Can anyone tell me about adjusting a car clutch as a preventative measure to prolong its lifetime? Can one “adjust” a clutch to make it work better, rather than replace any one particular part?
A search of the boards shows a ton of threads about the clutch, but I couldn’t turn anything up about whether adjusting it is good practice, or even feasible (I only have a vague picture of how the thing works).
Is it the kind of thing you would get done on a routine service, prophylactically? (I drive a Ford Focus.)
There is no maintenance that needs to be performed on the clutch, once it wears out the whole unit is replaced. Sometimes the problem is with the externals (clutch cable or hydrolics) and not the clutch itself though.
This site explains how the clutch works, it’s a pretty simple device.
Older cars, and motorcycles, often had purely mechanical clutch mechanisms. The two types were cable and push-rod. Both types had adjustment capabilities, usually threaded connections. As one’s clutch wore out, but before it required replacement, it was possible – although rarely necessary – to adjust the clutch. This adjustment was typically measured by amount of ‘free play’ in the clutch lever or pedal.
Most modern clutch actuators are hydraulic, and don’t require adjustment. They also rarely need fluid, so having to add fluid indicates a potential problem.
I had a '78 Harley FLH that had a weird clutch problem. There was both a cable adjustment, and a push-rod adjustment – the cable would actuate a lever which actuated the push-rod. Not that unusual. The problem was that the throwout bearing failed. This component allowed the push-rod to push against the spinning clutch without spinning itself. With the bearing problem, the push-rod was spinning, causing the push-rod adjustment to unscrew. So every time I used the clutch, I was loosening the adjustment. Until I finally figured out what was going on, I was adjusting that sucker all the time.
The only adjustment that I know about is to have 1/2 inch of play at the top of the clutch pedal. If it is less than that, you can wear out the clutch prematurely.
