Astra J clutch issue - pedal sticks all the way down

[Salamura]

Hello PH-ers. I have a 2012 Astra J 1.7 CDTI. Recently I had an issue with the clutch. When pressing the pedal to start the car, the pedal stayed all the way down and did not return back up. I could still start the car and just about engage gear and drive it, but the pedal had only millimetres of travel, and it felt like I can't disengage the two clutch plates no matter how hard I keep pressing the pedal. I could return the pedal back up by hand, and after that the car worked normally. The clutch isn't slipping, and there is no judder or excessive vibrations. There doesn't seem to be loss of hydraulic fluid either, as the level in the reservoir is constant. It seems to be that there could be an issue with the master cylinder, or maybe with the pedal return spring? If it was the pedal spring, then I would expect the clutch plates to not be engaged when the pedal was stuck all the way down, as the rest of the system should be working normally. That makes me think that there is something wrong with the master cylinder, or that perhaps there could be air in the system? On both occasions that this has happened it has been on start-up.

Any ideas would be appreciated! Thanks!

[Tyre Smoke]

Your clutch is gone. New clutch time.

[Smiljan]

Master cylinder would be a good place to start as the slave on these is internal to the gearbox.

What sort of mileage are you on?

[Salamura]

I am currently on 130k miles, so I'm not surprised that issues like this are starting to appear.

[Smiljan]

You could try replacing the fluid and bleeding the system as a cheap first option, looks like you need a pressure bleeder though as the instructions say not to do it the old manual pump way (maybe that was causing seals to dislodge or flip).

This gives you an idea.

https://workshop-manuals.com/vauxhall/astra-j/tran...

[Salamura]

Thanks, that might be worth trying out before throwing a lot of money on replacing anything.

[Salamura]

Update: Took the Astra to the local garage. 20 quid later the hydraulic fluid was replaced (old fluid was very dirty), and the system bled. The mechanic said that he tried bleeding the system before replacing the fluid as a test and that there was definitely air in it.

Let's see if this solves the issue. Fingers crossed.

[uk vet]

Can I ask if this fixed the problem? thanks

[Salamura]

It did sort it out for a very long time. Then a while ago I changed the fluid again as part of a major service and the issue re-appeared. As before though, it was only happening after driving a while, stopping for a short time and then re-starting the car. It wouldn't happen from a cold start-up.

Curiously, shortly after that I had a front caliper get completely stuck, After dismantling and examining it, it was clear that the cylinder seals were completely gone and there was a lot of gunk and corrosion in it. I changed the caliper and bled the system and the issue with the clutch hasn't re-appeared since.

I wonder if air and dirt were getting into the fluid from the brake caliper and causing the clutch issue as well....