Any mechanic/car experts on here?

[Captain...]

So I hired a car for Christmas and driving it back today the clutch got stuck. I was changing gears and suddenly the clutch wouldn't come up all the way and when I pressed the clutch down it wasn't responding and I had to force the gears otherwise I was coasting round a busy roundabout. Not fun. I managed to get it off the road safely and parked up. I levered up the clutch with a bit of pressure from underneath and then it was fine. I was only 20 minutes from home and got back with no problems.

 

So the question's are:

 

Any idea what the problem was?

 

Is it safe to drive or should I get the car hire company to pick it up?

 

Could the car hire company pin this on me in any way?

[Strokes]

8 minutes ago, Captain... said:

So I hired a car for Christmas and driving it back today the clutch got stuck. I was changing gears and suddenly the clutch wouldn't come up all the way and when I pressed the clutch down it wasn't responding and I had to force the gears otherwise I was coasting round a busy roundabout. Not fun. I managed to get it off the road safely and parked up. I levered up the clutch with a bit of pressure from underneath and then it was fine. I was only 20 minutes from home and got back with no problems.

 

So the question's are:

 

Any idea what the problem was?

 

Is it safe to drive or should I get the car hire company to pick it up?

 

Could the car hire company pin this on me in any way?

Hydraulic oil in the clutch is leaking, I would have thought. It will do it again and I doubt it will fix next time.

[somebum]

There's no way they could pin it on you, it's mechanical pure and simple. Best change your story to this:

 

Got in my car this morning to drive and this happened.

 

Don't tell them you drove it whilst something was wrong.

[SpacedX]

Agee with Strokes - probably air in the system due to a leak in either the master or slave cylinder which is why it was intermittent. It will go again. You can also get binding in the pedal linkage - I had that with a Fiesta some years ago. 

 

The hire firm will not attempt to blame you - in fact I'd ask for some compensation or recompense. When the roads are as bad as they were last night it's actually quite dodgy having a clutch fail given that changing down/engine braking is so crucial.

[Parafox]

15 hours ago, Strokes said:

Hydraulic oil in the clutch is leaking, I would have thought. It will do it again and I doubt it will fix next time.

Do modern cars still have hydraulic clutches? I thought they were mechanical linkages these days.

[Strokes]

2 minutes ago, Parafox said:

Do modern cars still have hydraulic clutches? I thought they were mechanical linkages these days.

Yes they do, my 2015 Ford mondeo does and it went in similar circumstances to the OP. Which is why I thought it was similar, I’m certainly no mechanic though.

[yorkie1999]

With what you’re describing I would have thought there’s a problem with the linkage between the pedal and the master cylinder being twisted, bent or sticking because of a foreign object such as a dead mouse.