Sorry, I am not very knowledgeable on the matter so have clearly left out important details or not explained myself as I should have. I will run through everything now and try and explain my situation better.
So, a couple of weeks ago I noticed that my clutch pedal was fairly 'loose' at the top, i.e. I would press it down 2-3 inches before feeling any pressre. I did not really think this was an issue as I was able to find gears and the car drove perfectly fine.
Then, about a week ago, the clutch had been 'loose' right down to the floow and would sometimes stick, again I was able to find gears and drive the car without issue, but I obviously knew something was wrong and the situation was getting worse.
On Saturday past, I was really struggling to get into gear and it was a Saturday so there was not many garages open that could help me. I ended up finding one that got the car up on a ramp and looked at something underneath the engine (that general area anyway, it looked like he had to unscrew a bolt to pull down a cover to see what he needed to see). The mechanic told me that the issue was the master cylinder because the slave cylinder was bone dry.
I took this advice, purchased a master cylinder and took it to my mechanic on Sunday evening. He looked at the car for about an hour and told me that he did NOT need to replace the master cylinder, and that the car was back to normal after bleeding the system and topping up the brake fluid. I asked if the brake fluid had drained rapidlt because the issue only seemed to crop up in the sapce of a week or two. He said it was below the part of the reservoir where there is a pipe/hose/tunnel that the brake fluid would exit through to go around the system. Sorry I couldn't think of the right word to describe that bit, but it is obviously the part where the brake fluid leaves the reservoir to go around the system.
He only asked for an hours labour and I was able to return the master cylinder and get my money back. I still feel a very slight bit of play at the top of the clutch butt this is only for about an inch then everything feels as it should.
I was very nervous as I was told a couple of different things from a couple of different mechanics and I just don't know what to believe.
I messaged the mechanic that told me the master cylinder did not need replaced and asked if the bit of play at the top of the clutch is normal and he said it is and it is maybe some play from the plastic components.
I am just not 100% sure if this is definitely fixed and thought I would ask on here as you guys are the experts.
Sorry for not being able to articulate this as best as I could but I have tried my best here. Hopefully you can help.
2012 Octavia
1.6 TDI with around 115k miles