Date:         Sun, 27 Nov 94 13:39:48 CST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Clutch problems: 1st, 2nd, ...

On Sun, 27 Nov 94 06:20:37 CST Stuart Hutton said:
>...                  Does anyone else have ideas and also, where is a
>source for these things that won't force me not to eat for a while?

this sort of thing happened to me in my 80 bus ... it turned out to be
caused by very dirty fluid (like Alistair said) and cold weather. the
explanation (by a porsche mechanic) was that the cold weather made the
seals in the master and slave cylinders shrink a bit, which allowed crud
and junk in the fluid to be trapped by the seals ... which would keep the
seals open, even after they were warmed up by use. in effect, the clutch
hydraulics leaked badly past the seals.

he bled the system twice and presto-chango! i had a 'new' clutch! didn't
hurt the brakes either! :)  he said this was a fairly common thing when
the fluid was over two-three years old and the weather took a turn toward
winter.

besides ... it's a cheap method of further diagnosis.  if it isn't the
problem, you haven't spent an awful lot of money on parts. ;) so i think
Alistair is right: get the brake fluid replaced. and don't forget to bleed
the clutch slave cylinder.

joel