Change clutch kit on Renault Clio 2

Before starting this operation:

- you MUST have your RTA

- Respect the tightening torques

- work safely (gloves and glasses)

- Plan for a second person to remove the cradle and the gearbox.

Remember, haste is a bad adviser!!

Place the car under jack stands or on a lift.

Unscrew the 4 nuts on each front wheel and remove the wheels.

Remove the two 13 nuts on top of the shield.

Unscrew the screws that hold the shield from the bottom (they are all easily visible, you may have more than those in the photo)

In blue, these are plastic clips that must be removed (they hold part of the plastic mudguard and get in the way when you pull the shield)

If you have fog lights, remove them.

Unclip the bumper using a screwdriver or a plastic wedge if you don't want to damage it too much.

Don't forget to do the same on the other side!

Then, simply pull the bumper towards you while checking that you have not forgotten a screw or a plastic hook (in red square)

NB: remember to disconnect the fog lights if you have them.

Remove the screws and plastic inserts that hold the mudguard.

They are all visible and accessible

The goal is to be able to release the gearbox (blue square), in which the clutch disc to be changed is located.

To do this, you will need to remove the cradle (red arrow).

And also remove:

in red: the gimbal

in blue: the steering rack

in yellow: the brakes

in green: the pivot on triangle

You will need to do these manipulations on the other side as well.

We start by emptying the box.

We recover the cap and we will change the seal when we reassemble it.

Since the universal joint will have to be removed, the hub nut is removed.

Blocked the hub with a device (homemade or not), then unscrewed with an extension (32 socket).

Do the same on the other side.

Disconnect the battery (socket 8 and 10)

And we unscrew the battery holder which is located at the bottom right of the battery (13 socket with extension)

Removing the battery holder is not difficult, there are only a few screws to remove.

Yellow: the calculator has to be disconnected with a screwdriver (see photo)

red: the battery holder screws (be careful, there is one underneath!)

in orange: 2 torx screws to remove

in blue: the diesel filter (just bring it upwards once the screw is removed) Note: Leave it connected.

In pink: small box (I don't know what it is), which can be removed once the torx screw has been removed.

Loosen the steering ball joint nut

Using a ball joint remover, dislodge the ball joint (using the nut as a support, do not take the screw directly as you risk damaging the screw thread).

Once the ball joint is dislodged, to be able to unscrew the nut completely, you must put pressure on the ball joint from below.

Unscrew the nuts from the ball joint (taking care to leave one not completely unscrewed)

Then separate the ball joint with the steering triangle.

Note: the pivot is still held by the suspension arm that we did not remove (blue square)

Then, use a board or iron bar to lever it over the stabilizer bar and under the steering triangle.

By pressing lightly, you can finish unscrewing the nut completely, and dislodge the ball joint from the triangle.

Be careful that the CV boot or ball joint rubber does not get damaged on other parts.

Push the cardan shaft out of the hub, turning the pivot fully to the right to remove it.

Then simply pull the gimbal towards you.

Some may have a screw or circlip to remove on the engine side.

First, dislodge the universal joint from the hub.

Unscrew the 3 screws holding the universal joint on the gearbox side.

Then pull the gimbal towards you.

Protect the gimbal from dirt by placing a bag at tripod level.

We take the opportunity to disconnect the reverse sensor

just press on each side and pull towards you.

On each side of the car, remove the nuts from the body/subframe uprights.

Under the car, remove the protective rubber to access the screw that holds the gear control.

Unscrew the nut.

Once unscrewed (in the red square), attach the control to the exhaust line so that it does not bother you by hanging.

The rack is held by only two nuts and the steering.

The nuts remain quite accessible

Looking from above you can see the nut that holds the steering.

If the nut is not really accessible, just turn the steering wheel.

Once unscrewed and the nut removed, I used a square extension that I put in the groove, then I turned my square so as to spread the groove a little so that the rack could be removed from the steering rod.

When you have it unhooked, you just have to pull the rack out to the right or the left, it all depends on the space you have.

Unscrew the screw from the lower engine mount.

CAUTION: Do not unscrew the other screw!

The support has axial play, which will allow us to remove the cradle by moving it left or right.

Unscrew the 4 screws from the cradle/chassis triangles.

CAUTION : Do not unscrew them completely yet!

Then unscrew the 4 screws holding the cradle.

CAUTION : Do not unscrew the screws completely!

There is a good chance that the nut stops will break when you loosen them (they are held by a small piece of metal towards the red arrow).

two solutions to remove the nuts:

Manage to get a wrench through to lock the nut that is in the bodywork

CAUTION : To do this, remove the metal screw which served as a lock and which broke because you will not be able to put your key correctly on the nut!

Or else drive the screw...!

Place shims under the cradle or jacks.

Once you have put the shims in, you can completely unscrew all the screws that we left for safety.

Then lower the cradle, taking care to release the lower engine support and not to catch any other parts.

The two cradle/chassis screws can be hard to remove due to rust and the fact that they are tapered. You will need to tap them with a hammer to remove them.

The cradle deposited.

In red the main screws of the cradle (there are 4 that we cannot see behind)

In blue the engine mount that you have to be careful with when removing the cradle.

To prevent the engine from tipping over when we remove the gearbox, we need to put a support under the engine.

Our homemade bracket is a bar with a rod at each end, one going into the bolt hole in the cradle, and the other end into a hole in the front of the car.

In the middle, metal support to hold the motor.

Locate the starter. It is behind the engine when looking from below, between the engine and the steering rack.

Remove the two screws holding the starter.

Release the starter using a screwdriver.

If you can't do this, wait until you remove the gearbox, the starter will come off by itself.

Behind the starter, remove the two screws holding the ground bracket to the gearbox.

It is located on the top of the gearbox.

Disconnected it with a screwdriver.

Unscrew the 2 screws that hold it.

Remove the sensor.

Disconnect the clutch cable. ATTENTION : The photo does not want to be in the right direction! The red arrow indicates where the clutch cable was (red circle).

On the clutch cable bracket, remove the screw.

We take the opportunity to remove the ground cable as well.

Wedge the gearbox so that the gearbox support can then be removed.

Wedge it with pieces of wood or jacks.

Warning : Do not raise the box too much because this could affect the engine and therefore the pulleys on the alternator side!

Unscrew the screws from the box support.

There is also a screw below the bracket.

CAUTION : Do not completely unscrew the 3 middle screws if you have not yet put a support under the box!!

If you have put the box support correctly, then you can unscrew and then remove the box support.

Under the box support, there is another support on the box which is used to put cables.

Simply unscrew it to remove it.

To remove the box, start by unscrewing the box tower screws.

As you unscrew the box you will begin to see the flywheel.

You also have 2 screws to remove which are located on the top (red arrow) of the box surround.

Unscrew the nut located under the starter, which serves as a guide on the rear part of the box.

There is also one on the front of the box.

Thanks to its two guides, you can remove all the screws from around the box, the guides hold the box.

To remove the gearbox, you have to move it to the right, while lowering it so that it can pass under the bodywork.

It needs to be shifted until it can come out of the guides.

CAUTION : You have to play with the engine support to be able to lower the gearbox while being careful that the engine pulleys do not touch the bodywork!

With our tool we can lower or raise the engine so that the pulleys do not touch the bodywork.

Remove the box, taking care that screws or hoses do not block its progress.

Note the location of the mechanism before undoing the screws.

Unscrew the 6 screws of the mechanism.

This will reveal the clutch which you can remove.

Here we can see better the guides which allow the gearbox to slide onto the engine.

Keep these in mind for reassembly.

Check that the new clutch is compatible.

Unscrew the 7 screws that hold the flywheel. Block the flywheel so that they can be removed.

- Either with a screwdriver if you can manage it

- Either by making a small tool (you can use the box guide)

Remove the flywheel by simply pulling on it.

Once the flywheel is removed, we see the oil seal appear.

We take the opportunity to check that the one provided in the kit is the same.

You will notice that I had a small leak at this level.

To remove the seal, you need to use a small flat screwdriver to try to remove it.

You can tear or cut the SPI seal but be careful not to damage the other parts!

Using the guide provided, place the new oil seal in place of the old one.

Tap the seal lightly to seat it evenly until it stops.

On the gearbox side, you will see the clutch release bearing and the fork appear right in the middle.

Remove the stop, in red (you will need to put in the new one)

Remove the fork, in blue, which you will put back later.

Clean the axle to prepare for fitting the new stop.

Grease the splined shaft with the appropriate grease (see on the RTA).

Install the new stop

Using the tool used to remove the flywheel, we put it back.

Tighten the 7 screws to the torque prescribed in the RTA.

- In red, the flywheel.

- In blue, the 7 screws that hold the flywheel.

Tighten the screws to the RTA tightening torque.

Take the new disc and put it into the new clutch mechanism.

Then place the assembly on the previously reassembled flywheel.

Screw in the 6 screws to support the assembly.

Center the clutch disc with a centering tool.

If the disc is not too centered, it is not too serious, the problem is that it will be harder to re-seat the gearbox on the engine.

Fully tighten the screws to the prescribed torque once the centering is approximately correct.

To go back up, you have to do the reverse operations.

A jumble of the main elements to be reassembled, given for information purposes only :

- the gearbox

- the flywheel sensor

- the alternator

CAUTION : when replacing the gearbox, always make sure that the pulleys on the right side do not touch the bodywork!

NOTE : remember to route the cables in the correct direction before reassembling the assembly (ground cable in particular).

Continue by putting back:

- the clutch cable

- the steering gimbal

- the battery holder

- the steering rack

- the cradle

- the left universal joint

- right and left direction

DON'T FORGET to fill the engine with OIL!!''

Don't forget to put the gearbox bar back on its pivot.

THERE ARE NO adjustments to be made to the gearbox or the cable, it is self-adjusting (to be checked for your model on the RTA).

Once you have everything back together, test the clutch without load.

Start the car to check that everything is ok.

If the car does not start, check the battery, the sensors (the flywheel sensor, which was my case) etc.

Once you have checked everything:

Check again

Check that there is oil

check that the brakes are clean

Check that all screws are properly seated and tightened to the correct torque.

Check that the hoses, cables or pipes are not pinched and are correctly positioned