[Oliver.M.]

Driving my MK3 Clio the other night and the clutch pedal went rock hard when changing gear...
The clutch is now permanently engaged and I had the fun task or driving the vehicle home 15 miles with no clutch!

Looking underneath the car there does appear to be a fluid leak around the back of the gearbox near to the slave cylinder hose. The master cylinder looks to be ok although I did damage the nylon ball joint trying to disengage the clutch...!

The clutch was disengaging fine prior to this - it just happened!! I have ordered a new slave cylinder but I'm starting to think this may be related to the pressure plate or maybe even the clutch disk too as there is a loud squeaking sound coming from the front of the car.

Has anybody else faced this issue and what measures did you take to fix this? I suppose the correct way to properly diagnose this is going to be to take out the gearbox and inspect the parts...

 

[Dancingdad]

I suspect that it will be removing the bellhousing/gearbox to get to the clutch.
Usually with a slave cylinder fail or a leak, pedal just goes to the floor.
But it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the slave/pressure plate/friction plate have jammed in some form., years back a mate of mine jammed up his clutch during a gear change and it turned out to be that the springs in the friction plate had sheared out and jammed up the lot.

Before you do go that far, have a good look and check that the pedal assembly hasn't jammed.

 

[Oliver.M.]

Thank you for your reply!

I had a look at the car today, specifically the pedal assembly. All looks good under there. The pedal moves freely but I'm not sure how to test the master cylinder. My pedal did drop to the floor but this was due to me shearing off the Nylon ball joint in an attempt to disengage the clutch...!!

My limited testing has concluded the master cylinder will not move, I think I could have a similar issue to your mate - It happened while changing gear and a high pitch squeak can be heard from the front of the car so I'm assuming something is stuck and rubbing.

The car is up on axle stands and I have started to clear some space around the gearbox ready for removal.
I'm collecting a clutch kit from Renault tomorrow so I "should" be all set to go - fingers crossed.

 

[Dancingdad]

My limited testing has concluded the master cylinder will not move

Open the bleed point...should be just outside the bellhousing.
Put foot on clutch...if pedal moves, pedal and master cylinder are okay.

 

[Oliver.M.]

Open the bleed point...should be just outside the bellhousing.
Put foot on clutch...if pedal moves, pedal and master cylinder are okay.

All sorted now!! Thank you for your advice on testing the master cylinder - all working as expected thankfully.
After a long wait for parts the car is finally all back together with the only issue being a very jammed up slave cylinder...! The clutch plate and pressure plate were both good but have been replaced as a precaution.

The only issue I am seeing is a slight crunch when the car is put into 1st gear - I'm hoping this is just where I need to have a second go at bleeding the clutch as the biting point still feels a bit low.

Failing this I guess the gearbox is coming out again not a fun driveway job......!

Many thanks for your help and advice so far!