Fabia vRS: Clutch failing to disengage

[pyromorph]

Hi,

I've had a very intermittent problem, usually agrevated by engine / gearbox "work"', such as cam belt change, gearbox mount change etc.. Yersterday I replaced the gearbox mount, made sure everything was spot on, and I'm pretty meticulous about these things and found that the intermittent problem came back. The issue goes like this:

You can drive fine, maybe for several minutes, and come to a stop. You then attempt to change gear, usually into first. Brake, clutch pedal to the floor and you can hear the engine groaning against the brake. If you lift the brake, with the clutch pedal to the floor, the car drives. It's worth pointing out at this point I'm in gear, usually first, with the clutch pedal to the floor. It's as if the clutch doesn't dis-engage. Dropping into neutral and bouncing the clutch pedal top to bottom a couple of times appears to "resolve" the issue...

I'm going to bleed the brakes / clutch and re-set the gearbox / gear lever adjusters just in case they've slipped themselves, today.. I'll let you know how I get on.

Any one else had a similar issue, I'm guessing sticky clutch release bearing or would it be a slave hydraulic actuator issue?

Thanks,

[sausage roll]

Standard OEM clutch and DMF? or uprated and SMF?

[mickvrs1]

Hi,

I've had a very intermittent problem, usually agrevated by engine / gearbox "work"', such as cam belt change, gearbox mount change etc.. Yersterday I replaced the gearbox mount, made sure everything was spot on, and I'm pretty meticulous about these things and found that the intermittent problem came back. The issue goes like this:

You can drive fine, maybe for several minutes, and come to a stop. You then attempt to change gear, usually into first. Brake, clutch pedal to the floor and you can hear the engine groaning against the brake. If you lift the brake, with the clutch pedal to the floor, the car drives. It's worth pointing out at this point I'm in gear, usually first, with the clutch pedal to the floor. It's as if the clutch doesn't dis-engage. Dropping into neutral and bouncing the clutch pedal top to bottom a couple of times appears to "resolve" the issue...

I'm going to bleed the brakes / clutch and re-set the gearbox / gear lever adjusters just in case they've slipped themselves, today.. I'll let you know how I get on.

Any one else had a similar issue, I'm guessing sticky clutch release bearing or would it be a slave hydraulic actuator issue?

Thanks,

[mickvrs1]

hi there,i've had exactly the same problem,tried changing gearbox oil and had cables adj on gearbox,was slightly better but still acting up,hoping to get my clutch/dmf and release bearing done soon..i suspect the release bearing myself.hoping to get a concrete answer from someone on here.

[Phil-J]

Id try flushing the clutch fluid through with a bleed first!

[pyromorph]

Standard OEM clutch and DMF? or uprated and SMF?

OEM with DMF.

Phil.

[pyromorph]

Id try flushing the clutch fluid through with a bleed first!

Did this today, and it made no difference to the clutch at all.. Must have bled about 1 - 2 cups through, no air etc...

Thanks,

Phil.

[mark.r.cullen]

Hmmmmm. Sounds like what I have, but it's supposedly a normal (rather annoying) niggle of the uprated clutch setup I have (Helix). Only happens in first and reverse though..... I would have thought OE should be fine :-S

[Boxster]

Hi,

I've got exactly the same problem with my vrs. With the clutch to the floor, the car (sometimes) starts to move forwards...

Then its very difficult to get out of 1st gear and into 2nd without a lurch forwards in the car and then a struggle to get it into 2nd. Reverse is a real pita as well !

Mine is a Helix cutch with SMF. The car has done around 165,000 miles.

It's currently in the garage now being investigated.

Jay

[pyromorph]

Hmmmmm. Sounds like what I have, but it's supposedly a normal (rather annoying) niggle of the uprated clutch setup I have (Helix). Only happens in first and reverse though..... I would have thought OE should be fine :-S

Yep, first and and reverse only. I can only think it's clutch release bearing or associated hydraulics. Having never changed one I'm not sure.

Thanks,

Phil.

[pyromorph]

I've got exactly the same problem with my vrs. With the clutch to the floor, the car (sometimes) starts to move forwards...

Then its very difficult to get out of 1st gear and into 2nd without a lurch forwards in the car and then a struggle to get it into 2nd. Reverse is a real pita as well !

Mine is a Helix cutch with SMF. The car has done around 165,000 miles.

I've done 107k, however, I had mine replaced at 50k with a Luk dual mass and clutch as a precautionary measure as the local Skoda dealer had done two or three early Fabia vRS's with DMF failures. Got them all changed when the cambelt was done (local garage). The Luk was the recommended replacement. I don't get any slipage... Drive with clutch pedal to the floor only started last year.. only done it a couple of times.

It's currently in the garage now being investigated.

I'd appreciate knowing how you get on..

Thanks,

Phil.

[Dark_Hero]

Mine's been doing this too! I've got a standard clutch and dmf

Keep us all updated :-)

[Boxster]

Okay, i've got the car back from the garage and everything seems fine at the moment. They suspected the slave cylinder and have replaced it with a new one.

The lurching from pressing the clutch down from 1st to 2nd has gone and getting it into reverse is easy. The general crunching from 1st to 2nd to 3rd has gone as well as well as the creeping when in 1st gear and clutch fully down.

So if your having problems with yours, the slave cylinder would be a good place to start.

So, fingers crossed the problem has been solved

Jay

[pyromorph]

Okay, i've got the car back from the garage and everything seems fine at the moment. They suspected the slave cylinder and have replaced it with a new one.

The lurching from pressing the clutch down from 1st to 2nd has gone and getting it into reverse is easy. The general crunching from 1st to 2nd to 3rd has gone as well as well as the creeping when in 1st gear and clutch fully down.

So if your having problems with yours, the slave cylinder would be a good place to start.

So, fingers crossed the problem has been solved

Thanks for the update, I stumbled across the following post by Basil on a DIY clutch removal thread, similar clutch sticking symptoms and required the master cylinder replacing in this instance. Appears to be a hydraulic related issue, none the less.

If I continue to get the issues ( as they are very intermittent at the moment ) I'll try the slave cylinder first.

Thanks,

Phil.

Edited 17 February, 2012 by pyromorph

[mark.r.cullen]

Good to know, and glad you seem to have got it sorted.

I had my slave cylinder / release bearing (one and the same?) replaced at the same time. I would hope it's not that.

In my case, I have discovered that if I come to a stop whilst still in second gear, as opposed to first, it doesn't seem to "stick" and rumble the car. It also seems to go in to reverse much easier going from second gear too.

I can probably live with that. First gear is fairly useless anyway

[mobz]

I have a very similar issue, just had new SMF kit fitted (release bearing/clutch/flywheel). I was hoping replacing the whole lot would resolve my issue, but unfortunately not.

Also accelerating from first e.g. off a junction, coming out of first into 2nd gear requires a lot of force!

The problem was apparent with the DMF, but it seems a lot more frequent with the SMF, nearly 85% of the time.

The car seems to creep forward as mentioned above even with the clutch down!

What on earth is wrong with mine? : (

[generalsims]

Its because of too much play in the input shaft. Gearbox rebuild required. And that's nice and cheap for those boxes! Cheapest place I could find was 700 quid or try getting one from a scrappie but more then likely the same will happen again.

[Guest BigJase88]

I have a very similar issue, just had new SMF kit fitted (release bearing/clutch/flywheel). I was hoping replacing the whole lot would resolve my issue, but unfortunately not.

Also accelerating from first e.g. off a junction, coming out of first into 2nd gear requires a lot of force!

The problem was apparent with the DMF, but it seems a lot more frequent with the SMF, nearly 85% of the time.

The car seems to creep forward as mentioned above even with the clutch down!

What on earth is wrong with mine? : (

Its a trait of the SMF

There are 2 options

Option 1 - rev it out to about 2000rpm before selecting second

Option 2 - double clutch from 1st to 2nd. I.e clutch down out of first into neutral. Then clutch down again to get 2nd

Job done

Oh and i've had 3 helix's and smf's in 3 different pd130's. I got 2 fitted and had the release bearings changed and all 3 cars did it 1st to 2nd

One at 33k

One at 65k

One at 70k

Edited 16 May, 2014 by BigJase88

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

I had the same issues, was the input shaft bearing, all sorted afterwards.

[generalsims]

Definitely the input shaft on the gearbox has too much play in it causing the clutch to drag. Too many garages are saying its a clutch fault wasting time and money that could be being spent on fixing the gearbox and not having to change the clutch.

[generalsims]

Ok clutch drag problem solved with a shim and bearing cover costing 14 quid in total and half an hour of time. Basically a gearbox specialist told me the main shaft bearing spring clip eats into the Bell housing causing play. I had almost an 16th of an inch eaten away. Put the shim on and its like new. No drag, no difficulty from reverse to 1st or crunchy changes from 1st to 2nd. Saved 700 quid to get it refurbed. Just follow the link below and use the part numbers for shaft play and jobs a gooden

[generalsims]

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?6089802-02M-whining-decel-noises-aftermarket-clutch-disengagement-issues-mainshaft-axial-play

[mobz]

Mateeeeeee of only I was made aware of this 2

Months ago, could have saved me near 500 quid!

Oh well! :-(

Good find though, will defo help others no doubt

Ps since the gb rebuild, the helix clutch/SMF works perfectly like a normal clutch

[generalsims]

Sorry I couldn't help out sooner. Mine started playing up on 50k miles and now its on 125k and only just fixed it today after some serious research. I was desperate to try anything to get out of a rebuild cost and this completely transformed the gearbox back to its old glory. Apparently the newer 6 speeds have this shim already fitted. Im just waiting for the next thing to go wrong now lol last week was the turbo haha good old chocolate German cars ;-)