Hi so I have this problem that most garages seem to not actually have heard of. The clutch goes hard when not being used. If I drive around town for a while where I am constantly changing gear, i.e using the clutch, it works great. If i spend half hour or an hour on the motorway in one gear, i.e not using it, the clutch pedal goes stiff when i finally do. It's not impossible to depress but harder than it should be, as soon as I depress it a few times to change gear, it recovers. I was preparing to put a new clutch in towards the end of the year anyway as the pedal seems high but i need an opinion on the fault. Also it intermittently doesn't go into 1st gear! Only intermittently though, i have to retry and usually 2nd or 3rd time it slides into gear as it should. Same thing happens in reverse gear (which is the 1st gear but backwards i believe). It's a 2003 1.6 Zetec petrol and these are the only niggles on an otherwise fantastic car, like a Bentley compared to my old Corsa! Thanks in advance. One love

Have you tried greasing up the pedal hinges?

Try changing the brake/clutch fluid first.

If that fails it could be the master cylinder or the slave.

Master or slave cylinder are handing in their notice . Could be either of them or even both. Other than that the springs on the clutch pressure plate could be going hard though I think that it would remain consistently hard unless use is allowing the diaphragm spring to soften slight as you use it ..