Date:         Mon, 16 Oct 2006 10:03:04 -0400
Reply-To:     Benny boy <huotb@VIDEOTRON.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Benny boy <huotb@VIDEOTRON.CA>
Subject:      Clutch hydraulic system failur

For those who have manual transmission

I'm now doing a "Top-End" engine for a lady that goes to Mexico each
year with her van... she said: fix her good... she had too many
problems wile travelling (and i can see why now).. more to come on
that later

Her van would be a good exemple of the average Vanagon owner trying to
do her best as to "maintenance"!!! i think for many reasons, that i
will take a few picture of that van, not only the engine but the van
the van is equiped...

How can i say that in English! Lately, or should i say since...ever, i
have observe that the system is lasy.. ok!

How does it work... our clutch system have no wire in between the
clutch pedal and the clutch itself, it's hydraulic, oil pushing oil in
a very small tube... ok, so you press the pedal in the front, on this
pedal there is a master clutch cylinder... and a slave cylinder in the
back is pushing the clutch lever... simple! the cluth oil is the same
as the brake oil, by that i mean that if the clutch is missing oil, or
need some (that my point here) it will take the oil from the brake
refill tank under the dash!

Ok! so, if there is no air in the system!!! when you release the
pedal, the lever in the back should COMPLETELY release the clutch AND
MOVE AWAY FROM THE CLUTCH BASKET.... and that is my point here!!!

The cluch pressure bearing is NOT design to spin all the time but on
the opposite, only spin when you press the pedal, when you release the
pedal, the bearing should move away from the clutch basket and stop
spinning!!! THAT IS THE PROBLEM... with time, even if any of those 2
(slave and master) are not leaking, they become lasy and are not
working properly... by that i mean that even with the clutch pedal
release... the slave is pushing enough the bearing so it touch the
basket and... it's spinning all the time...

1 on 2 Vanagon have this problem! on short distance it's not a big
problem but on the long run.. it is a big one.

Those bearing can spin for a long time and should give some signs
before exploding (noisy)! yea.. but they can explode.. one of my
customer had the bell housing with a hole in it as pieces of that
bearing made the cluth disintegrated!

Sometime it's so bad that when the engine is out, i look at that
bearing and it's at the "clutch pedal to the floor" position BUT no
one is pressing the pedal in the front!!! basicaly, the bearing is at
the opposite position of where it should be.

Some mechanic and even VW dealer will tel you: it's normal, the
vehicle was design like that... Grrrrrrrrrrr....... it si NOT! if you
put a well bleeded new master and slave... you will see that this is
NOT happening! they are perfectly syncronise! and the bearing is
moving away from the clutch basket. I have call some "Clutch rebuilt"
company.... and THAT BEARING IS NOT SUPPOSE TO SPIN ALL THE TIME!!!!

So that said, is there anyway of checking that with the engine still
attach to the trany... yes... have a GOOD mechanic look at the clutch
lever (left side of trany), this one should be fully UP, all the way
up, if he can push it up by hand, and it come back on it's own, you
have a problem

I will take pictures later and i will make a small video of everything
i just said!

Cheers, Ben