Hi all,

 

Just had the following car issue, for the first time, with no warning.  Almost completed a 20 mile journey, mostly motorway, whilst dipping the clutch to change gear, the clutch felt a bit stuck, slow to lift back up into position, sometimes needing to flick back up with my left foot, as it was raising slowly to full position, over revving a little at times.  Parked up, tried to fix by dipping clutch a few times, (no strange noises while dipping and lifting clutch), however no joy, tried the below fix twice:-

 

Pumping the brake pedal a couple of times and holding the brake firmly, and pressing the clutch fully.  Putting the car into 4^th gear, starting the ignition for a few seconds.

 

The fix solved the problem so far, however the car was squeaking on the way home.  During this process, saw an RAC engineer who said the clutch issue is common with VW’s, and is either the master cylinder or brake fluid, and that my fix won’t solve the issue.  (The car had the brake fluid change approx 1 year ago, no signs of fluid leaking when lifting up hood, difficult to see brake fluid levels or colour).  I wondered if the recent hot weather was a contributing factor?  If something got stuck and the above fix released it?  Or was it just a temp fix, and the issue will come back?  With the squeaking being a part of it?  Any advice is welcome, apologies if this is a repeat question.

Air in the clutch system. I would pressure bleed that out first and see how it is after that. 

Thanks Techle,

Had a mechanic look at it, he said its the master cylinder, and i should change the clutch plate and another part at the same time, quoted me for a clutch kit, approx £500, will get another opinion on it too.

That doesn't make any sense, if it's just the master cylinder then just change that, sounds like he's touting for some free money because you can't check if the other work was even done once the master was changed and the problem solved. Go elsewhere.

He said its one of those jobs where you you may as well change other parts at the same time while doing the job, as they will cause issues along the line.  I will see what VW specialist says.  The car has done close to 90,000 miles, however 80% of the mileage is motorway miles, and the care has not been trashed around, so im a bit surprised.  Will keep you guys posted, thanks for the advice.

If it was the slave I'd agree but changing the master is easy and quick and nothing else needs to be disturbed so it really doesn't make any sense unless you're after £500 for a £100 job.

I think there is some confusion between the master and the slave. 

Sorry for the really late response.

 

In the end it was fixed in stages to be sure, the master cylinder, full clutch and dmf changed.  The dmf was in a bad way and needed replacing, changing this lessened the horrible idle judder i would sometimes get too.