Advanced Driving Hub

Yes. Although more likely to be a broken clutch cable or hydraulic leak, depending on how the clutch plates are moved when the pedal is pressed. You get moving by using the starter motor with the car in first gear until the engine starts then change gear by rev matching. Not easy but people surprise themselves when the alternative is being stranded.

The clutch pedal is unlikely to break, however I've had cars with a cable-operated clutch ... in one case the ball on the end of the cable broke off, and in another case the bracket to which the outer part of the cable was mounted broke off. I've also had cars with a hydraulic operated clutch in which either the master or the slave cylinder has failed. All of these resulted in a non-operational clutch.

One trick to pulling away without a clutch is to try to get the engine to warm up before setting off; after an early morning failure in winter, I've sat in a car idling in neutral until I thought the engine was warm enough that attempting to start in gear wasn't going to make the engine stall. In that case I had to turn right onto a fairly busy main road, so I had to look for a larger than normal gap ... which brings me to my earlier comment - I was thinking of another scenario, although it could have been similarly handy at that junction.

I don't know for sure, but if the sensor preventing you starting the car was on the pedal (there often is one for cruise control so they may use the same one) you'd still be able to use the starter in the way described in an emergency. Gareth, l'm a little shocked by the implication in your post that you drove your car for some time with no clutch - not exactly very safe or advanced!

Gareth wrote:The clutch pedal is unlikely to break, however I've had cars with a cable-operated clutch ... in one case the ball on the end of the cable broke off, and in another case the bracket to which the outer part of the cable was mounted broke off. I've also had cars with a hydraulic operated clutch in which either the master or the slave cylinder has failed. All of these resulted in a non-operational clutch.

Never seen a broken clutch pedal - seen plenty of broken brake ones though.

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:l'm a little shocked by the implication in your post that you drove your car for some time with no clutch

What implication?

First time it happened (ball at end of cable, a third of the way into a 60 mile journey) I coasted across a small roundabout and parked in a bus-stop. I waited for the manufacturer-specific dealer, (which was 100 yards away), to open after lunch, bought a replacement cable and fitted it.

Second time (clutch cable mount) was a similar distance into a similar journey, late at night, in a very small village. Borrowed tools from the nearest house-holder and, eventually, worked out that I could move the mounting bracket to the other side of the bulk-head (in the engine bay).

Third time (hydraulic) was the morning after a garage had been doing some work on the clutch, presumably hadn't bled it properly. I was working away from home, and this was mid-week, so instead of driving to the client I left my tent and drove back to the garage. Mostly clutchless gear changes, trying hard to avoid having to stop, but it was unavoidable at a couple of junctions.

WTF is the point of practising clutchlesss gear changes if you don't make use of it when needed?

Someone I know very well had a clutch problem in a customer's car that she'd taken for an MOT, failed on a very busy roundabout at a motorway junction. When the police arrived they did the same - started the car in 1st and drove it, clutchless, to the nearest lay-by.

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:not exactly very safe or advanced!

In what way?

just to add to the discussion - when I did my BORDA advanced (think off-road version of AD, just more rocks and mud!) we were definitely taught how to drive the car without using the clutch, even if not broken - e.g. starting on a steep hill - pop the clutch down and the car slides backwards (and I mean steeeeeep hill! and mud so brakes not a lot of use you need forward momentum to stay still, and dipping the clutch loses that

Alasdair

Worked at a Fiat dealer for 24 years 1971 onwards they were all cable operated clutches and the cables snapped on a regular basis. I honestly forget how many miles I have driven without a functioning clutch pedal during recover of these cars don't see what is dangerous in doing this, it's just a skill worth learning

A car without a clutch is hardly under full control, is it? If you need to stop in an emergency, you are going to have the engine fighting the brakes unless you have a hand spare and the presence of mind to knock it into neutral. In stop start traffic, it's likely to be at best a nuisance to other road users, at worst a danger to them and to pedestrians crossing the road in front of you.

Gareth, sorry if I misinterpreted your comments - the bit about warming the engine before setting off suggested this was a habit, rather than a one-off.

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:A car without a clutch is hardly under full control, is it? If you need to stop in an emergency, you are going to have the engine fighting the brakes unless you have a hand spare and the presence of mind to knock it into neutral. In stop start traffic, it's likely to be at best a nuisance to other road users, at worst a danger to them and to pedestrians crossing the road in front of you.

Gareth, sorry if I misinterpreted your comments - the bit about warming the engine before setting off suggested this was a habit, rather than a one-off.

I take your point about town driving, if it happened in the town we would, In those days, tow it in. Where I live you are into rural countryside whatever direction you take more or less, see Hexham and surrounding area Kielder was a popular spot for these breakdowns.

Well, it seems the collection of the campervan has been postponed for a couple of weeks, as the conversion company haven't managed to do enough work prior to the arrival of the rear seat as it's a larger seat than what they usually fit, so they wanted to be sure the cupboards they fit would be done to the right size.

So we have a poorly Galaxy for 2 more weeks...