What has happened to my clutch?

One More Solo · 13 Nov 2012 at 10:47

Driving down the M1 today the bite point of my clutch went from almost instantly from being fine to almost at the floor. Shortly afterwards, the clutch pedal went completely light leaving me unable to select a gear without rev matching. Any ideas?

Third Opinion · 13 Nov 2012 at 10:58

Hydraulic leak?

Firestar_3x · 13 Nov 2012 at 10:59

Clutch slave cylinder, broken clutch release fork or as above.

kaiowas · 13 Nov 2012 at 11:11

Certainly sounds like a hydraulic issue,

From the description it's likely you have had a slow leak somewhere in the system for a while (seals at either the master or slave cylinder end are most likely but it could be one of the lines or fittings) which has caused gradual fluid loss. You've now lost sufficient fluid that the system has swallowed a lump of air and cannot now transmit effort from the pedal to the clutch.

If this is the case then you should be able to top up the fluid and bleed it to get up and running again, then just keep an eye on the fluid level to make sure it doesn't get too low again. Assuming the leak isn't too bad you can then fix it properly at your convenience.

Of course it's possible you have had a sudden and complete failure in the system in which case you've got no choice but to sort it now.

Blue160 · 13 Nov 2012 at 11:11

A friend of mine had exactly the same thing. It was the slave cylinder in their case.

One More Solo · 13 Nov 2012 at 11:18

Expensive fix on a Focus? Slave cylinder sounds right.

Dogbreath · 13 Nov 2012 at 12:07

One More Solo said:
Expensive fix on a Focus? Slave cylinder sounds right.

Sadly yes, the Focus uses a concentric slave cylinder which fits inside the bellhousing, meaning the gearbox has to come out to replace it. It's almost the same amount of work required to fit a new clutch, so it would be wise to budget for a new clutch at the same time unless you know when it was last replaced.

One More Solo · 13 Nov 2012 at 13:11

Dogbreath said:
Sadly yes, the Focus uses a concentric slave cylinder which fits inside the bellhousing, meaning the gearbox has to come out to replace it. It's almost the same amount of work required to fit a new clutch, so it would be wise to budget for a new clutch at the same time unless you know when it was last replaced.

I don't think the clutch was done that long ago but obviously they didn't do the slave cylinder at the same time.

Dogbreath · 13 Nov 2012 at 13:31

One More Solo said:
I don't think the clutch was done that long ago but obviously they didn't do the slave cylinder at the same time.

Have you checked the fluid level?

One More Solo · 13 Nov 2012 at 13:47

Dogbreath said:
Have you checked the fluid level?

It's with the garage now. I'm away in Watford with work this week so need it sorted to get home on Friday!

One More Solo · 13 Nov 2012 at 16:57

£400 bill including fitting a new clutch.

Still, should keep me on the road for a while to come.

Third Opinion · 13 Nov 2012 at 17:03

One More Solo said:
£400 bill including fitting a new clutch. Still, should keep me on the road for a while to come.

Not a bad price at all. I had same thing on my Alfa 156 Sportwagon and it was £500 about 4 years ago.

Firestar_3x · 13 Nov 2012 at 17:03

Best way to think of these things is, it's something that needed doing sooner or later, it means you've now changed that item and provided the jobs done right shouldn't cause you trouble again.

I'm currently playing coil pack monopoly with my car, it's got to the point that i'm cheesed off with the 1.8T coils so im upgrading to the 2.0T ones, £154 later....

One More Solo · 13 Nov 2012 at 17:08

Firestar_3x said:
Best way to think of these things is, it's something that needed doing sooner or later, it means you've now changed that item and provided the jobs done right shouldn't cause you trouble again.

I'm currently playing coil pack monopoly with my car, it's got to the point that i'm cheesed off with the 1.8T coils so i've upgrading to the 2.0T ones, £154 later.....

Yeah, that's the thing I guess.

One More Solo · 16 Nov 2012 at 09:32

It's back, I'm £440 lighter but got a full new clutch and cylinder fitted along with a couple of extra bits. Apparently the old clutch didn't look that old - when I bought the car I was told it had been recently replaced - but the muppets obviously didn't do the slave cylinder at the same time to save some money.

Saves me a train fare from London today and back on Monday so I'm happy to have it back and HOPEFULLY it will be trouble free for the next few thousand miles.