Clutch pedal adjustment?

[avensisnz]

I recently purchased a 2013 Avensis sedan with the 1.8 litre petrol engine and manual transmission. The car was brought to New Zealand in 2015 by the original UK owner with 8,000 km on the clock. It's now done 68,000 km (about 42,000 miles). The only thing that bugs me about this car (apart from the speedometer reading in miles) is the clutch doesn't engage until the pedal is almost at the top of its travel, which is a real pain in stop-start traffic. I don't think the clutch is worn out - it still bites hard and doesn't slip. I've read that some cars are just like this from new. My question is whether the pedal can be adjusted at all to move the "bite point" a bit lower, perhaps by lowering the pedal height slightly?

As an aside, I think the 2013 Avensis sedan is a very handsome car. It's definitely got a European look to the styling, unlike the bland looking Corolla and Camry, which are a dime a dozen on New Zealand roads, due to their popularity with fleet buyers. The materials used on the interior (dashboard, door trims, centre console) look and feel much higher in quality than the Corolla and Camry of that age. Mine is the "Icon" grade in Aspen Grey.

My car will be extremely rare on local roads, as they only ever sold the Avensis in station wagon/estate form in New Zealand. There might have been a few sedans imported second hand from Japan, but they'd be few and far between. A nationwide search doesn't turn up any other T270 sedans for sale, so hopefully I don't ever need to replace any body parts that are unique to the sedan!

[Grb33]

"High bite" of the clutch is not a positive phenomenon. It indicates wear of the clutch linings. This is a normal wear symptom of this element but it brings us closer to replacing the clutch kit. 

People who drive such a car on a daily basis do not even notice it because the clutch is getting higher and higher gradually. It is best to catch it just by driving a new car or changing the car for a few days 🙂 So you can get ready for a clutch change in no time. I can't tell you how much he can hold out. In my Fiat, this symptom has been around for 2 years and 20,000 km and still nothing happens. But I would not dare to go somewhere far from home because in the previous car the clutch suddenly ended while driving and I could not shift any gear.

[avensisnz]

The following Reddit discussion indicates a high biting point is common on a lot of cars, even with a brand new clutch. That’s why I’m hoping some kind of adjustment can be made.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/9u5swp/is_a_high_bite_point_indicative_of_a_worn_clutch/

[avensisnz]

Also, the Avensis has a hydraulic clutch, so I don’t believe the biting point will change as the clutch wears, whereas your Fiat may have a cable operated clutch.

[furtula]

Modern clutch is self adjusting, so the saying that the high biting point means clutch is on it's way out, does not hold water.

Due to this, it's not possible to adjust it.

As for the dash, you can get another one, and it should be just 1 connector. The miles on the dash stay, so you should look for one with similar mileage.

 

Enjoy the car, and don't worry about potential breakdowns.

[Gerg]

9 hours ago, avensisnz said:

perhaps by lowering the pedal height slightly?

I've not done this on an Avensis, but the picture above is off a 2013 model (for sale on eBay).  If you can get under the dash to the pedals, and undo the nut indicated by the blue arrow, you can then adjust the pedal position by winding the hex shaft (red arrow), in your case anti-clockwise.  Afterwards the (blue) nut needs tightening to lock this assembly up again.  It would be a good idea to note how many flats the shaft (red arrow) was turned in case you want to put it back as it was!

Do also note that afterwards, you will have lost some of the pedal travel, so there is a chance that engaging first or reverse might be harder, as the clutch may drag slightly, as the clutch will no longer be operated to quite the same extent - a bit like if you'd got the carpet mat caught underneath the pedal.  It might be worth trying to check if your gearbox works happily with the reduced clutch movement before you make any adjustments.

In order to qualify as a 'European' car from a tariff point of view, your car will have a lot of European content to bump the % up to the required amount.  To that end, when the time comes to replace parts, It would be prudent to check that parts for the Japanese-made estate model (that are readily available in NZ?) really are the right ones.  It's surprising how many parts' designs get changed, slightly, when a model becomes 'locally' made, rather than Japanese-sourced.

[Konrad C]

I had my clutch replaced back in 2017, on my 2009 1.8 Valvematic estate. The biting position didn't change and was high as before, but also lighter. 

When I drive other cars, some are a lot younger, the brake and clutch pedals need more force, compared to my car. Also the biting point and braking action are different. 

I think Mk3 Avensis Valvematic have a high biting point. My old leanburn Mk1 was similar biting point. 

[avensisnz]

18 hours ago, Gerg said:

I've not done this on an Avensis, but the picture above is off a 2013 model (for sale on eBay).  If you can get under the dash to the pedals, and undo the nut indicated by the blue arrow, you can then adjust the pedal position by winding the hex shaft (red arrow), in your case anti-clockwise.  Afterwards the (blue) nut needs tightening to lock this assembly up again.  It would be a good idea to note how many flats the shaft (red arrow) was turned in case you want to put it back as it was!

Do also note that afterwards, you will have lost some of the pedal travel, so there is a chance that engaging first or reverse might be harder, as the clutch may drag slightly, as the clutch will no longer be operated to quite the same extent - a bit like if you'd got the carpet mat caught underneath the pedal.  It might be worth trying to check if your gearbox works happily with the reduced clutch movement before you make any adjustments.

In order to qualify as a 'European' car from a tariff point of view, your car will have a lot of European content to bump the % up to the required amount.  To that end, when the time comes to replace parts, It would be prudent to check that parts for the Japanese-made estate model (that are readily available in NZ?) really are the right ones.  It's surprising how many parts' designs get changed, slightly, when a model becomes 'locally' made, rather than Japanese-sourced.

I'm going to check with a local mechanic if they can lower the pedal height a bit. It might be a good time to flush the clutch/brake fluid as well, as I have no record of when it was last changed. I don't expect there would be a problem engaging gears afterwards, because at the moment there's a lot of pedal travel and it engages right at the top.

About the European content, the Avensis is somewhat unique in that it wasn't assembled in Japan. In fact, it was exported from the UK to Japan.

[furtula]

It's not about the pedal travel, it's about the free play that you get at the top.

Depends on manufacturer, but you need atleast 1cm of free play at the top, that means there is no pressure applied at the clutch, on the slave cylinder side.

If you adjust the pedal, and forget about this bit, it can happen that the car will run fine, but there will always be a bit of pressure applied at the clutch diaphragm spring, which will cause excess wear on the pilot bearing, leading to premature failure.

You can just take a look under the dash, and see if the connecting rod to the pedal has some adjustment, like on the picture above, or not.

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, furtula said:

It's not about the pedal travel, it's about the free play that you get at the top.

Depends on manufacturer, but you need atleast 1cm of free play at the top, that means there is no pressure applied at the clutch, on the slave cylinder side.

If you adjust the pedal, and forget about this bit, it can happen that the car will run fine, but there will always be a bit of pressure applied at the clutch diaphragm spring, which will cause excess wear on the pilot bearing, leading to premature failure.

You can just take a look under the dash, and see if the connecting rod to the pedal has some adjustment, like on the picture above, or not.

Agreed, just don’t touch anything and enjoy your car. 👍

[avensisnz]

An update: I contacted a garage close to my workplace with a 4.8 Google star rating. Their workshop manager said that's usually a sign of a very worn clutch. Knowing that the bite point of a hydraulically operated clutch doesn't change as the clutch wears, I crossed them off my list.

I decided to have a go myself. Found a good YouTube video that demonstrated what to do - easy as. Just to be sure there wasn't anything unique to the Avensis, I paid 4 euros to access the repair manual at toyota-tech.eu for one hour.

So, I got the adjustment done and what a **** of a job it was! I mean, technically it's extremely simple, but you've got to be a !Removed! contortionist to get two spanners in there (one to hold the connecting rod clevis in place while you use the other one to loosen the bolt) and see what you're doing. I ended up with carpet burns on my elbows and a couple of scratches on my hands. I'm sure it would be a lot easier if you could put the car on a hoist to raise it to about chest height and had professional tools.

Anyway, I was quite pleased with the result (you only have to adjust it a small amount to improve the clutch feel), but then when I tried to move off to go on a test drive, the electric parking brake wouldn't release automatically (I only use this feature because my driveway is on a slope). That's when I learned that adjusting the clutch pedal requires you to recalibrate the parking brake! Back to toyota-tech.eu to pay for another hour of access, because I didn't read that note the first time. The "clutch engagement learning point" process for the electric parking brake is very strange, but it seems to have worked. You have to be driving at a speed of 50km/h (37mph) or more, downshift from 4th to 3rd gear while not touching the accelerator pedal, then repeat this process four more times. You then come to a stop, apply the parking brake, then move off. You then repeat this a second time, but accelerate off more quickly. "If there is any abnormal feeling, repeat step one 20 times." Glad I didn't have to do that!

Interestingly, the factory specs for the clutch pedal height are nearly 2cm lower on LHD cars than RHD cars.

[Gerg]

On 2/7/2021 at 6:20 AM, avensisnz said:

So, I got the adjustment done and what a **** of a job it was! I mean, technically it's extremely simple, but you've got to be a !Removed! contortionist to get two spanners in there (one to hold the connecting rod clevis in place while you use the other one to loosen the bolt) and see what you're doing. I ended up with carpet burns on my elbows and a couple of scratches on my hands.

Well done for sticking with it, I'm sure it's 'character-building' in some way!  

Yes, you could do with small, probably curved, spanners.  And ridiculously short arms, too.  A head torch is very useful.

Interesting about it changing the EPB/clutch bite point.  I'd never heard of all that, but then I've not got an Avensis.