Hi all, 

 

Hope you can help!

 

I have an issue with my skoda clutch where it feels soft and bites really low. I've tried bleeding it out via gravity bleeding following instructions from here and it worked for an hour and then half the pedal feels soft and the bite is really low.

 

The fluid reservoir stays at the same level, I'm not losing fluid, I've checked the bottom of the gearbox and seemed to be dry and I've checked around the master cylinder inside and under the bonnet and again seems dry. I'm at a loss, either the bleed valve on the top of the box is letting in air somehow or there is an internal issue on the master cylinder or the slave cylinder.

 

Can anyone guide me more?

On 24/09/2024 at 21:19, Dan1011 said:

Hi all, 

 

Hope you can help!

 

I have an issue with my skoda clutch where it feels soft and bites really low. I've tried bleeding it out via gravity bleeding following instructions from here and it worked for an hour and then half the pedal feels soft and the bite is really low.

 

The fluid reservoir stays at the same level, I'm not losing fluid, I've checked the bottom of the gearbox and seemed to be dry and I've checked around the master cylinder inside and under the bonnet and again seems dry. I'm at a loss, either the bleed valve on the top of the box is letting in air somehow or there is an internal issue on the master cylinder or the slave cylinder.

 

Can anyone guide me more?

Had same issue with my car (2010 Octavia) same system as on a Superb.

Anyway, my solution was not only to bleed the whole brake reservoir, but actually to bleed it out so much and for so long that I used almost 2,5ltr of brake fluid. It really took med 30min with wife pumping the clutch pedal to a stop - release on slave cylinder - pump to stop - release and so on. 

Clutch system can hold a lot of dirt and other things that can clog up the system (clutch shares fluid with brakes).

 

To do this I connected brake bleeding kit with pressure on top of the brake reservoir so the reservoir was always full the whole time.

 

It really took many pump - bleeding process steps and the whole time bad and black fluid came out of the slavecylinder. Lots of dirt and other bad looking brake fluid. Kept it up until clear brake fluid came out.

 

It was actally so dirty that it almost clogged up the clutch pedal. Oh, and yes I first did bled all 4 calipers so much that only clear brake fluid came out there as well. I used more than 1 ltr of brake fluid on that job to, just to make sure that all calipers were totally clean.

 

If I were you, I would try this on your car. Brake fluid is really inexpensive and buy yourself 3-4 liters of it and do a full flush. Maybe your clogged up clutch system will eventually be clean.

I know that many other with same clutch problem have done this with success. The Indy will likely tell you that the concentric slave cylinder or clutch is maybe broken and needs replacement. But believe me, spending 30-40 GBP on brake fluid is much cheaper than a total clutch replacement. 

After a couple more times trying to bleed it does seem like the torque limiting piece where the bleed valve is seems to suck in and out a little if I put my thumb on the hole when it's closed and the clutch is pressed in and out. I'm wondering if that is bleeding air in and causing this issue?

23 minutes ago, Dan1011 said:

After a couple more times trying to bleed it does seem like the torque limiting piece where the bleed valve is seems to suck in and out a little if I put my thumb on the hole when it's closed and the clutch is pressed in and out. I'm wondering if that is bleeding air in and causing this issue?

Sounds more like there is dirt in your system that needs to be flushed out...

You don't think the seal on the bleed valve is going? That's why it sucks air while it's closed?

 

My other thought was how did it happen in the first place when none of the system had been touched initially only when the problem arose?

 

I'll get it into a garage maybe to bleed all 4 brakes and then the clutch and see if that helps! Thanks!

7 minutes ago, Dan1011 said:

You don't think the seal on the bleed valve is going? That's why it sucks air while it's closed?

 

My other thought was how did it happen in the first place when none of the system had been touched initially only when the problem arose?

 

I'll get it into a garage maybe to bleed all 4 brakes and then the clutch and see if that helps! Thanks!

Well, yeah sure, the bleed valve seal could be broken. That is just a small rubber grommet, so if you can find a similar it would be an extremely cheap fix....

See the "rubber" seal here?

49 minutes ago, Dan1011 said:

After a couple more times trying to bleed it does seem like the torque limiting piece where the bleed valve is seems to suck in and out a little if I put my thumb on the hole when it's closed and the clutch is pressed in and out. I'm wondering if that is bleeding air in and causing this issue?

Hope that is it. Inspect the seal to see if it is missing or something is broken/cracked. Unfortunately if the concentric slave cylinder is actually broken, you will need to replace it...and that means the gearbox has to come down. No other way around these concentric fu...s.

 

I 

11 minutes ago, rbhelle said:

See the "rubber" seal here?

I don't think its there, it's the bleed valve itself.

 

I don't think its the slave either as it's still working as a clutch, bite is halfway up as normal as it has been and drives fine if I pump the clutch up a few times between gear changes! 

 

I'll check over the rubber o rings. The car is on nearly 200k and can't recall when the clutch was done last but I'll try the bits I can and go from there. Thanks for your help

19 minutes ago, Dan1011 said:

I 

I don't think its there, it's the bleed valve itself.

 

I don't think its the slave either as it's still working as a clutch, bite is halfway up as normal as it has been and drives fine if I pump the clutch up a few times between gear changes! 

 

I'll check over the rubber o rings. The car is on nearly 200k and can't recall when the clutch was done last but I'll try the bits I can and go from there. Thanks for your help

Ahh, this valve I guess. It should be replaceable if thats is what causing the problems. Also just replace the screw itself, these have small holes in the side.

Also, if you dont have a concentric slave cylinder, but a regular one, it is easily replaced without need to take down gearbox.