Clutch problems - read this first!

[cwspellowe]

Bit of information for those that don't know, and a couple of pictures to help explain.

Symptoms

Heavy clutch pedal
Clutch pedal not fully returning
Bite point getting closer to the floor with use

Similar issues? Hold on.. before you go and spend the best part of £120 on a clutch kit and cable, take a look at the side of your clutch pedal. See that spring/plastic sleeve kind of assembly below that's probably there? Get rid, f*ck it in the bin.



Part 5 on the exploded diagram



Why remove it?

This is the clutch pedal assist spring, fitted by Peugeot to give the clutch a "sportier" feel. What a lot of people don't realise is that a tech update from Dealers on 306's from new advised removing the spring assembly if a customer complained about it. Now, it wasn't a recall, and most 306's will still have the spring assembly present. Normally it's not an issue but can cause some misleading symptoms.

Firstly, the clutch pedal appears to stick about 1" from the normal resting position. No problem, bit annoying to flick the pedal out with your toes occasionally, but it WILL get worse.

What happens next is the self adjuster in the cable takes this stuck position as resting and adjusts the cable to this new position. The bite point then creeps down to the floor to the point it's hard to get in gear.

Ignore it much longer, and the cable fails, no doubt soon to be followed by the clutch. Catch it in time and it may just be a case of removing the spring, in my case I had to replace the cable as the ratchet had seized at max adjustment and I couldn't get the bite point back from the floor again, although removing the spring assembly allowed the pedal to travel all the way up again.

Here's the state of my old cable. Ignore the frayed heat shielding, that's from having it resting against the exhaust on the gti and it getting burned.



Self adjuster looking pretty fine, but had reached the end of its adjustment and got stuck through drying out/poor pedal position





Thankfully my bite point has now returned to normal and the clutch feels much lighter now with the new cable. Just an "FYI" for anyone else having similar issues before they dive in and replace the whole clutch. Could save you anything up to £120-odd if this fixes it

[Connor]

Ive been having to "flick" the pedal back up for about a month or so, will give this a go later. Take its just a case of removing that little clip "C" and use of my man strength?

[cwspellowe]

Yep, c-clip off, pop it off with a screwdriver, visit A&E to have the spring extracted from your face.

[Ricky]

Yeah be careful when removing the spring!

[karl1989]

I removed mine when i got clutch and cable done. Pain is now when i press the clutch and release it sounds like an old vauxhall. Tried WD40 no joy

[bigcheez2k3]

That's exactly what must have happened to mine when it went as I was having to push the pedal up and it was a bastard to get into gear. I assumed at first that it was something to do with the engine swap, obviously not.

[Jonny81191]

Just removed mine and also my brother's. Instantly better in both cases after we stamped the pedal a couple of times.

[Shea]

Mines been doing this for months, only just started getting hardsr to get into gear, will be doing this when I get home

[declantg]

So just rip this thing off my pedal yeah?

[Arron]

Hmm, as said by karl and happened to me, annoying squeek?

[Stephen]

That thing annoyed the f*ck out of me

[Matt]

Will be ripping mine out later

[Willo]

Is that what spueeks when I press the clutch then ????

[cwspellowe]

Quite possibly the cause of squeeks. It also acts to dampen the pedal though when it works properly so you may find it squeaks more with it removed.

Either way, I much prefer the pedal without it, just goes really light compared to before but saying that I fitted a new cable too so can't say for definite what the added effects are.

[Slam Wagon]

Just done this to mine on my lunch at work. Ill let you know after the drive home what effect it has, doesnt seem to be too different though, but it may differ when driving.

[Toms306]

So, are we saying Peugeot fitted that to make the clutch heavier!? Who wants a heavy clutch!?

[Willo]

I've got a fairly loud spueek when pressing the clutch so I'm gonna try removing this first if not ill do the cable if I can work out how to

[Eeyore]

oh maybe this is my clutch problem then D:

[Chris_90]

Just removed mine clutch feels same tbh had a new cable about 3,000miles ago so that should be ok,but noticed biteing point bang in middle now, used to be all over place before

[bigcheez2k3]

I think if you're having problems you're likely to notice a difference as that piece was faulty. If your clutch was fine nothing will happen.

[Slam Wagon]

No difference in pedal feel but my clutch doesnt squeek at me everytime i press it now. Winner.

[TrinityJayOne]

'allo chaps, GTi6 owner from Down Under here! I'd been having a small (possibly unique) clutch issue on my 2mth old Pug and stumbled upon this thread while searching for answers. The mod above seemed unrelated but I bookmarked it all the same. Anyway, here's my problem as posted on a local Pug board-

Very occasionally I will feel the clutch pedal 'notch' slightly at the end of it's travel. Basically just as it's about to hit the floor I can feel the resistance disappear and there is a small click/clunk sound. First time it occurred was about a month ago, and then on perhaps two more occasions since then. First time it happened it did it 'notched' about 10-20 times, since then it's only notched once or twice each time. On each occasion the car has been cold and it's not always on sequential applications (ie- I might pump the clutch 5 times and it only notches once). Actual clutch performance seems unaffected, there's still plenty of travel on both sides of the bite point and it's not getting harder or slipping or anything of that nature.

Like I said this mod seemed unrelated (I originally thought the self-adjuster was to blame) but I thought I'd do it anyway. Can't do any harm, so why not? Well once I got a look at the spring I had a pretty bloody good idea where the notch-y feeling and the clunk/crunch sounds were coming from...


More pics- Pic 1, pic 2, pic 3.

The pedal feels no different to before, apart from the lack of the notching of course. And for the record my clutch squeaks a little (from the engine bay) when lifting off the pedal, both before & after the mod, but it's only audible if the engine isn't running.

Thanks to the OP for posting this, you saved me stuffing about with an unnecessary cable replacement!

[Matt]

Yeah that spring really doesn't look good!

[Jonny81191]

Wow, what had you been doing with that?!

[4WayDiablo]

Move to the guides section?
Don't want decent info like this getting lost in the couch

[TrinityJayOne]

Wow, what had you been doing with that?!

I've only had it 2mths, not my doing!

[Poodle]

Hahaha that's the spirit, deny everything, f*ck the Poleess!

[HDIkyle]

Wish i knew this before my estate pedal did this had to flick it up everytime i used it. Very annoying! Luckily i removed the sedans one to help get the cable on