Date:         Tue, 18 Sep 2001 02:05:22 EDT
Reply-To:     Westfalia86@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Barry Rokusek <Westfalia86@AOL.COM>
Subject:      HELP!!! 86 Westy with a dead clutch pedal!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Hi, I'm new to the list, and a relatively new Vanagon owner.  I'm a long time
VW owner and lover, and I've learned a LOT.  But, not enough about hydraulic
clutches it seems!  To make a long story short, I recently bought my Vanagon
and took it to a local budget brake shop to have the rear brakes and wheel
cylinders done.  I observed to job, the guy working on it was CLEARLY not
fond of "foreign cars" and while bleeding the rear lines, he ran the brake
fluid reservour empty.  He filled it up, bled the rear, and finished the job,
the brakes work great!  My Westy is an every day driver, and four days later
I was driving my it on the highway, when I came to a stop light, I stepped
the clutch down, and at about the friction point, I felt a POP in the pedal.
From that point, the clutch would not disengage.  I pulled over and had a
friend step on the pedal while I looked at the slave cylinder and it moves
with the pedal.  I'm not sure how far it should move though.  At any rate, I
drove the van the rest of the way home 60 miles useing the starter and RPMs,
not as easy as my old Rabbit.  For kicks I tried stepping it down while I
accelerated, and it DID slip at the floor.  Just enough to confirm that it
was disengaging a little.  I'm wondering if the grunt at the local shop
managed to work air into the clutch line while running the, or if its more
likely a throwout bearing or lever problem......  Any advice is much
appreciated!!!  HELP!

:-)

Barry