Unwrapped my NC from its winter slumber yesterday and took it for a spin. All went well for a trip to the parts shop to pick up a new battery, but when I got back on the road I noticed that the clutch pedal has a sizable distance of free travel. No resistance whatsoever. Then it works as normal for the rest of the travel.Â
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Pretty sure it wasn’t like this last year, almost like there’s a missing spring or something similar. Any ideas?
Whats it feel like if you pump it a few times.
Stick your head in the foot well and make sure the sheet metal bracket that holds the pedal has not torn. You might have to look quite hard.Â
I can’t post a picture from my phone so hopefully this will work.Â
Wow, that looks like a very flimsy bracket!
I’m going to get into the footwell when I get home and I’ll report back if I manage to get myself out again!
Mazda obviously didn’t learn from their experiences with the NA clutch and accelerator pedal mount then?! I’ve re-welded twice then made a new one from some proper bits of thick steel!
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Cheers!
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Russ
I was aware of the problem on earlier cars but did not know that this continued onto the NC models? Thank you for a very helpful post! Will be having a look “down below” shortly!
Barrie
Can’t seem to figure out how to attach a video, but the pedal seems much better today.
Maybe I was just being paranoid, it’s the first time I had driven it since last summer and my usual daily driver is an automatic!
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I had a similar issue with my MK3 late last year. It started after some ,shall we say, aggressive use of the clutch with TC turned off - before having new tyres fitted 
Before this the clutch had a good progressive feel and I had a very good gear change. Immediately after, the clutch had what felt like half its total travel of resistance free movement. The gear change also became very notchy to the point that changing gear could only be done slowly.
Over the winter, while I hardly used the car, it seemed to improve but never got back to the slick gear change I remembered. Yesterday I had the car MOT’d and the clutch bled (I bled all the brakes recently so knew the fluid was good, but couldn’t get under the car to do the clutch). The garage told me the fluid that came out was pretty dirty. Although I’ve only driven it a little since, the gear change feels improved and there seems to be less free movement in the clutch pedal.
I suspect there was water/air in my fluid and this could be the same issue with your car.
Neil
Experienced a similar problem a couple of weeks ago (also on an NC) - a couple of inches of free travel, then a normal feel as the clutch released - when out on a club run. Made it home expecting the clutch to fail at any moment, changing gear as little as possible, but the pedal was back to normal by the time we arrived and it’s been OK ever since. We had been on a “spirited” drive over the moors and I wondered whether the fluid had heated up due to the brakes having plenty of use - I notice that brakes and clutch share a common reservoir. Having said that, it seems unlikely, as the brakes were still firm and I can’t see why the clutch should be affected and not the brakes. All seems well now, but would be interested if anybody can come up with an answer.
The NC has a slave cylinder but I’ve never heard of them failing like Mk1/2 do. I changed both Mk1 & Mk2 when I owned them, guessing even the NC slaves won’t last forever, just a thought?
I like the idea about bleeding the clutch slave, and possibly the brakes. It would be interesting to hear what the life is for the fluid.
Is bleeding the clutch really such a difficult task??
In order to bleed the clutch, you need to go in from the underside & remove the engine undertray so it’s not something easily done without a lift or pit. Once you have access it’s an easy job though
Possible using a set of ramps?
Possibly if your car isn’t too low to get on ramps like mine is. If you have enough space to get the undertray off then I’d expect so.
Neil
Just had same problem 2006 2.0 on 71K miles. Yesterday drove home with loads of old magazines in the car (really heavy) + girlfriend (not so heavy) 2 hours Newbury to London and stop start traffic from Heathrow all the way to Kennington and for the last half hour had 3/4 loose travel with zero resistance then regular clutch pressure for last 1/4. Had to shove first and second past the notch to get it in gear. PANIC ON THE STREETS OF LONDON. Thought clutch would fail (but confused cos no high revving / low power), tried not to change gear, kept foot on clutch at lights, major stress.
This morning back to normal. I’m going to call Mazda Main Dealer in Twickenham tomorrow and ask what’s going on. I’ve had the car three weeks, just MOT and full service at Mazda (I know they just check fluid levels), and bought it for reliability so feeling a bit sorry for myself and will see what they say & let you know.
From reading here sounds like it could be tired Master or Slave Clutch Cylinder (as poor hydraulics would explain the loose clutch pedal travel) or maybe overloading the clutch with the weight in some way (beyond my clutch engineering knowledge) ?!??!
When they bleed the brakes they should have also bleed the clutch - same reservoir. But I bet the clutch slave and master have not been bled in ages.
When I bought my NC the brake fluid in the reservoir was sparkly clean and new, but what came out the clutch system was black when I bled it.
Since we’re updating this thread, just to let you know that I have never had a repeat of this incident. All I can think is that I must have been riding the clutch when in traffic.
I haven’t got round to bleeding the clutch, but I did all the brakes when I replaced the discs & pads.
I’ve taken MX5 to Twickenham Mazda dealer this morning - they’re going to drain the clutch fluid and think the loose pedal travel was due to old fluid (losing its viscosity) maybe combined with the heat of stop start with heavily loaded car. £75 for 1/2 hr labour (it’ll take longer but as I just had it in for full service and MOT they’re charging 1/2 hour). They said they will have checked the Slave Cylinder for leaks in the Service but will have another look.
Will report back.