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Author Topic: Espace 3 clutch pedal butchers!  (Read 6799 times)
Valfrid
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Posts: 39


« on: November 09, 2013, 10:17:13 pm »

When I bought my Espace the owner said the clutch pedal had become heavy so the garage carried out a 'temporary repair' which seems to involve removing a white plastic part and possibly a spring - looks like the white plastic part as some of it snapped off - I found this part when I pulled part the dash when re-wiring the airbag loom just floating about! Does anyone have a detailed schematic and/or parts list with numbers?

Many thanks
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roy4matra
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Posts: 1199



« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2013, 07:55:46 pm »

When I bought my Espace the owner said the clutch pedal had become heavy so the garage carried out a 'temporary repair' which seems to involve removing a white plastic part and possibly a spring - looks like the white plastic part as some of it snapped off - I found this part when I pulled part the dash when re-wiring the airbag loom just floating about! Does anyone have a detailed schematic and/or parts list with numbers?

Many thanks

The Espace III has a sealed hydraulic clutch system, and initially the factory fitting did not even have a reservoir.  If you have to replace the master or slave cylinder during the vehicle life, you have to buy a new complete kit, which comes as two sealed sections - the upper section with master cylinder and reservoir, and the lower section with slave cylinder.  They have a snap fitting that allows you to join the two once fitted in place, and there is no bleeding to be done.  The 'best' bit is that you have to pull the dash apart because you have to fit the new reservoir behind the dash where you will not be able to get at it to top it up anyway, once the dash is back together!  It was one of the most ridiculous bits of design I had ever come across in all my years in the trade.

The final stupidity was that there is a short cable link from the slave cylinder to the fork, and often the pedal would get heavier and heavier until this link would break and you would finally lose all clutch operation.  Sometimes people would replace this link thinking that was all that was wrong, but in fact it was usually the clutch that had failed, or worn out, or the pivot had seized and was the root problem, so replacing the link would not cure it, or not for long if it did managed to work briefly after it was fitted.  Since the master and slave and other bits are plastic, usually the rod at the slave end would be broken anyway.

So the fact that this started with a 'heavy pedal' and a garage doing some supposed temporary repair to the pedal, simply means they probably had no idea how the system really works and that what they were doing would probably do little to cure the real fault.

I can probably provide a copy of the parts manual page for the pedal but I remember the replacement sealed kit for the hydraulics came with a Renault technical note on fitting which wasn't in the manual.

Contact me directly (roy@matraclub.org.uk) thus giving me your email to send you any info/pictures directly.  I will not use the email system in this forum so pleased do not bother as I won't reply.  Thanks.

Roy
P.S. Just thought - I was talking about a RHD model above.  If you have a LHD model things are different.  For the LHD you don't strip the dash, but you have to remove the brake master cylinder and servo, and to do that you have to split the cooling system, as you need to remove the hoses to get access to the servo mounting nuts.  This is a worse job than the right hand drive model for once.  Either way the job is a long one and the parts expensive.  The RHD kit is about £200 last I remember.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2013, 08:27:11 pm by roy4matra » Logged

BrianM
Sr. Member
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Posts: 325


« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2013, 09:20:45 pm »

hi Roy, just a word of warning re: your email on the page. I did this once on another forum & wish I never had. There is such things as email spyders that go in search of peoples email address on web forums. best use ( at ) instead of @ as this foils their attempt at harvesting your address. Otherwise you could be in for a lot more spam!

I have found in the past that the arm siezes in the gbox. Try some wd40 or similar aimed at where the clutch fork arm goes into the brass bush of the gbox, also as Roy says the clutch bearing breaks up & the fork ends up directly onto the release plate. I think I posted pics on this previously.

Cheers Brian.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2013, 09:35:40 pm by BrianM » Logged
Valfrid
Jr. Member
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Posts: 39


« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2013, 01:00:02 am »

Hi Roy - email sent. It actually looks like the pedal isn't raising correctly - as if a spring or similar mechanism is missing? There is a switch that senses clutch position and this is never actuated due to the pedal no longer lifting properly - I'm guessing the bit of plastic I found would have a spring that would lift the pedal in to it's correct position and hit the switch at the same time?
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roy4matra
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Posts: 1199



« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2013, 01:37:42 am »

hi Roy, just a word of warning re: your email on the page. I did this once on another forum & wish I never had. There is such things as email spyders that go in search of peoples email address on web forums. best use ( at ) instead of @ as this foils their attempt at harvesting your address. Otherwise you could be in for a lot more spam!

Cheers Brian.

Thanks Brian but since this email is my longtime club email and well known on the internet, mentioning it once more is hardly likely to make much difference where spam is concerned.

Roy
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roy4matra
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Posts: 1199



« Reply #5 on: April 01, 2014, 06:13:45 pm »

Hi Roy - email sent. It actually looks like the pedal isn't raising correctly - as if a spring or similar mechanism is missing?

For completeness and so other will know the reply, the above symptom of the pedal not raising is nothing to do with a missing spring.  If the pedal is sticking and not returning it is the clutch hydraulic system which will need to be replaced.

Roy
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