Technical Stiff Clutch When Heating Is on

[Lez121]

Morning, Newbie to the forum.
I have a 2004 Ducato 2.8 jtd motorhome which I have only had since July 2024.
Whilst I was driving back up to Gloucester from Devon last night, the clutch pedal went very stiff and stuck down, we stopped at the services to walk the dog and for me to have a look to see if could see anything, but nothing was obvious so we decided to continue on our way.
When set off again the clutch pedal seemed to be fine, but again when I went to change gear at junction 20 it was stiff. As i used to be a road side technician/recovery driver I guessed it was to do with the heater being on, so turned it down (much to the wife's annoyance) and it seemed to get better.
My questions are;
1: Is this a common fault?
2: Is their any plastic bushes in the clutch pedal assembly?
3: If there are plastic bushes in the assembly can they be replaced and does anyone have the part numbers for them?

Thank you ion advance
Lez

 

[Communicator]

Morning, Newbie to the forum.
I have a 2004 Ducato 2.8 jtd motorhome which I have only had since July 2024.
Whilst I was driving back up to Gloucester from Devon last night, the clutch pedal went very stiff and stuck down, we stopped at the services to walk the dog and for me to have a look to see if could see anything, but nothing was obvious so we decided to continue on our way.
When set off again the clutch pedal seemed to be fine, but again when I went to change gear at junction 20 it was stiff. As i used to be a road side technician/recovery driver I guessed it was to do with the heater being on, so turned it down (much to the wife's annoyance) and it seemed to get better.
My questions are;
1: Is this a common fault?
2: Is their any plastic bushes in the clutch pedal assembly?
3: If there are plastic bushes in the assembly can they be replaced and does anyone have the part numbers for them?

Thank you ion advance
Lez

In answer to question 1, the problem is not unknown. See here, where the problem is attributed to the plastic master cylinder. There was also another recent posting about this problem, here.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I will bet there is a casdt metal master cylinder available for sensible money that could be the way to sort it once and for all. Good luck.

 

[LesB]

If it's anything like our Pergeot Boxer 2.0 TD then the issue we had with the same symptoms was the master cylinder. When it gets hot, i.e. with the heater on, there is a part inside that expands with heat and locks it in the cylinder body. I changed ours and now use the heater even in the summer to teach it a lesson.