Everything has performed well on my 2003 Octavia Elegance 1.9 TDi until a few days ago when the clutch pedal only returned half way after being depressed to ease a cold start. On the second press it remained at the floor. There was nothing in the way preventing its travel. I solved the problem by pulling the pedal back up by hand, after which it performed fine all day. However the same problem occurred the following day. Since then the pedal has worked OK.

I rang my local Skoda dealer who advised me that there will be a problem with the hydraulic cylinder which needs to be fixed. He had one in the workshop at that very time with the same problem. Is this problem a widespread one and does Skoda plan to do a recall?

not actually had that problem on mine, BUT one think I have noticed, occasionally when i push the pedal hard to the floor, it seems to stick there for a split second as i release it, by stick, imagine there was some jam or something sticky on the floor underneath the pedal, thats sort of sticky (and NO there isnt, ive checked)

Welcome to Briskoda, DJB. Some of us have had a clicking noise from the clutch pedal as it comes back up but I don't recall anyone having a similar problem to yours. Please let us know how you resolve the problem in due course. In the meantime perhaps our resident Skoda experts can let us know if they have encountered similar problems with cars they service.

Had the exact same problem on my other half's Fabia, Take it into the dealer and tell them to check the Clutch Slave cylinder, that was what her's was, the worst of it was it went in 3 times to get it sorted, The AA took it into the dealer twice, and by the time it got there it was fine, I drove it in the third time using the 'manual' method. Put your foot under the clutch pedal and pull it up yourself, works ok after that (for a few changes!).

My dealer changed both master and slave to make sure, but after changing slave showed it me and it was propper buggered!

Hope that helps

The sticking master cylinder also effects Audi/VW and SEAT in my experiance.

Wount be recalled is a known fault but not safety related really.

Also make sure they check the over centre spring is working on the clutch pedal. The function of this spring is to return the pedal to the upper most position.

My RS Octatvia has done this in the past and last week when it was cold - lifted it up with my shoe.

Is there a solution to the problem BigK?

ive had lots of problems like that at work. main problem is the master cylinder sticking. to slove the problem we just replace the master cylinder. at the moment we seem to be having a few cars back with broken cluch pedals.

No similar clutch pedal problems on my 1.9 tdi, but then the furby could have a different system. My clutch has been perfect from day one.

Originally posted by stopan1j in this post

My RS Octatvia has done this in the past and last week when it was cold - lifted it up with my shoe.

Is there a solution to the problem BigK?

yep relace the clutch slave cylinder (quite common)

The slave cylinder?

I used to find it was the master cylinder on the pedal that stuck up. On the Octavia vRS is the slave cylinder in inside the bell housing, part of the release bearing? If so the gear box has to come out. Not 100% sure about the Fabia. It really depends on gear box/power plant combo.

All of the FWD 1.8 Turbo cars from Audi/SEAT/VW have the hydraulic release bearing.

Originally posted by Techie in this post

The slave cylinder?

I used to find it was the master cylinder on the pedal that stuck up. On the Octavia vRS is the slave cylinder in inside the bell housing, part of the release bearing? If so the gear box has to come out. Not 100% sure about the Fabia. It really depends on gear box/power plant combo.

All of the FWD 1.8 Turbo cars from Audi/SEAT/VW have the hydraulic release bearing.

definatley slave cylinder and cylinder sits on top of the gearbox not inside bell housing on all models. cheers big k.

Originally posted by big k in this post

yep relace the clutch slave cylinder (quite common)

Thanks Big K I'll kep an eye on it over teh winter to see if it gets any worse

John

Like I say, on the other half's fabia it was definatly the slave, but they changed the master as well, It was not looking pretty at all when Colin from Skoda in Coventry (where I get her's serviced, and will probly take the vRS there as well) has been great with her's after Farmers of Leicester basically buggered the car up saying nothing was wrong with it (besides the fact you could see the fuel running from the fuel tank under the car, and filling up under the seats in the rear, oh and the engine managment got all ballsed up 'cause they couldnt be bothered to change one of the sensors!) anyhow learnt my lesson, the other half doesnt take the car in for a service/repair any more as most dealers seem to have the 'it's a woman, she doesnt know what she's on about' policy and never actually seem to check out a problem (hence the issues with the 16v that we've had) if they were sorted in the begining they wouldnt have got as bad as it did (3grands worth of work to put the car right!)

Anyhow now I've vented my spleen! yeah definatly slave on our Fabia