Back From Holidays To A Hard Clutch ( I Dont Remember Leaving It Like

[waqar_lionheart]

Good afternoon ya'll,

Hope everyone is driving smoothly.

Is it just me or is there something wrong. I went on holidays drove a brand new ford focus super soft steering and clutch, came back my clutch and steering feel a lot harder than i can remember. I know people might say on yeah thats coz you have forgotten your old pal. But I swear its harder than it should be.

Could it be that sitting the car for a long time cause the clutch to go harder????? does it need a change of fluid ( I imagine not as the car was thoroughly serviced every year when i bought it 1.5 years ago its an avensis 1.8 vvti gs OIL BURNER - Yeah I know please dont laugh it hurts)

Would appreciate all the feed back.

Ta muchly.

Waqar

[Konrad C]

Hi Waqar,

It is your leg muscles getting lazy. When you got used to a newer car with lighter controls, you feel spoilt.

Actually there could be a fault as mine was noted as being heavy. It is a bit lighter since the transmission repair.

When I see you next, you can compare mine with yours.

Konrad

[waqar_lionheart]

OK All back to normal now. I dont think there is a fault. well may be but its alright now back to its squeaky self.:)

[Konrad C]

OK All back to normal now. I dont think there is a fault. well may be but its alright now back to its squeaky self.:)

Waqar,

That means you have re-adjusted to your car.

Konrad

[Konrad C]

Many apologies to Waqar, I take my words back and fully agree about the heavy clutch pedal.

I met with him to look at another issue and was surprised how much force was needed to press the clutch. It must have been more than double mine! I let Waqar try mine and it was much easier to press in comparison.

Waqar thinks that the clutch could be worn and may be the reason.

My clutch was changed when my transmission was rebuilt, and is lighter than before, but never needed the amount of force that is needed in Waqar's car.

I think that a new clutch will fix the problem.

Sorry Waqar.

[waqar_lionheart]

Thats alright Konrad, I am quite thick skinned ... Just kidding :). Just had a thought, since this is hydraulic, surely the clutch shouldnt get hard, even though the clutch plate might be slightly worn. So what about the push rod. I have heard this can be resolved with some grease to the push rod as well as heard of cases where the push rod can become slightly bent???????????

let me know your thoughts on this konard. as well as everybody else please.

Regards,

waqar

[avensisd4d786]

Master cylinder or pressure plate;

Try and disconnect the slave cylinder from the box- leaving the clutch line in- try depressing the pedal if it goes lighter I would look at clutch kit- if still the same then master cylinder.

I have experienced this problem my self on a 2004 diesel;

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/160162-attempting-a-clutch-change-on-a-d4d-2004-avensis-1cd-ftv/

[Cyker]

I was going to suggest it was the clutch diaphragm spring too; I know with 1CD diesel engines the clutch spring is just insanely heavy (The clutches in my brother's old 2.0D4D and my dad's Verso 2.0 D4D both feel like they belong in a lorry ), and where mates have swapped their clutches for more heavy duty or racing ones, the clutch pressure has been noticeably harder.

[Konrad C]

Master cylinder or pressure plate;

Try and disconnect the slave cylinder from the box- leaving the clutch line in- try depressing the pedal if it goes lighter I would look at clutch kit- if still the same then master cylinder.

I have experienced this problem my self on a 2004 diesel;

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/160162-attempting-a-clutch-change-on-a-d4d-2004-avensis-1cd-ftv/

I was going to suggest it was the clutch diaphragm spring too; I know with 1CD diesel engines the clutch spring is just insanely heavy (The clutches in my brother's old 2.0D4D and my dad's Verso 2.0 D4D both feel like they belong in a lorry ), and where mates have swapped their clutches for more heavy duty or racing ones, the clutch pressure has been noticeably harder.

Both ideas from avensis4d786 and Cyker are good. Greasing may help, but the diaphragm spring sounds the likely culprit. It is part of the clutch replacement kits.

Waqar, are you up for this test?

Konrad

[avensisd4d786]

I changed the master cylinder on advice from other members; this made it lighter-

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/142977-heavy-squeaky-clutch-20-d4d-diesel-2004/

but recently I changed the clutch now very light; I greased every area in gearbox where the Toyota manual suggested; I used LuK

I have uploaded pdf for you;

so If I just changed the clutch and not master cylinder it would of been still heavy. hence why I'm advising you to check first before spending money.

I suggest you use the clutch kit make used by Toyota if your not going genuine most likely to be either made by aisin or LuK. stay away from transmech and re-manufactured clutches.

apparently blueprint are not that good either.

would be a good time to change gearbox oil too.

CLUTCH.pdf

[garethpaul]

Funnily enough I flushed my brake fluid today. I had some fluid left over, so thought I would do the clutch fluid whilst I was at it. I have a separate clutch fluid reservoir.

Didn't take much to flush through. What came out was quite manky - far dirtier than the old brake fluid. Once done though I had a noticeably (I mean, extremely noticeable) lighter clutch pedal, and the annoying squeak is gone.

I don't believe this job is listed on the service itinerary, so unless you have explicitly asked for it to be done, then it probably hasn't been.