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How long for the clutch to go
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paul6294
New User
Jul 8, 2015, 2:24 AM
Post #1 of 2
(1332 views)
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How long for the clutch to go
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Hello,
This is my first time posting on an auto forum and I do not know much about how cars run, so am after some basic advice please - regarding my clutch.
I have a Peugeot 307 - 2003 Hatchback - 1.6 that has done roughly 50,000 miles. I bought it second hand 5 years ago so have little knowledge of what happened before this (it had a full service history at the time), however for the past couple of years it has had no real maintenance done and no services, just the yearly MOT, that's all.
I know the car is old and I have been planning to replace it at the end of July (after receiving a much needed company bonus!) for something a lot newer.
It runs fine and it is not driven much, mainly for the morning and afternoon school runs, possibly 5 miles a day during the week and 10 miles a day over the weekend.
About 2 weeks ago when I started to press the clutch pedal down I could feel a grinding in the pedal. This only happened at the top of the press if this makes sense, not all the way down through the entire distance of pressing it to the floor (say the top 10% of the entire distance the pedal can travel). I knew something was wrong at the time and decided that as the car has so little value, repairing it so close to replacing it would not be worth my time and expense.
Yesterday, while the grinding feeling is the same, the car now makes a whining / squealing sound (outside, you can hear it is coming from the bonnet area, not the pedal itself) which happens all the way through the press of the clutch pedal, from the top all the way down and back again, it stops when the clutch is not in use.
So in short, at the moment, I start pressing the clutch pedal down and it gives a slight grinding feeling and a whining / squealing sound starts, I continue pressing further and the grinding feeling goes away but the whining / squealing sound continues the entire time the clutch pedal is being pressed, after releasing it, everything is normal and the car runs fine throughout. It seems still to change gears well.
I do not want to get it repaired, looking online it seems clutch replacements will amount to more than the car is worth (estimated car worth is less the £500!)
My questions are:
- Am I OK to drive the car until it gets replaced without it breaking down in the middle of the road somewhere? Bearing in mind it is driven a small amount each day and will be replaced within the next 2 to 3 weeks.
- Should I not drive it for some safety reason?
- Should I leave it in the drive until I get rid of it and hire a car in the interim instead of risking a breakdown / safety issue?
- Does anyone have any other advice that may be helpful to me?
Many thanks,
Paul
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Jul 8, 2015, 4:23 AM
Post #2 of 2
(1315 views)
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Re: How long for the clutch to go
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Sounds like what we call a "throw-out" bearing which is a release bearing. You would do an entire clutch job to replace it in most cases.
General layout like this of a clutch........
That part would be the red part on the shaft towards the right in that picture with a fork that pushes it by your pedal.
Why no or little service for a couple years? This isn't a service item but ignoring routine service doesn't help anything.
"How long can this last as you described" Real hard to say but possible to make it for a while or get real bad anytime. If noticing it worse each use it won't last long.
?What would happen? Hard to say but you may not be able to release the clutch at all or assorted damage from broken parts around it and possibly the fork that pushes it - really can't say extent of damage or if it would damage only parts you would replace anyway but do think the car wouldn't behave as if you pushed the clutch in so yes a safety issue about like the pedal was up all the time and are you experienced enough and fast enough to react to something like that?
If surprised you would want to safely stop the car right away out of harm's for you and other cars and things around so no can't publicly say drive the car with a problem like this. At least if you don't the fix should be a standard clutch job now and might be much more if it totally failed is best I can say,
T
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