Light Clutch?

[Pyinator]

My clutch pedal feels much lighter than when I first got the car.

I was backing out of my driveway and nearly stalled while in reverse. Just let out he clutch too quick (I managed even to kick the clutch in fast enough to prevent the engine from shutting off.) Immediately after that I noticed the clutch pedal required less force to press down all the way. At first I thought I was imagining it because I surprised myself stalling in reverse, but no, the next day when I got in the car the clutch was definitely lighter.

Other than the feel, the car still drove fine. I took it to my local ford dealer (still under warranty) to get it checked out and they said they didn't find anything abnormal. So I went on my merry way, been about 2 weeks and everything thing still works. Yet I can't shake this disconcerting feeling I get from my new, lighter clutch pedal.

Does anyone know where this problem might come from? Is there a simple adjustment I might have knocked loose?

I really appreciate any feedback!

 

[Racer83L]

maybe your leg is getting stronger

my fiesta has by far the lightest clutch I have ever used..

 

[Pyinator]

I can only hope so lol. This FiST is my first normally driven manual car so I don't have much to compare to.

 

[Mr BattleArmor]

Its a very light clutch in general could be that you are getting used to it?

 

[Seijou]

Generally, people complain about their clutch getting heavier, not lighter

 

[Sil3nt611]

I was doing some heavy driving down some nice roads so I was shifting a lot. Towards the end of the road I started hearing a noise every time I hit the clutch. And then the clutch started feeling lighter. Turns out the noise was a grasshopper hitchhiker that I must have been getting close to every time I hit the clutch. And the light clutch feel was likely placebo because I thought my clutch was going out. Either that or it temporarily got lighter from heavy use. But it feels fine and it had no issues on the ~500 mile drive home and I've driven it daily since then. Feels fine now.

 

[boombots]

Check under the car at the transmission and see if its leaking fluid from the slave cylinder. I believe I am (something is leaking and it looks clear), I feel my clutch has gotten very light and I have this leak. It goes in Monday to be looked at it.

 

[Pyinator]

Its a very light clutch in general could be that you are getting used to it?

No, this was definitely very sudden.

I was doing some heavy driving down some nice roads so I was shifting a lot. Towards the end of the road I started hearing a noise every time I hit the clutch. And then the clutch started feeling lighter. Turns out the noise was a grasshopper hitchhiker that I must have been getting close to every time I hit the clutch. And the light clutch feel was likely placebo because I thought my clutch was going out. Either that or it temporarily got lighter from heavy use. But it feels fine and it had no issues on the ~500 mile drive home and I've driven it daily since then. Feels fine now.

I thought it might be placebo as well, but next day it felt different for sure. I have taken it on some spirited runs with no signs of anything going wrong.

Check under the car at the transmission and see if its leaking fluid from the slave cylinder. I believe I am (something is leaking and it looks clear), I feel my clutch has gotten very light and I have this leak. It goes in Monday to be looked at it.

As far as I can tell there is no evidence of any leaks. There was nothing on the floor of the garage. I only have jack stands but it would be easy to tell if there was a leak because the car is pretty new and there isnt too much grime on the undercarriage. Plus the fluid reservoir is at the right level.

 

[Intuit]

Clutch feel can vary depending on what shoes you wear. Whether I'm in sandals, gym shoes, dress shoes or boots, has an impact.

The resistance from release to floor was consistent in old vehicle where as in the FiST, the resistance varies (gets much less) after a given point on it's way to the floor and back up. That coupled with the hill assist (now turned off) made learning the relatively high friction point, take longer than usual.

 

[OCS12]

That right there is the answer I was going to go with. I drive to and from work in steel tipped shoes. The weight of the shoes makes the already light clutch hard to feel. Driving barefoot (I hate having my flip flops on while driving) or with light shoes, is a night and day difference on clutch feel.

 

[sunnyd]

I dunno if it's in my head, but I'm starting to experience the clutch feeling lighter than when I first got the car (have about 2,100 miles on it now). Not sure if it's related, but I also have some weeping in the driver's side axle seal. Could that be the reason why? I haven't noticed any puddles or anything like that so I don't think I'm leaking a lot of tranny fluid.

 

[FiST_Pounder]

My inclination here is to wonder if the clutch pedal pressure was "correct" before or now. Almost like something was slightly wrong before and has cleared up. Is the release/engage point still at the same point as the pedal comes up off the floor? If it's lower I'd bleed the clutch slave cyl. on the bell housing.

 

[sunnyd]

My inclination here is to wonder if the clutch pedal pressure was "correct" before or now. Almost like something was slightly wrong before and has cleared up. Is the release/engage point still at the same point as the pedal comes up off the floor? If it's lower I'd bleed the clutch slave cyl. on the bell housing.

Engagement point is as high as it’s always been. I’ll monitor it and see if anything else changes.

 

[M-Sport fan]

I am now wondering if the fact that these cars come right from the factory with DOT 4 low viscosity brake fluid in the clutch system has anything to do with the low, overly light effort clutch pedal IN GENERAL on these cars, or if that is ONLY because of the diaphragm/plate/disc spring setup and such??

@Anyone of the few who have flushed out/changed their CLUTCH system/reservoir fluid to a regular (NOT LV) racing brake fluid (while keeping the FACTORY/stock clutch setup, of course); has there been ANY even slight increase in the pedal effort at all?

 

[Intuit]

Your left leg is just getting stronger.

 

[Quisp]

I am now wondering if the fact that these cars come right from the factory with DOT 4 low viscosity brake fluid in the clutch system has anything to do with the low, overly light effort clutch pedal IN GENERAL on these cars, or if that is ONLY because of the diaphragm/plate/disc spring setup and such??

@Anyone of the few who have flushed out/changed their CLUTCH system/reservoir fluid to a regular (NOT LV) racing brake fluid (while keeping the FACTORY/stock clutch setup, of course); has there been ANY even slight increase in the pedal effort at all?

If you're compressing a fluid , clutch pressure is immeasurable.