Heavy/Stiff Clutch Pedal

[peterabbott33]

Hi guys,

I've had a heavy clutch pedal ever since I bought my Megane back in December. Its a 1.5dci with 147,000 on the clock, so its certainly had its wear and tear!

The biting point is fine, a little high but it doesn't slip at all. Its just that town driving can be a bit painful after a while!

Just wondered if this is just a 'Megane' thing or whether people think its got a problem. I'm not going to change the clutch because there's no point in doing it until it needs to be done, and certainly won't affect the pedal 'weight', but maybe its a spring or master/slave cylinder issue? I can live with it, but if its an issue that won't cost much to fix then I may get it sorted

[AlexB]

It depends on what you are comparing it with. Renault clutches the in general are sportier than many other makes. There is nothing to adjust there, and the slave cylinder is buried inside the clutch bell. The best you can do is to change the brake fluid, which in normally done every second year. Inspect the master cylinder, which is under your foot. I don't know what else to suggest...

[mickeybo]

Hyd clutches should be feather light at any time If theres any tightness this is most likely a faulty clutch cover awell known fault across a lot of vehicles. I would advise you to get a replacement clutch sooner rather than later. The pedal box which holds your brake & clutch wont be able to take the strain much longer Regards Mickeybo

[peterabbott33]

Thanks for the advice guys,
I'm not going to start stripping the car down for the sake of a slightly heavier clutch than I'm used to with other cars, it is perfectly driveable and has been this way since I bought it. Since then, I've done 3500 miles and its not getting any worse at all, it doesn't slip or make any funny noises and the biting point is always predictable and in the same place. If something fails then I'll fix it when it goes, but changing parts 'just in case' isn't my sort of thing, I learned that lesson from my first French car, piling money into preventative measures that served little or no benefit. I'd rather that something major happens that I can fix rather than shooting in the dark and buying parts. The heavy-ish clutch is not a problem in any way, I just wanted to know if other owners feel that their car has the same 'feel' and also the possibility of it being a Megane Dci thing, this is my first Renault. Also just in case the was any sort of adjustment or common mechanism type failure. The only way a pressure plate could cause a heavy pedal would be if it was incorrectly sprung when manufactured, which may be a possibility. I'll be changing the clutch probably at some point anyway when it gets too high or slips, so I'll change the CS Cylinder at the same time

Thanks again for the pointers guys

[peterabbott33]

Forgot to mention, ill monitor my brake fluid and change it when I can as I'm unsure of when it was last changed. So far, I've not noticed any leaks or fluid usage with the car at all, so hopefully that's good news with regards to the Master Cylinder, and if the Slave Cylinder was leaking then I'd probably lose my clutch almost completely due to contamination on the friction & pressure plates due to it being Concentric.

On another note - my dad has a Skoda Octavia TDI as a taxi with over 200k on it, he recently changed the clutch, csc and flywheel, shortly afterwards he had a very heavy and unpredictable clutch pedal that was nigh on useless after a couple of days worth of driving. It turned out that his master cylinder had failed, so at least I have an idea of what symptoms I might see if it does start to go

[taffyhl]

The clutch in my 1.9dci is pretty heavy - much heavier than my previous petrol cars so I assumed that was normal for the car. I've done 16k in it (101k total) and it's not gotten any worse and no slipping or other clutch issues. The previous owner (a colleague) says it's always been the same!

[peterabbott33]

Yeah mine is a high miler aswell - 147k now. For the past 3500 miles since I bought it, its been heavy but hasn't got any worse at all and it doesn't slip

[ikhan]

My new clutch (less than 11 months old / 6,000 miles - all associated parts replaced) is heavier than my brother's Passat 2.0TDi (which also had a new clutch about the same time). It's also heavier than my friend's new Corsa. I guess you can only really compare like for like though for an accurate comparison...

[wmdewee]

hi guys. my renault megane 2.0 16v 2005 model clucth suddenly does not work and it feels like there is air in it but after 42 km when i come to stand still there is some flute under the car. what can it be.