clutch spring issue on S40 MT

bigbreak · Post by **bigbreak** » 03 Feb 2009, 05:38

My wife has a 2005 model S40 with 5-sp manual transmission. This weekend a spring broke that has something to do with the clutch pedal assembly (inside the dashboard underneath the steering wheel). While the clutch was depressed at a traffic light this spring just snapped off. The vehicle did not stall and shifting stills functions, although the clutch pedal tension now feels slightly softer. The pedal returns ok and the clutch engages as usual, but without this spring. No special noises or no other signs of a missing critical component...Do you know what this spring is for and if we should have it replaced? Is this an expensive part and much labor involved to replace the spring? Can you recommend a mechanic in the Charlotte NC area?

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 03 Feb 2009, 06:13

Welcome to MVS. I assume that it is one of the springs in the diagram below- probably the "helper spring" if everything else is working correctly (please correct me if I'm wrong):

: S40 Clutch Pedal Assembly Spring.jpg (77.33 KiB) Viewed 5229 times

If I'm right, I assume you're going to have to take the "pedal box" out of your car and reseat the spring. The following file has information regarding this in one of its sections below.

S40 Clutch R&R.pdf: (597.85 KiB) Downloaded 1346 times

bigbreak · Post by **bigbreak** » 03 Feb 2009, 07:05

Thank you for the information. And providing it this quickly! From the picture it looks like the spring labeled number 4 that just says "spring". But it could well right be # 3 "helper spring" if one takes a closer look at it. I could take a picture, take the spring measurements, and add that to the discussion this evening. Do you know of any side-effects driving the vehicle without either one of these springs (no 3 or 4)? Is this an ASAP repair needed? I'd prefer to let my wife drive it the way it is while I gain more knowledge on what is involved with repair before I take it to a dealer service station.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 03 Feb 2009, 07:12

I have no idea to the answers to your questions- I do not own this car- just have some access to files that may help. I would be inclined to keep driving it if things are working okay. Just give your wife some phone numbers, etc. in case she were to get stranded. As far as I can see, this spring helps the clutch pedal come back up to top position. I suppose the worst thing that could happen is that it stays down, then you'd have to use your foot to pull it back up from under the pedal (that could be tricky while driving) if it doesn't retract like it should due to the spring losing its elasticity. Worst case, I think is that you'd have to replace both springs (one without the other could put undue stress on the other spring). Good luck and let us know how things go and what you end up doing to fix this. It could be that you might be able to replace this spring without taking the pedal box out of the car (if you're a good contortionist) but I don't know.

leinsterru · Post by **leinsterru** » 24 Feb 2009, 15:27

There are 2 replacement springs provided by volvo, one long and one short in a yellow casing. After hearing a loud bang while having the clutch engaged i found the remains of the long spring. I have S40 2005 1.8 Petrol, and my sister has S40 2004 2.0D. Her clutch uses only the small spring and mine uses only the longer one, at least i assume that by the fact that the small one is missing from my clutch and the long one is missing from hers. I am unable to determine where the long spring sits and would appreciate greatly anyone that could post a diagram/photo showing the correct installation position. Thanks in advance.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 24 Feb 2009, 17:55

Unfortunately, I see nothing that shows how to do that in any of the diagram or write-ups that I have access to. Comparing the two pedals (one with the shorter spring and the other with the longer one and maybe shooting a few digital pictures of each) would be the likely solution to figuring this out for both of your cars.