Octavier Sdi clutch

[Oimsi]

Hi

I recently bought a 2003 octavia 1.9sdi from a family member who has had the car from new. Only 55k on the clock. A friend borrowed the car and has described how the clutch went.

The clutch pedal went straight to the floor and stayed there. He then used his foot to force the pedal back up where it stayed jammed. A local garage sais that it was the master cylinder and changed it. The garage then told me that this had not cured the probem. The pedal now moves but does not engage the clutch. He has now taken out the clutch and is going to fit a new clutch kit but he says that he cannot see what was causing the problem! With each new stage of the attempted repair the bill is going up and I am getting a bit worried. Has anyone got any ideas?

Totally gutted as I was thinking the skoda octavia was bomb proof, going by the number of taxi drivers using them.

[Kandy]

Similar symptoms used to happen a lot on older ones, it happened to my brother's.

I couldn't remember exactly what it was! Helpful LOL - but I just looked at some schematics and I'm 90% sure it was the clutch lever (the lever attached to the gearbox that actually operates the clutch) can suffer metal fatigue and break. My brother's was welded back together.

But I can't believe your mechanic would miss such an obvious thing - so perhaps not!

My brother's is a taxi!

[Oimsi]

Similar symptoms used to happen a lot on older ones, it happened to my brother's.

I couldn't remember exactly what it was! Helpful LOL - but I just looked at some schematics and I'm 90% sure it was the clutch lever (the lever attached to the gearbox that actually operates the clutch) can suffer metal fatigue and break. My brother's was welded back together.

But I can't believe your mechanic would miss such an obvious thing - so perhaps not!

My brother's is a taxi!

Hi Thanks for the reply

I have relayed the information to the mechanic who has told me that having replaced the clutch and the master cylinder he has noticed the lever is not operating the clutch! it seems that your diagnosis is right - Its a shame the mechanic hadnt noticed it before fitting the new parts that were not faulty!!!

[KenONeill]

It is a shame, particularly since the first place I'd look for an issue with a failure like this is the slave cylinder.

[Kandy]

Oh dear. :P :( etc.

[Oimsi]

Oh dear. :P :( etc.

Having not owned the car for very long, my confidence in the model is a bit dented - When and if my car ever comes back repaired would you say it is worth keeping hold of. I mean is it generally a reliable model?

I might just refer the mechanic to this web site for some useful advice the next time he gets a skoda in ;-)

[Kandy]

I wouldn't worry about the car - think you've got the best age/most reliable model there. Just one of those stupid little things.

I would just find a different mechanic!

[KenONeill]

:iagree: - As I said, I'd check the slave cylinder first, because my experience says that's the most likely failure point with a hydraulic clutch, and I'd like to hope that I'd see the broken actuator arm at that point.

Certainly I'd not start by throwing relatively expensive and labour intensive parts at the car and hoping one of them stuck.

[Pudsey83]

I would say you should keep the car...... I have a 2001 octy and although i have had my fair share of problems it's also got a few miles on it (249,000) :(

The biggest problem i've had was the clutch, but it was easy to get the part and easy to do... So grin and hold on, you'll see that you've done a good thing

[Oimsi]

I would say you should keep the car...... I have a 2001 octy and although i have had my fair share of problems it's also got a few miles on it (249,000) :(

The biggest problem i've had was the clutch, but it was easy to get the part and easy to do... So grin and hold on, you'll see that you've done a good thing

Got it back today, chuffed its working agin and will be keeping it.

Gutted that it has cost me the best part of 500 quid for what turned out to be a 12 pound peice of metal. I could have had some alloys for that.

Hopefully I will now have many trouble free and econimic miles.

Thanks everyone for the feedback, this is a great web site and the next time something goes wrong I will consult here before going to ( a different) mechanic.