Clutch Failure

Puppetmaster

Puppetmaster

Puppetmaster

Soldato
Joined
17 Jun 2005
Posts
6,514
Location
Near Brighton
Ok well my clutch went earlier this evening on my mk2 106 1998, 1.1 40700 miles. now ive only owned the car for just over 6 months and ive done about 4k in it. is it unusual for a clutch to go that quick? I drive it kinda hard i guess, not thrashing it to complete death. sometimes il rev it quite high then let the clutch up if i need to get away out of a juction quick. here is my post from my car club forums, apolgies for the bits that arnt relevant.

Was meeting people near the pet place in eastbourne for the convoy to stanma park. We left, just driving out the car park, felt a bit judery (sp) so i revved it a bit more kept going, just about to go on to the main road bit, and i heard this sorta groaning noise. got out, talked to Chris (owns the black almera (sp)) he said make sure the gear is enganged, so i tried it again same happened. Talked to ollie and are mate behind, decided to carry on.

So gave it a lot of wellie and managed to get going, gear changes while moving seem to be fine, got to the first round about, managed to keep cruising just about. was going along the dual carriage way and it seemed to go a bit slower but gear changes from like 2nd to 5th seemed ok. Approaching the round about, started slowing, tried to change gear just wouldnt go in (neutral position was the only 1). managed to keep rolling off the roundabout in to a bus stop. Rod appeared, martyn, chris and ollie all came back to the bus stop. Then rang my dad and he appeared and drove it back with no clutch.

So yeh, my poor car. hes not completly sure whats wrong with the clutch tho, he thought it was a bit odd for a car only covered 40700 miles. I may have driven it a little hard maybe, but noting serious i dont think.
Click to expand...
 
Nozzer said:
40k out of a clutch isn't bad going.
Click to expand...

Its pretty poor for a 1.1 considering the lack of power. Depends how its been driven. Ie lots of wheel spins, sliping the clutch, riding it etc.

Easy cheap job on one of these tbh.
 
sounds more like the clutch cable has broken or some part of the clutch cable mechanism. otherwise i wouldn't expect such a rapid deterioration
 
someone in my car club thought it was the release bearings or something.

at traffic lights i do tend to have the clutch in but that doesnt happen verry often, only done about 3 small wheelspins in my car didnt mean to just had to get out of a junction quick.
 
Vicious said:
someone in my car club thought it was the release bearings or something.

at traffic lights i do tend to have the clutch in but that doesnt happen verry often, only done about 3 small wheelspins in my car didnt mean to just had to get out of a junction quick.
Click to expand...

Its unlikely to be the clutch plate and may be other mechanicals. Still a garage will be able to tell you, have you not got breakdown assistance?
 
40k is shocking for a modern 1.1 engined car. As the clutch didn't actualy slip it is much more likely something broken than simply worn out.
 
Again, 40k is bad. The GTI-6 ones last at least 65k and I know my brothers 106 gti was on its original clutch untill 81k! Get a garage to give it a good look over. Id imagine it wont cost much even if the clutch has gone.
 
if the clutch was worn out, revs would rise without speed, it'd still be fine to change gear etc. something has broken/come loose.
 
if the gear box had gone, how did my dad drive it home?

when he used to work with lorries a lot, drove them and fixed them, he learnt how to drive them without using the clutch at all, which is what he did with my car. at a certain revs you can change gear without needing the clutch, he knows how to do that and managed to drive it home.
 
stoofer said:
if the clutch was worn out, revs would rise without speed, it'd still be fine to change gear etc. something has broken/come loose.
Click to expand...

There are a few ways a clutch can go, i don't know much about cars but when one of the components breaks that is what happens, you can't get it into gear :( (release bearing?)
 
Can you still press down on the pedal and is it in same position as before when you foot isn't touching the clutch pedal? Or has the pedal dropped to the floor / sprung up towards the roof?
 
As said above, doesn't sound like the clutch is slipping, it's just not disengaging fully when you press the pedal. If it's a cable operated clutch something in the pedal/cable mechanism may have stretched or slipped, if it's hydraulic then you may have a leak.
 
think its cable, as it sometimes squeaked when u pressed the pedle. the clutch isnt right in / on the floor or really high, but it seems like it isnt engaging or disengaging properly
 
Vicious said:
think its cable, as it sometimes squeaked when u pressed the pedle. the clutch isnt right in / on the floor or really high, but it seems like it isnt engaging or disengaging properly
Click to expand...

I don't think it would be a snapped cable, if the cable snaps it's normally very sudden and the pedal rest position moves. What I'd do is try to follow the clutch cable from where it exits the bulkhead (top of the engine bay, driver’s side at a guess) to the clutch release arm, and check the release arm for any obvious problems. If you can find another person to help try pushing the release arm back while trying to get the car into gear, if you still can't get it into gear the problem is probably with the clutch, if you can then the problem is probably with the cable, pedal or release arm.
 
My first car was a Nova :o it decided one evening that it's clutch was going to play up with similar symptoms (stuck in 2nd gear) turned out the clutch cable had become un-adjusted. Maybe it just need re-adjusting?

Fire..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom