whats up with my clutch?? ... is oil important!?

graememgparker

Active Member
Aug 24, 2011
221
0
So when I rev the nuts off my cupra (wether I actually change gear or not) the pedal sometimes doesnt pop right back up and other ti.es does but feels really tight and harder to depress .... whats the crack with it?

...next ... yes I actually know oil is improtant lol ..... but - I zaw a post somewhere on here ages ago saying that if u were running over 300 bhp it was a good idea to use thicker oil, so I recently did exactly that! Trouble is (and i dunno if its just a coincidence or what) the power feels seriously down since I did it. For instance theres a place near by that normally the car will hit just over 100mph and now only just makes it to 90 mph (obviouzly ots a private road im talking about)

....any ideas????
 

Dan_bourne

Active Member
Mar 24, 2012
26
0
amersham
what oil were you running, and what are you running now?

thicker oil will will only really be beneficial if your running your car flat out for a long time, as it will stay thicker at 'road' temps, if you run hotter (on track for instance) it will end up being around the same thickness as a say a 5w30 at road temps, if that makes sense. the 5w part is a cold viscosity rating and has no effect on the 2nd number which is the running weight.

you are increasing drag on the internal engine componants with a thicker oil at road temps so this could account for some loss. if running on track and getting the oil very hot it could certainly be beneficial, i run a 5w40 castrol edge in my s2000, but i do a lot of track days, recommended day to day oil is 5w30 by honda, i didnt notice any difference when switching oils in that car though tbf, and it only gets driven hard (and barely in the winter) so i run the 5w40 year round

not sure about the clutch issue, do the leons have a clutch delay valve? flush through the clutch line with new oil would be the first bet.
 

tempdriver

Guest
Hi! Im experiencing the same problem with my clutch pedal.

its a Cupra 2011 265hp. And just as you describe. It only happens sometimes. The clutch works like maybe 95-97% of the time. But maybe once or twice a week the clutch pedal sticks about half way up. I have noticed that it tend to stick more often when im pushing the car/engine hard.

I bought this car a few months back so I dont know how long the car have had this problem. pleas keep me posted.
 

tempdriver

Guest
robdf2. As far as i know the brakes are all OEM and only standard maintenances work have been preformed on the brakes.

But I have to ask, what do the brake have to do with the clutch?


WeeG. Did your car have the same symptoms as me and graememgparker are describing/having?


Is ther any correlation between pushing the engine hard and the clutch or master-cylinder?
 

robdf2

Yellow is the best
Feb 21, 2006
3,605
2
location , location
robdf2. As far as i know the brakes are all OEM and only standard maintenances work have been preformed on the brakes.

But I have to ask, what do the brake have to do with the clutch?


WeeG. Did your car have the same symptoms as me and graememgparker are describing/having?


Is ther any correlation between pushing the engine hard and the clutch or master-cylinder?

Then clutch uses the brake master cylinder reservoir , inside the gearbox is a slave cylinder which uses the same brake fluid for your clutch.
If you have low fluid / old fluid or air in your fluid your clutch will not operate correctly.

Tbh I'm not sure what using different oil in your car has anything to do with the operation of your clutch ? Certainly not on the pedal itself.
 

tempdriver

Guest
Then clutch uses the brake master cylinder reservoir , inside the gearbox is a slave cylinder which uses the same brake fluid for your clutch.
If you have low fluid / old fluid or air in your fluid your clutch will not operate correctly.

Tbh I'm not sure what using different oil in your car has anything to do with the operation of your clutch ? Certainly not on the pedal itself.

Okey, So I have 3 possible things that could cause my clutch pedal problems.


1. Master clutch cylinder
2. Slave cylinder
3. Fluid

(Listed in no particular order).

I found this thread (cant post a URL link... /forums/showthread.php?t=371020&highlight=master+cylinder). And the problem description is very similar to my experience. And in that case it was a faulty slave cylinder.


So how could I troubleshoot my car?

Thanx in advance for taking your time :)
 
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