Aygo clutch adjustment

[newdent]

Hey, I've recently bought an Aygo (2007) and the clutch seems very high on it. The seller said the clutch was changed 3 years ago, which I took as a great sign but it turns out they did 42K in those 3 years! An oversight on my part, the previous 14 years of the was only 33K. How long does a clutch generally last on these? I assume that must have been lots of motorway driving.

Anyway, I've watched a few YouTube videos and tried adjusting a few ways and I can't seem to have any success. I'm wondering if it's too far gone? I've tried to lever the rusty arm (not sure what it's) on top of the gearbox to take tension off the cable and adjust where it attaches to the arm but it seems like it's not possible to take any tension off of that arm to rotate the connection on the end of the cable, the arm seems to be at its end of travel.

The other method I've tried is to turn the plastic threaded section a bit further back from the gearbox connection, it's possible to get a few turns on this before it locks but this just seems to take up the 'free play' before there's resistance on the pedal, so I put that back to how it was as I heard a small amount of free play is required 

Lastly, I adjusted the bolt by the pedal which changes the at rest position of the pedal but that really only gained me a few mm so was pointless.

I'm trying to figure out if the clutch has just reached the end of its life or I'm missing something. I have seen videos where the clutch cable seems a bit tighter than mine but I guess it's not impossible that mine has stretched? Any help greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[Cyker]

The Aygo manual clutch is famous for having a very high biting point; In the one I had as a courtesy car it was hard to tell if I'd lifted off the pedal it was so high  

 

[flash22]

The Aygo biting point is high, it's just a characteristic of the car

Basic clutch test - stick it in 3rd and give it a little bit of rpm, if it just revs the clutch needs adjustment/ replacement, if it stalls all is good

The early cars had an undersized clutch you were lucky to get 20-30 k out of it the later ones are 10mm bigger and that is the standard clutch size for OEM and aftermarket replacement, 60-100k should be a good life expectancy

https://www.techtips.ie/Blue-Print/clutch-replacement-toyota-aygo-citroen-c1-peugeot-107.pdf

you have already seen the clutch adjustment procedure in my other posts

 

[newdent]

Thanks @flash22 I tried your test and I can pull the car away in 3rd without it stalling, I guess that's not ideal? 

I went to adjust the aux belt today as there is a kind of whine that seems to be the same rpm as the engine. Finished tightening the belt only to discover that the whine is still there and more clear on the gearbox side of the engine. I wonder if this is the result of me messing around with the adjustment?

I've done most jobs on a car over the years but wonder if I need to concede on this one and pop it to the garage. Have done a few clutches, timing belts, etc but can't adjust the !Removed! clutch 😅

[flash22]

if you can pull away in 3rd without stalling with no extra throttle than usual, that is a very strong clutch, if it only revs and doesn't move (slipping clutch) then you have an issue

a whine on the gearbox side will be where you have over-adjusted the clutch and CSC (bearing) is touching the pressure plate

[newdent]

Thanks, appreciate your help. I'll slacken the clutch cable back off and just deal with the high bite then! 

I'll also try and find your clutch adjustment procedure with the search, I haven't seen it, just a few YouTube videos.

The only clutches I've done in the past were self-adjusting, so not familiar with these cable ones. I think if I can sort out the creaking on the pedal mechanism, I can live with the high bite.

[newdent]

...

[flash22]

You gave it a like

https://www.techtips.ie/Blue-Print/toyota-aygo-clutch-replacement.pdf

Adjusting the free play may help if the bite is too high

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REHQXqzdoa8&ab_channel=FixandDrive

 

 

 

[newdent]

Thanks, I just popped out to adjust it before seeing this. Something very strange is occurring. I used the plastic nut to adjust (turning anti-clockwise from being stood at the front of the car) and it seems that it's now actually having an effect. If anything the bite was nearly on the floor and I had to tighten it back up again and now the bite is about half way between the brake pedal height and floor.

I went super slack and it didn't get rid of the noise. Maybe it's more of a chuffing than a whine. I did change the spark plugs and didn't have anything to clean the seats, maybe there's an issue there. Or maybe it's a normal noise, I'm not really sure what these engines are meant to sound like, it's not too noticeable when driving, just on idle and more noticeable from the gearbox side and also is the primarily noise I can hear from the front when sat inside with the doors closed but it's not especially loud.

[newdent]

27 minutes ago, flash22 said:

You gave it a like

https://www.techtips.ie/Blue-Print/toyota-aygo-clutch-replacement.pdf

Adjusting the free play may help if the bite is too high

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REHQXqzdoa8&ab_channel=FixandDrive

 

 

 

Ah, I saw the title said clutch replacement so didn't read it, I was probably liking a comment you'd made. I'll give this a read thanks

[newdent]

Ok, update on this. Seems I can only hear the bearing noise when the clutch is down instead of all the time. I guess that's normal from my very basic understanding of clutches.

Strange that it's resolved itself without me doing anything. I do feel like this isn't the last of my trouble with this clutch but I'll try to move on. 😅

[Red_Corolla]

19 hours ago, newdent said:

Ok, update on this. Seems I can only hear the bearing noise when the clutch is down instead of all the time. I guess that's normal from my very basic understanding of clutches.

Strange that it's resolved itself without me doing anything. I do feel like this isn't the last of my trouble with this clutch but I'll try to move on. 😅

That's the release bearing. A bit of noise doesn't mean it's about to break, and there's nothing you can do for it without stripping apart for a full clutch replacement, so set your worries aside.

Regarding the bite point: High is good, because that means you're getting full disengagement when you push the clutch out. The only time a high bite point is bad is when there's no slack left in the cable at all, preventing it from engaging fully when the pedal is released. Should have just a little bit of free movement at the pedal before it starts to take the strain.

[forkingabout]

A lot of clutch release bearings get destroyed / fail earlier then expected by the drivers bad habit of sitting with the car in 1st gear & clutch pedal down while waiting at traffic lights etc.

Neutral selected, clutch pedal released & parking brake applied is best practice.