Well, the reliable little Fabia finally let me down today. Stopped at a roundabout and put the clutch down and there was a horrible snapping noise when I pushed down the clutch pedal and it stayed down. Car stalled so the clutch obviously didn't disengage. I managed to start the car in 1st gear and limp it to a nearby car park, where I had to abandon it until I can get it recovered to my local friendly Skoda dealer on Monday, and then make the 20 mile trip home carless :(

So, anyone any idea of the problem? Here are a few photos of the bits which fell into the footwell when I pulled the clutch pedal up........

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Chris

If it's any use, the black bit has the following on it:

Germany

JPC

6Q2 721 332

>POM< 1

Chris

Well' date=' the reliable little Fabia finally let me down today. Stopped at a roundabout and put the clutch down and there was a horrible snapping noise when I pushed down the clutch pedal and it stayed down. Car stalled so the clutch obviously didn't disengage. I managed to start the car in 1st gear and limp it to a nearby car park, where I had to abandon it until I can get it recovered to my local friendly Skoda dealer on Monday, and then make the 20 mile trip home carless :(

So, anyone any idea of the problem? Here are a few photos of the bits which fell into the footwell when I pulled the clutch pedal up........

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Chris

Unlucky, my Fabia also decided to play up today, drivng along the motorway I felt myself getting very warm as did my passenger, and the fabia was pumping out heat at the warmest setting despite being at the lowest setting! Managed to fix it by tuning it off, and then flicking the dial to hot then cold, but when your doing 70 on a motorway with no hard shoulder for 2 miles it wasn't plesent!

Did you manage to get hold of a Skoda Parts Catalogue?

Rob.

Did you manage to get hold of a Skoda Parts Catalogue?

Just checking that Thought I'd throw it to the experts in parallel

Chris

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/?f=4&t=25630 possibly something to do with it? Doesn't look good! :(

Though if it's a "known fault" you might find goodwill could come into it...

Rob.

6Q2 721 332 is a Stop for switch - listed in ETKA as part of the clutch pedal assembly. The white part looks like it is 1H0 221 357 - Mounting - which fits on the pedal end of the clutch master cylinder. You need one of our experts to tell you whether it is the clutch master cylinder which needs replacing, the clutch bracket or the clutch pedal assembly. But isn't this a warranty job?

But isn't this a warranty job?

Sadly not - car was 3 years old in Feb 2004 and has now covered 65k. Looks like I'll have to break into the Jabba fund :(

Chris

Unlucky, my Fabia also decided to play up today, drivng along the motorway I felt myself getting very warm as did my passenger, and the fabia was pumping out heat at the warmest setting despite being at the lowest setting! Managed to fix it by tuning it off, and then flicking the dial to hot then cold, but when your doing 70 on a motorway with no hard shoulder for 2 miles it wasn't plesent!

I've had this off and on since new (2

I seem to remember some of the Seat Boys on Cupra.net having exactly the same problem with the clutch pedal on MkIII Ibiza's and Leon's.

Skoda may well use the same parts out the VAG parts bin.

As DGW said the black plactic part is a stop for a switch on the clutch, but it is actually the metal pedal itself that has snapped and has broken the plastic bits in the process. :eek:

Hopefully you clutch is OK , its just the pedal

Just being curious about this, but if you were travelling along the motorway at 70+mph, and the component failed just at the point at which you were chnging from 6th gear to 5th, what would be the best way of stopping the car? The brakes and steering still work because the engine is running, but as soon as you stall or switch off the engine, you loose power assistance, so what would be the best policy for stopping in a safe and controlled manner without risk of wrecking the engine, gearbox or driveshafts? This assumes that you don't need to perform an emergency stop, which would be quite dangerous in this scenario.

The clutch is fully engaged so if the pedal went to the floor while you're in gear, you could still continue driving without a problem. If you were in neutral at the time the engine would just rev freely and you'd coast. The way I stopped it after moving it (admittedly only in 1st gear) was to stand on the foot brake and pull up the handbrake and let the car stall itself. I was also parking up a hill which helped. I'd be interested to hear what people would do at 70+mph. Doesn't really bear thinking about.......

Chris

As Denis has said the white plastic clip is the part that holds the end of the clutch master cylinder into the pedal.

If this has come out then the pedal in no longer connected to the master cylinder, this usually means the pedal comes up higher and breaks the clutch switch (which i think is the other bit of plastic).

This shouldnt be the end of the world, if the dealer quotes what ou think is an unfair price let me know and i'll have a look into it.

The problem isn't related to the MK3 Ibiza fault as the MK3 Ibiza uses a clutch cable, very different system. The Leon fault is the same as the Octavia/Golf/A3 problem where the seals in the master cylinder go dry and the pedal stays down, the cure for that is a later master cylinder. The other clutch fault I know of on Octavia is where on some types of gearbox the gear shift mech wears through the flexi parts of the clutch pipe on top of the gearbox, this causes a leak and a loss of fluid.

Just being curious about this, but if you were travelling along the motorway at 70+mph, and the component failed just at the point at which you were chnging from 6th gear to 5th, what would be the best way of stopping the car?

You could probably select 5th or 6th without doing too much damage to the gearbox. Once in gear you can then keep your speed up to get you over onto the hard shoulder. Then you just brake until the car comes to a standstill and it will stall.

Rob.

So' date=' anyone any idea of the problem? Here are a few photos of the bits which fell into the footwell when I pulled the clutch pedal up........

Chris[/quote']

This happened to me about a year ago on the old TDi Elegance around 60,000 miles and required a whole new clutch pedal assembly, no cables or cylinders needed replacing. Took 3 days to replace....

Under warranty luckily (unlimited mileage on the old car, they were more generous then), and also lucky that happened just after pulling out of a busy junction - phew.

Did your clutch squeak at all? Mine did for a few months before it actually broke, despite the dealer 'lubricating' it. I suspect the squeak is the forewarning that the plastic will break as it is worn....

Thanks guys - will be contacting my friendly local dealer tomorrow who have been very fair price-wise in the past and see what they say. I'm not too bothered how long it takes to fix, so long as I get a courtesy car in the meantime

As far as I'm aware, the clutch pedal has never squeaked and I've not noticed any difference to its feel recently so I'll put it down to one of those things Interestingly, I pulled into a layby to let an ambulance past and heard a plastic "click" and then the pedal failed at the roundabout at the top of the hill. Car has done about 65k miles and at the last service, I have a tick against clutch assembly, master cylinder etc checked for leaks/damage so I'm hoping it's just the pedal as Ross suggests.

Did make me seriously think about whether I wanted to keep the Furby and if this was a sign of things to come as I've had cars with twice the mileage in the past and not had any problems at all with them, but I guess I'll have to have a think about that.......... :confused:

Thanks again guys!

Chris (very cold, wet and tired after walking to and from the station :thumbdwn: )

Spoke to the garage this morning and someone looked at it yesterday and just said I needed a new clutch pedal and "a bit of plastic" (I'm hoping that was the service manager's translation of what the mechanic said ) Both ordered yesterday, and when they come in an hour and a half to fit them. So, hopefully I should be back on the road before too long

Chris

Wahoo - car is ready. Will be picking it up first thing tomorrow

Chris

How much are they planning on charging you, or do you like surprises?

Rob.

How much are they planning on charging you, or do you like surprises?

They hadn't worked it out, so I'm opting for the surprise 1 1/2 hours labour plus the price of a clutch pedal and a bit of plastic so I'm hoping it's no more than 200 notes

Chris

It is possible to drive for miles with no clutch pedal!

Pulling away in first with the starter motor and selecting gears by knocking it out of the last gear, then blipping the engine and selecting the next gear as the revs die down (easier than trying to match the revs to the road speed....)

Try to avoid stopping at junctions, but if you have to just knock the car out of gear before you need to stop, then instantly stopping the engine and engaging first gear before you pull off using the starter motor to go again.

Not an ideal method of driving, but it gets you home (or to a dealer at least...)

Try the gearchange method while your clutch works, it's good fun when you get used to it (practise only, it works the synchromesh a bit harder)

JT

it's good fun when you get used to it (practise only, it works the synchromesh a bit harder)

This is where hire cars come into the equation...

Rob.

101 uses for a hire car

JT

How much are they planning on charging you, or do you like surprises?

What a pleasant surprise 45 quid parts, 50 quid labour. Turns out needed new pedal, new master cylinder and then system bled, refilled and tested. Great to have it back

Chris

Good news Chris.