What's up with my clutch?

[AlexC1981]

Hi All,

Any advice on this would be really appreciated. The car is a 2010 Octavia VRs petrol (same engine as the Golf GTI) The biting point has gone right to the bottom and the pedal is only coming back to half way.

About six months ago I had these symptoms and I had the master cylinder changed. Two weeks ago I had the same symptoms and they changed the slave cylinder and clutch, but it has come back today.

There is plenty of fluid in the brake fluid reservoir, but I topped it up anyway and pumped the pedal and was able to drive for another 10 minutes before it got bad again.

While I was waiting for the tow truck I started the engine, pumped the pedal and it seemed to be ok again, but when I got dropped off home and tried to move the car closer to the kerb, the symptoms had returned.

I've noticed a stain on the driveway, but I'm not sure if that was from when I topped up the brake fluid when I first had these symptoms.

Really just want it fixed now!

[GreenV8S]

AlexC1981 said:

Really just want it fixed now!

Take it to a garage, preferably the one that changed the master cylinder previously, and demonstrate the symptoms. Don't try to diagnose them or tell the garage how to diagnose them. Ask them to diagnose the problem and tell you what it would take to fix it. Decide the next step based on what they tell you.

[C. Grimsley]

AlexC1981 said:

Hi All,

Any advice on this would be really appreciated. The car is a 2010 Octavia VRs petrol (same engine as the Golf GTI) The biting point has gone right to the bottom and the pedal is only coming back to half way.

About six months ago I had these symptoms and I had the master cylinder changed. Two weeks ago I had the same symptoms and they changed the slave cylinder and clutch, but it has come back today.

There is plenty of fluid in the brake fluid reservoir, but I topped it up anyway and pumped the pedal and was able to drive for another 10 minutes before it got bad again.

While I was waiting for the tow truck I started the engine, pumped the pedal and it seemed to be ok again, but when I got dropped off home and tried to move the car closer to the kerb, the symptoms had returned.

I've noticed a stain on the driveway, but I'm not sure if that was from when I topped up the brake fluid when I first had these symptoms.

Really just want it fixed now!

There is a plastic clip made of two halves on the master cylinder, this breaks and the master cylinder then has more travel hence the low bite point, parts are cheap and it’s relatively easy to do.

Carl

[AlexC1981]

GreenV8S said:

Take it to a garage, preferably the one that changed the master cylinder previously, and demonstrate the symptoms. Don't try to diagnose them or tell the garage how to diagnose them. Ask them to diagnose the problem and tell you what it would take to fix it. Decide the next step based on what they tell you.

Thanks, that is my intention, however this will be the third time going back the same garage to fix it I was hoping someone might have an idea for something they might not have checked yet.

C. Grimsley said:

There is a plastic clip made of two halves on the master cylinder, this breaks and the master cylinder then has more travel hence the low bite point, parts are cheap and it’s relatively easy to do.

Carl

Thanks, I'll look into that. You would imagine that if a clip had broken, the biting point wouldn't come back to normal sometimes.

[C. Grimsley]

AlexC1981 said:

GreenV8S said:

Take it to a garage, preferably the one that changed the master cylinder previously, and demonstrate the symptoms. Don't try to diagnose them or tell the garage how to diagnose them. Ask them to diagnose the problem and tell you what it would take to fix it. Decide the next step based on what they tell you.

Thanks, that is my intention, however this will be the third time going back the same garage to fix it I was hoping someone might have an idea for something they might not have checked yet.

C. Grimsley said:

There is a plastic clip made of two halves on the master cylinder, this breaks and the master cylinder then has more travel hence the low bite point, parts are cheap and it’s relatively easy to do.

Carl

Thanks, I'll look into that. You would imagine that if a clip had broken, the biting point wouldn't come back to normal sometimes.

The spring on the pedal itself can make the pedal return to the top. The clip in question

[AlexC1981]

Thanks for your help folks. The garage changed the hydraulic lines. One of them had perished. The mechanic suggested that it may have started leaking when it was fully repressurised after the slave cylinder was changed a couple of weeks ago.

[E-bmw]

AlexC1981 said:

Thanks for your help folks. The garage changed the hydraulic lines. One of them had perished. The mechanic suggested that it may have started leaking when it was fully repressurised butchered after the slave cylinder was changed a couple of weeks ago.

FTFY, there isn't much pressure in the clutch lines (there is only enough to lift the clutch plate) and any perishing should have been seen & sorted at the time.

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

E-bmw said:

AlexC1981 said:

Thanks for your help folks. The garage changed the hydraulic lines. One of them had perished. The mechanic suggested that it may have started leaking when it was fully repressurised butchered after the slave cylinder was changed a couple of weeks ago.

FTFY, there isn't much pressure in the clutch lines (there is only enough to lift the clutch plate) and any perishing should have been seen & sorted at the time.

If I was a cynical person I would have said this was caused by them not doing the job properly the first time and making this up as an excuse to charge you more money.

[AlexC1981]

Possibly, you never know! It's a 14 year old 140k mile car, so things will perish I guess. They showed me a bit of the perished pipe they replaced, but yes, it's disappointing that it wasn't picked up during the previous visit.

[E-bmw]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

E-bmw said:

AlexC1981 said:

Thanks for your help folks. The garage changed the hydraulic lines. One of them had perished. The mechanic suggested that it may have started leaking when it was fully repressurised butchered after the slave cylinder was changed a couple of weeks ago.

FTFY, there isn't much pressure in the clutch lines (there is only enough to lift the clutch plate) and any perishing should have been seen & sorted at the time.

If I was a cynical person I would have said this was caused by them not doing the job properly the first time and making this up as an excuse to charge you more money.

Hence my previous statement.

[stevieturbo]

E-bmw said:

FTFY, there isn't much pressure in the clutch lines (there is only enough to lift the clutch plate) and any perishing should have been seen & sorted at the time.

One of my cars and another I log clutch hydraulic pressure are both around 40-45 bar max. Which quite surprisingly, isn't much lower than logged braking pressures

I'd think an OEM clutch would be lower, but maybe not that much

Haven't fitted a sensor to my other car yet, as they're quite expensive and it's not really a necessity, but I probably will when the box is out.