PT Cruiser CLUTCH question

2002 PT
2.4
Manual Transmission.

Ok-There seems to be a little play in my pedal for the clutch. Is there
something to adjust (in the pedal area), as in the old clutches from days
gone by?

I have noticed, a little fluid chamber under the hood-which I believe is for
the clutch, and or pedal?

Any help appreciated-

 

Used to be that you could self-adjust a manual clutch by putting your toe
behind the pedal and 'pull' up on it. It may or may not click but if needed,
the clutch will remove some of the cable play and give you a firmer pedal.

 

Which vehicle had that feature? I've driven standard shift vehicles for
30 years and never come across one that would do that. It sure would be
cool though.


Matt

 

The PT Cruiser uses a hydraulic clutch, consequently there is no cable to
adjust. That little cylinder under the hood is in fact the master cylinder
for the clutch mechanism.

 

Oh boy, I have to go back to when I last drove a stick. Was during the
seventies, it was a GM, a small type of Chevrolet during the gas crisis, but
I forget which. If I remember correctly, all the GM stick shift's had that
feature. Probably Ford's as well.

Used to get a little response about every 10k, pull up on the pedal and you
would hear a click when the cable had enough slack. I would imagine that any
manual transmission still is using this method to adjust the slack in the
cable. Hydraulics would not need this of course as they do not use a cable
subject to stretch. (Can't see any reason as to why they would discontinue
this; unless they found a better method that didn't require owner
involvement.)

Check you owner's manual, you may be surprised to find that your car has
this.

 

I haven't had a cable operated clutch since my 79 Chevette! My 86 Jeep
Comanche and 94 Chevy K1500 have hydraulically actuated clutches. The
Chevette didn't need a clutch adjustment in the 115K+ miles I owned it.
It may have had this feature, but I never knew about it nor needed to
know about it.

Matt