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Date:         Sat, 20 Mar 2004 10:12:26 -0500
Reply-To:     Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Subject:      Re: clutch hydraulics or more serious?
Comments: To: Keith Hattrup <themagicbus2003@YAHOO.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <20040320144107.54260.qmail@web61101.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Does the pedal feel firm or does it sink part way to the floor? If it is firm then hydraulics is not the problem. If it gets soft, than most likely there is a bad check valve in the clutch master. Bleeding it makes it work for a while but then it sticks open letting the fluid go back to the reservoir instead of pushing the clutch slave. If the pedal stays firm then maybe there is another problem with the clutch, release bearing, or trans input shaft that wasn't discovered when the clutch was out.

Dennis

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Keith Hattrup Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 9:41 AM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: clutch hydraulics or more serious?

Hello list. I'm a relatively new owner of a '90 Westy, with a *very* annoying clutch issue. I wonder if you can help me out a little. Here's the scoop:

Previous owner gave me all previous repair orders for the car, so I have a little history. I see that 1000 miles before I took ownership, the clutch master and slave were replaced. No symptoms were reported on the order, but the mechanic noticed a leaky master and so replaced both (perhaps an upsell.)

About 500 miles later, under my ownership, the clutch stops disengaging intermittently. e.g. it's difficult to take out of 2nd or 3rd gear with the clutch pedal depressed to the floor. In 1st, the car wants to roll forward with clutch pedal on the floor. I check, and there are no leaks anywhere near hydraulic components. There is a lot of creaking somewhere in the clutch line when I depress the pedal, however.

So, I take it to local Autohaus and they replace entire clutch, pilot bearing, T/O bearing, and resurface the flywheel. Everything seems fine for about 500 miles, and then the same problem returns. So, I take it back, and after a week, they tell me they have bled the hydraulic system and everything should be fine. Well, it's not, so I return again, and wait another week. This time, they tell me they bled the system again, and then could not reproduce the problem. So, I drive off, and it works fine. So, if the shop is to be believed, then this second bleeding fixed the problem, temporarily.

Well, the car really does work just fine for about 4 weeks of daily driving. However, yesterday, the same problem returns again. This time, the problem really took much longer to return (4 weeks rather than 4 days). So, my hypothesis is that the problem must somehow be related to hydraulics. I say that b/c the bleeding did indeed improve the problem temporarily. (That is, if we can assume the shop really did bleed the system and not use some other prophylactic measure they won't tell me about. They don't impress me as being either honest or competent. Bad choice to go there in the first place, I know.)

There is still no leaking, no drop in fluid since the "repair", and the creaking persists. The clutch works fine when cold, but after driving awhile, it fails to disengage intermittently. So, I wonder if the replacement master or slave were just bad parts. Does that make sense to you? I've had problems with rebuilt auto parts in the past, so it seems plausible to me. Otherwise, I'm at a complete loss.

Can you help?

Thanks a million for any insights on this one!!

Keith

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