Diagnosing Peugeot 205 1.8D clutch problem

[ade_j]

My 1996 205 1.8D (non turbo) went rather wrong yesterday evening when the gears seized and the clutch pedal went very limp indeed and is close to the floor. I have done a fair few other things to my Pug but have no knowledge or experience of clutches and gearboxes etc. Having limped the poor fella home in 1st I at least have it on the drive to take a look now. With the engine off I seem to be able to easily move between gears on the driveway. With the engine on (and the car in neutral obviously!) there is a squeal which changes in pitch slightly when I wiggle the limp pedal up and down . Can anyone give me any pointers as to how to go about diagnosing the problem? If it's something as simple as a clutch cable going then I'll have a go at fixing, otherwise if it's nastier then it's off to the mechanic.

Thanks
Ade

[evilally]

I'd say a cable or pressure plate problem. If you look on top of the gearbox you should see the clutch arm and the cable attached to it. Ask a volunteer to move the pedal up and down and see if you can see anything wrong. If the arm is moving correctly then I suspect your going to have to take the gearbox off to see what's broken

[spider]

You'll be able to select gears without the car moving or the engine running which is a good sign in a way.

The squeal without hearing it its difficult to say, my first thought is the release bearing has collapsed and gone through the clutch fingers, that would possibly keep the pedal down.

Without the engine running, under the bonnet under the battery area you'll see the clutch release arm. Is the cable still attached OK ? , try to move the arm as well (push it towards the windscreen) you should not be able to move it by hand really given the angle of it. It may move forward a little bit that's OK.

I was going to say the cable however the fact that you can make noises by moving the pedal probably indicates that's still attached in a fashion but the problem is likely internal clutch release bearing either through clutch fingers or come off completely.

Thankfully its not difficult to do a clutch on these, the main problem is the box is a bit heavy and space it a bit tight (not too bad though) but I'm only small so its a heavy unit for me.

[Oldpug]

I`ll 2nd above, clutch release bearing has gone through the cover.

[flying clutchman]

DEF! usual way the clutch goes.

[ade_j]

Many thanks for the advice everyone- it was the thrust bearing all mangled- quite a mess. I couldn't face doing this myself on the drive with it having been so cold recently, so off to the local transmission centre...£300 later all is well