Stiff Clutch pedal ?

Hi all. Just purchased a 1.4 petrol se for my wife on a 51 plate with 90,000 miles. I hadnt really noticed myself, but she finds the clutch pedal really stiff. Car drives fine with no evidence of clutch slipping. Gear change appears to be nice and tight. Can anyone help diagnose this problem. Thanks for your time.

Hi and welcome to the A2oc and A2 ownership.

I think the clutch on the tdi can be quite stiff. I have not really thought about it. I will be driving later and I will see what I think. I will get my mate to have a drive later and see what he thinks compared to what he has been driving.

Cheers

David

Thanks David, appreciate it. I guess that I didnt notice but my wife certainly does. She came home from work tonight, complaining about it, and that she finds it really hard to push the pedal down to the bottom. I guess if the master cylinder has gone, its more likely the clutch pedal would go down but then not come back up, so maybe its the release bearing ?

Stiff Clutch pedal

Hi there. This may be unlikely but something you could eliminate. My clutch pedal became almost impossible to depress and I discovered the removable mat was catching underneath the pedal. I know it sounds odd that I didn't realise when driving! Have removed the mat and it works like a dream. Enjoy your new A2.

I won't rule it out ! Thanks for your input.

When driving a rental diesel c220 and coming back to the A2, I nearly put the pedal through the bulkhead.

When driving a rental petrol cmax and coming back to the A2, I found the pedal really stiff.

At least some of this is due to "getting used to it", but it's also possible there's another problem.

Bret

In our tdi clutch is significantly stiffer than in the petrol A2. It's been so since I bought the car more than two years ago. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the type of engine, though.

Where abouts in the country? You would not happen to be in Tottington Manchester? If you are you could go and visit our own Mike Skipton to have a once over. There is nothing that he dose not know about our A2s and properly driven more than most. He would be able to tell if your clutch is faulty or not and give you peace of mind.

Cheers

David

My clutch is also a bit stiff (& also feels rough), I was talking to Mike @ Skipton Autos today & he suggested it might be wear on the clutch release bearing due to the mileage.

Just to follow up on this, a stiff pedal is normally caused by wear to the guide tube that the release bearing slides along when you press the pedal.

The hydraulic systems in the A2 are such that they'll very rarely cause stiffness at the pedal and the spring fingers on the clutch pressure plates are so stiff that you'll rarely get pedal lag (where the pedal is slow to return after you release the pedal).

Having recently had my clutch replaced, I was amazed at the lightness of the new setup - it's something that I'd got used to and it was astounding to feel such a light pedal action when the new sleeve and bearing were in place.

Now, the bearing itself is rarely at fault - it's normally the sleeve it operates along, which is a cheap item (around a fiver), but to change the sleeve requires the removal of the gearbox from the car, so you're looking at 4-5 hours labour. As you're paying out for this, you may as well change the entire clutch at the same time, especially on non-dual mass flywheel cars (so that's all A2s apart from the TDi 90).

Mike Mars asked me today if biting point would be different as the clutch wore, but it won't change, so is no indicator of a wearing clutch. The first indication you'll get is slipping, when the friction plate is down to the rivets. In my experience, clutches in non-mapped cars are good for around 100,000 miles. In tuned cars, this will drop to around 75-80,000 miles and in extreme cases (like that of Tank!), you can sometimes get as little as 35-40,000 miles from a friction plate.

They're not cheap items to replace, but are an integral item to driving pleasure and as a side benefit, I've noticed a slight improvement in economy since replacing the clutch, probably from better transfer of energy from the engine to the wheels.

Cheers,

Mike

Thanks very much Mike (and of course everyone else who has contributed to this post). I suspected something along the lines of release bearing etc. I am in fact in Tottington, nr Bury, so not a million miles away from you Mike. From all the posts, I have perused, its obvious you are the man ! I will try and arrange some free time to perhaps get the car checked over by your good self. I plan to give the car a full service myself, but the Clutch aspect will certainly make my wife happier, if it can be softened up a bit ! Do you do clutches ? and if so what sort of price would I be looking at ? Cheers

No, I don't do clutches (not even my own!), but you're quite welcome to pop over for a chat and to compare your clutch action to mine, which is still pretty much box fresh.

Cheers,

Mike

It's just occurred to me that during clutch replacement would be a good time to swap the top gear to something taller...