time you would replace the whole of the clutch anyway as it would be false economy not to.
This is why Max is saying wait as you are looking at the same expence either way.

Steve

[davepoth]

PLuKE said:

Thanks Max,very informative information. Will keep a close eye on things. My car has a remap so slipping or juddering clutch will happen just from the extra torque.

Once the clutch has picked up the fluid will it need a new clutch plate aswell?

Whoever told you that was lying or had no idea what they were saying. If it does either of those your clutch system is not working properly. I'd be amazed if a clutch system was so underspecified these days that a remap was able to overcome it.

[stevieturbo]

davepoth said:

PLuKE said:

Thanks Max,very informative information. Will keep a close eye on things. My car has a remap so slipping or juddering clutch will happen just from the extra torque.

Once the clutch has picked up the fluid will it need a new clutch plate aswell?

Whoever told you that was lying or had no idea what they were saying. If it does either of those your clutch system is not working properly. I'd be amazed if a clutch system was so underspecified these days that a remap was able to overcome it.

Correct.

But some modern diesels really can push some serious torque with just a remap which can push the clutch over the edge.

[anonymous-user]

davepoth said:

I'd be amazed if a clutch system was so underspecified these days that a remap was able to overcome it.

Why "These days"?? Considering how much tighter components are now specified (to cut costs and operating loads etc) i'd go as far as saying that a modern car was "more" likely to have a remap cause the clutch to slip???

(take my car, 450Nm std, 600 odd after remapping, thats a 30 odd percent increase for the clutch to deal with!)

[davepoth]

I have an old car where the Overdrive is blanked off in one of the intermediate gears because the engine was too powerful as standard for the clutches in it. Clutches are much longer lived these days (my fiesta was still going strong at 125,000 miles) and are specced to last the lifetime of the car. That means that they are over-engineered compared to olden times where you would expect to change the clutch more often.

I wasn't really thinking about diesels though, good point.

Edited by davepoth on Tuesday 7th December 23:00