Broken clutch pedal embarassment

[Steve]

The plastic bit just broke on my clutch pedal causing the pedal to go down to the floor and get stuck there. The worst bit was I was halfway up the ramp to Asda's car park and I didn't have enough momentum to get to the top. So I had to get out and direct all the cars built up behind me to move out of the way so I could roll back to the bottom.

Then the foreign car wash people who don't speak any english came running to help and started pushing my car miles off down the road and didn't understand my pleas for them to stop and leave it where it was!

Anyway the AA turned up and have left it at a local garage. The white plastic bit snapped off and fell into the footwell, so I'm praying it's just that broken and not the master cylinder packed up.

Not amused. Particularly as I am moving on saturday and really need the car! (and also have no money at all)

 

[Steve]

...and I had just filled up my car with purchases from Argos for my new flat. I didn't want to leave all that at the garage so I brought it all with me to work in the AA van!

 

[NeilW]

I feel for you mate. Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. Rush hour traffic in the middle of leeds, on a blind uphill corner. Didn't have enough momentum to get it over the kerb and off the road... At least the other road users were extremely patient and didn't beep their horns / swear / shout etc. (well, at least some of them didn't!).

Hope you get it sorted.

 

[Steve]

Was it just the clip that broke on yours, or something more major like the master cylinder or clutch itself?

If it's just the clip that broke I can probably fix that myself, but it's at the garage now so it's a bit awkward.

The pedal had been squeaking recently but I thought nothing of it as it's done that before and stopped by itself.

 

[CupraTgirl]

I had this happen on my first cupra! Luckily it was just as i was about to drive off so i was parked up anyway

It was done under Warranty too

Sorry to hear about this, is your still under Warranty?

 

[Steve]

No, the car's 5 years old so well out of warranty :-(. That's why I'm hoping it's nothing more major than a broken clip!

 

[NeilW]

Was it just the clip that broke on yours, or something more major like the master cylinder or clutch itself?

If it's just the clip that broke I can probably fix that myself, but it's at the garage now so it's a bit awkward.

The pedal had been squeaking recently but I thought nothing of it as it's done that before and stopped by itself.

It was the clip (i think). Was all done under warranty very quickly and never happened again.

 

[CupraTgirl]

No, the car's 5 years old so well out of warranty :-(. That's why I'm hoping it's nothing more major than a broken clip!

Hhmm it was the pedal box on mine that went! The pedal was flat to the floor and wouldnt move and there was a little white clip bouncing around

I think it was quite a big job but this was about 3 years ago so not sure? Have you called SEAT?

The clutch pedal on my second cupra which is the one i have now, snapped and the pedal did the same as on my other one but there was no white clip? I know this was down to a dodgy weld that snapped, they replaced the pedal and did a double weld on it to give it extra strength

I dont know if these are the same things that have happened on both of mine?

 

[Steve]

Hhmm it was the pedal box on mine that went! The pedal was flat to the floor and wouldnt move and there was a little white clip bouncing around

I think it was quite a big job but this was about 3 years ago so not sure? Have you called SEAT?

The clutch pedal on my second cupra which is the one i have now, snapped and the pedal did the same as on my other one but there was no white clip? I know this was down to a dodgy weld that snapped, they replaced the pedal and did a double weld on it to give it extra strength

I dont know if these are the same things that have happened on both of mine?

I think the pedal box breaking is specific to the Ibiza (from what I have read before) so I am hoping that it is just the clip that has broken for me.

I just took it to a local garage, the one that was nearest to where I was as I didn't fancy paying Seat prices.

 

[CupraTgirl]

I think the pedal box breaking is specific to the Ibiza (from what I have read before) so I am hoping that it is just the clip that has broken for me.

I just took it to a local garage, the one that was nearest to where I was as I didn't fancy paying Seat prices.

Yeah i think your right!

I dont know if they can just snap off or if there is something else that may cause it to do this?

 

[Steve]

Yeah i think your right!

I dont know if they can just snap off or if there is something else that may cause it to do this?

That's the thing, it seems that some people who have the same problem have just had the clip replaced and that's it, but with others something more terminal has caused the clip to break in the first place.

 

[CupraTgirl]

That's the thing, it seems that some people who have the same problem have just had the clip replaced and that's it, but with others something more terminal has caused the clip to break in the first place.

Yeah exactly!

Surely the garage will find the problem?

 

[Steve]

I'm still awaiting the diagnosis - the garage can't look at it til tomorrow now

 

[CupraTgirl]

Oh i see! Let us know how it goes

 

[Muttley]

OK, this happened to me on a Mk.2 Ibiza, and although there was a white plastic clip in the footwell, the fault with the pedal was that a spot-weld had failed, causing the little box that the clip sits in to come open at the back so that eventually the clip was ejected.

The impact from the master cylinder piston snapping back was enough to cause the rod seal to fail, leaking hydraulic fluid into the footwell, and needing a new master cylinder to go with the new clutch pedal. There is so little room in the footwell that I couldn't get into it to do anything myself. The dealer took the front seat out to get at the pedal bar

I think the Leon pedal is the same construction

 

[dazzlin75]

I had this 'disappearing clutch' on my LC a while ago - fortunately fixed under warranty. It was just the clippy thing that had snapped - apparently a known fault due to the mechanism being designed for left-hand drive, but just fudged together rather than being properly sorted for the right-hand drive (UK) market.

Had to argue with those 'good' folks at JCT to get it fixed though - the swines wanted to charge me £150.

Hope yours goes ok....!

 

[Steve]

The garage reckons something on the pedal box has broken and needs welding up. It sounds like the same thing as the Ibizas. But I thought they were different

Better than needing a new clutch/cylinder though I guess.

 

[silverfox]

Spot welds which attach pedal box to footwell gave up ghost on my Mk2 Ibiza Cupra one time. But, believe it or not, it is actually possible to drive car with no clutch! If you can judge the revs correctly you can actually change gear without any crunching of gears. You can change up the gears quite easily with no clutch by gently knocking it out of gear and then adjusting the revs til you find it slips into gear. Coming back down the gears is a bit more difficult but by blipping the throttle while slipping it into gear it is still possible. I drove 40 miles with no clutch to my local garage when it happened, crunched a couple of gears to begin with but by the time I'd got into town I was a bit of an expert.

Who needs a clutch eh!!??

 

[Steve]

Yeah I thought about that after it happened. I could have got it the rest of the way up the ramp by putting it in first and driving it up with the starter motor. And I could probably have got it home with no clutch like you said. But I didn't think about that at the time!

It's still at the garage, I don't really know what they're doing now. I've been having to borrow various family members cars to get to work.

 

[silverfox]

Yeah I thought about that after it happened. I could have got it the rest of the way up the ramp by putting it in first and driving it up with the starter motor. And I could probably have got it home with no clutch like you said. But I didn't think about that at the time!

It's still at the garage, I don't really know what they're doing now. I've been having to borrow various family members cars to get to work.

Everything is easier with a little hindsight though!!

We don't tend to think of these things under pressure, I was in the middle of nowhere when it happened so I had plenty time to think "What the hell am I gonna do now!?"