[sai_crdi]

Hello BHPians,

I have been gaining a great deal of knowledge from TBHP about automobiles for over a decade now. I have owned Accent Crdi, Fluidic verna (4s) and a Nissan Rogue (USA). The knowledge gained here has helped to diagnose/prevent/Troubleshoot many issues with the cars.

I am at present in USA. My 4 year old Verna (VTVT) i taken care of by my dad. Not driven often, but jacked up all 4 wheels during the lockdown and was started every other week, battery disconnected etc. It is a closed garage which helps to keep the car clean and away from insects/rodents.

We faced a strange issue with the clutch. Last year when it was taken to the fuel station, the rod in the master cylinder assembly which connects the clutch lever with the master cylinder broke. As the car was in extended warranty, the whole assembly was replaced in A.S.S.

After this the car was not taken out due to the lock down and as my parents are senior citizens, the car was not taken out of the garage but just being taken care by the routine maintenance of the the long term parked cars.

Last week, we had to take the car out as we needed to refuel. Almost half tank of the petrol was consumed in the bi-weekly engine start/run in the past 1 year. In effect the car was driven less than 10 kms after the previous clutch MS replacement. The rod broke again. My cousin who drove the car told me that the clutch operation was getting increasingly difficult and at one point it was very hard to press and it broke.

Need help with the below 2 questions

1. I am curious to know what could cause this type of variable hardness which is not there when we start the car but gets harder when the car was driven. Any relevant experience, root cause analysis will help a lot.

2. We are out of warranty now and any repair should be from the pocket. Though the part was used for less than 10 kms, as it has been more than 6 months, Will hyundai still honor the warranty of the MC and replace?!


I thought i Could use some consult from the BHPians. Your help is appreciated.

Note: The car was never abused. Maintained and driven in a very careful manner singlehandedly.

Thanks
Sai

[sai_crdi]

A picture of the broken master cylinder push rod. I wonder why they make it in plastic and how many other users are having my similar problem?!

[Jeroen]

Very odd. I do not think I have come across these rods being made out of plastic or breaking like that.

As you mentioned the clutch was getting increasingly more difficult to operate. Which suggest some sort of problem. Something getting stuck and therefor pushing it out of alignment, which is the only way the rod could snap. If there was a simple quality problem with the rod it is more likely to snap without any prior notice.

So you need to study the other parts carefully, the fork, any bits that are not properly fastened.

Could you show some detailled images of the total assembly when installed?

Good luck


Jeroen

[sai_crdi]

Thanks Jeroen. I would definitely do that once it is fixed. This car needs clutch to be used while starting. It appears there were no issues in using the clutch without gear engagement. My dad was starting the car every other week for a few minutes. Also if it was due to something for stuck, then the hardness had to be constant from there beginning correct? How can it increase based on distance!

When the whole cylinder assembly was replaced last year, the service engineer also checked and bled the clutch which showed no issues.

I checked some repair videos in YouTube and found one video showing the same problem for i20. This part has snapped when the clutch became hard. They did not share any reason and it ended after they replace the assembly.

This gives me a thought that may be many might have gone thru this problem as hyundai uses this plastic part common across many variants like i20 and verna. I remember this was a metal part in my old accent.

Getting more suggestions on both of my questions will help me proceed with the repair and specific investigation (at A.s.s if any hope of warranty or by self employed mechanics)

I don't want to fall for "sir, you need to change the whole assembly", which the a.s.s will generally do to avoid troubleshooting.

Thanks
Sai

[piyush318]

Originally Posted by sai_crdi

A picture of the broken master cylinder push rod. I wonder why they make it in plastic and how many other users are having my similar problem?!

After lockdown i also faced similar of problem of clutch getting hard in my 2010 i20 petrol, at first the clutch used to become hard to engage while idling and then one day it gave in and just refused to depress. My trusted mechanic told me to leave the car as is on the side of road for few hours and then try after few hours.
I towed the vehicle 25kms to his service station and he told me that master cylinder has to be replaced along with clutch assembly. Though the reason he gave was the age of the vehicle for the failure as the part was never replaced earlier although i had changed my clutch plate approx 10,000kms /3 years back.

[NiInJa]

It appears that the root cause of the issue -when it first occurred- was not found, the Service guys simply replaced the broken part hoping it would not happen again.

There are several reasons why clutch can become hard, the one which I had was a damaged 'throwout' bearing (or clutch release bearing). If Hyundai is not able to find the root cause, you can try diagnosing the problem at a knowledgeable independent garage.

The only reason I can think of for this part made of plastic is to break at a certain point to avoid damage to the piping and master cylinder itself.

[sai_crdi]

Originally Posted by piyush318

After lockdown i also faced similar of problem of clutch getting hard in my 2010 i20 petrol, at first the clutch used to become hard to engage while idling and then one day it gave in and just refused to depress. My trusted mechanic told me to leave the car as is on the side of road for few hours and then try after few hours.
I towed the vehicle 25kms to his service station and he told me that master cylinder has to be replaced along with clutch assembly. Though the reason he gave was the age of the vehicle for the failure as the part was never replaced earlier although i had changed my clutch plate approx 10,000kms /3 years back.

Did you face a similar issue before/after the lockdown when the car is in normal use?
You changed only MC or anything additional?

Originally Posted by NiInJa

It appears that the root cause of the issue -when it first occurred- was not found, the Service guys simply replaced the broken part hoping it would not happen again.

There are several reasons why clutch can become hard, the one which I had was a damaged 'throwout' bearing (or clutch release bearing). If Hyundai is not able to find the root cause, you can try diagnosing the problem at a knowledgeable independent garage.

The only reason I can think of for this part made of plastic is to break at a certain point to avoid damage to the piping and master cylinder itself.

I believe that is not a failsafe design. If there is an issue with the clutch and the usage becomes harder, then the user should have time to take it service and get the car checked. If the make the part fragile instead, we may get stranded in unexpected times. Imagine clutch breaking in a ghat road or in the middle of a congested road. It will either be a disaster or embarrassment plus high inconvenience.

[Jeroen]

I googled a bit, and apparently you are not the first one with a broken push rod!

Here is quite a good, simple to understand, but still comprehensive guide on what can cause a stiff clutch pedal:

https://oards.com/stiff-clutch-pedal/

[piyush318]

Originally Posted by sai_crdi

Did you face a similar issue before/after the lockdown when the car is in normal use?
You changed only MC or anything additional?

It was the first time i faced this problem. and to mention i had Valeo clutch installed after the OEM has worn out 3 years back. For the past 6 years i have been servicing my car at the FNG.

And i had to change MC, Clutch assembly as the mechanic told me that due to the brokern MC i had burnt through my clutch.

[Rocketscience]

I had a clutch problem in my Creta (1.6 crdi) in its very early days, first month or so, the problem was that the clutch felt like a switch, as in there was a definite step kindof 'thak' feeling/sound everytime i operated it, it would go smooth and then there was a switch like step and then it would go all the way in, do note there was no problem in actual functioning of the clutch or any jerks/judders because of this.

Hyundai surprisingly was apparently well aware of this issue and didn't have to second guess anything and just replaced a huge nut kindof a thing, it looked very unimportant and trivial, it was a single part (i don't have a very clear memory of it as it has been more than 3 years now) and were confident it will fix the issue, i was very apprehensive about it, it surprisingly did fix it completely and the clutch has been very smooth until recently when the problem has re surfaced again, should i get it checked/changed, is it even related to the issue you are facing or an entirely different thing?

[DicKy]

Is it the same problem as in the thread below?

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...19%20and%20WFH (Hyundai Elite i20 : Clutch Malfunction).

Happened to me once while driving friend's i20 diesel.
The clutch just went in and didn't came up.
He said it had happened once before.
The car was two years old and 15k km run then.
Now six years and it hasn't happened again.

[Kosfactor]

Something is binding / stuck inside the bell housing. My guess is that the release bearing is rusted and stuck /hard to move , in a Hyundai you probably can't hear it inside. When you apply enough force, something has to give, either the fluid has to leak or something else has to break.

Cause? Moisture and disuse most likely.

Please ask the technicians to open up the clutch, inspect all parts and replace as necessary.

Clutch master cylinder rod , slave cylinders as well as many of its surrounding bits are made of plastic in many vehicles from affordable to expensive cars, from Indian to foreign brands. These parts are made by vendors and is common for different brands as well with small modifications.

[Iyencar]

Based on my personal experience and browsing the forum, I can say quite confidently that Hyundai India cars have unreliable clutches, lousy stock tires and weak batteries. I am getting my Grandi10's clutch replaced tomorrow because it has become hard in about 30-35k kms and 3 years. The stock Goodyears were horrible and I changed them at ~30k kms. Until then I was having a puncture pretty much every few weeks and since replacing with MRF ZLXs there hasn't been a single puncture. Then the battery conked off during the extended warranty period. They refused a replacement and I had to get an Exide aftermarket battery. No issues since. My in laws' fluidic Verna has had the clutch slave cylinder fail at about 23-24k kms a few months back (in addition to a laundry list of issues), their battery has also died and been replaced. My parents' Verna has had windshield chips in less than a year. Initially we thought it was monkeys dropping something on the windshield but then I read about the same issue on the forum. All this would have been fine if they had the decency to honour their warranties and extended warranties but they have given the cold shoulder every time across models, showrooms, cities and states. Needless to say the next car is not going to be from this manufacturer. Pity because they still are good at giving excellent fit and finish but then mechanical reliability and QC comes first. Oh and stick to FNGs people.

[sai_crdi]

Originally Posted by Rocketscience

Hyundai surprisingly was apparently well aware of this issue and didn't have to second guess anything and just replaced a huge nut kindof a thing, it looked very unimportant and trivial, it was a single part (i don't have a very clear memory of it as it has been more than 3 years now) and were confident it will fix the issue, i was very apprehensive about it, it surprisingly did fix it completely and the clutch has been very smooth until recently when the problem has re surfaced again, should i get it checked/changed, is it even related to the issue you are facing or an entirely different thing?

I believe the nut you are referring to may be a pivot ball. The symptom you described fits well with its role

Originally Posted by DicKy

Is it the same problem as in the thread below?

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...19%20and%20WFH (Hyundai Elite i20 : Clutch Malfunction).

Happened to me once while driving friend's i20 diesel.
The clutch just went in and didn't came up.
He said it had happened once before.
The car was two years old and 15k km run then.
Now six years and it hasn't happened again.

It gets hard to a level that the plastic rod broke. This is quite opposite of the the sponginess

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Something is binding / stuck inside the bell housing. My guess is that the release bearing is rusted and stuck /hard to move , in a Hyundai you probably can't hear it inside. When you apply enough force, something has to give, either the fluid has to leak or something else has to break.

Cause? Moisture and disuse most likely.

Please ask the technicians to open up the clutch, inspect all parts and replace as necessary.

Clutch master cylinder rod , slave cylinders as well as many of its surrounding bits are made of plastic in many vehicles from affordable to expensive cars, from Indian to foreign brands. These parts are made by vendors and is common for different brands as well with small modifications.

Makes sense. Will try to check this.

[sai_crdi]

An Update, Found a nice mechanic who can help rebuild the current master cylinder and to replace the broken plastic push rod with a metal push rod.

I will ask him to check the clutch to see what causes the hardness. Will try to post the updates and if possible with pictures once this is done