New Clutch Sticking Issues(Within Last Few Days)

Just started to notice my clutch pedal starting to feel odd. It started with not giving me full pressure feeling when depressed. Over the last few days it has gotten WAY worse to the point that 30 minutes ago while driving to work, I could not get the car into gear. I had to pump the clutch a few times to finally (what I assume) build enough pressure to get it to work. Then after that it starts to work again but it's only using the last 10% of the pedal stroke to actually engage/disengage.

I've only had the car for about 9 months now so not that familiar with her. I've done a tiny bit of searching and reading so far. Do the clutch and brakes share the same fluid system?

Any help is HUGELY appreciated as there is a decent chance I'll be stranded at work today.

Sounds to me like the clutch is not properly bled.

To go from working to almost leaving me stranded in a week I think something has failed or is leaking. It would be surprising if you could just bleed something that worked perfectly since the car was assembled would fix it right?

I'm about to go out and take a look under the hood. Any tips or simple things to check?

Check the fluid level. Yes clutch and brakes share the same reservoir and if you get close to the MIN line your brakes can work just fine but the clutch will starve as the entry to it is above the MIN line. The clutch bleed valve is directly under the airbox, I'd check that it's not leaking and the valve is closed. The valve is a little different than a normal bleed valve in that only 1/4 turn is required to bleed.

adjat84th said:

Check the fluid level. Yes clutch and brakes share the same reservoir and if you get close to the MIN line your brakes can work just fine but the clutch will starve as the entry to it is above the MIN line. The clutch bleed valve is directly under the airbox, I'd check that it's not leaking and the valve is closed. The valve is a little different than a normal bleed valve in that only 1/4 turn is required to bleed.

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I just limped it up to the local auto shop and bought a small bottle of fluid. It took almost the entire small bottle. I pumped it a few times and it returned to normal, but only for a little bit. It's back to being to almost the floor.

So it was def low, but somehow not low enough to throw a light. And the brakes feel good. I'll pull the air box and double check the bleed valve as you suggested.

I'm def screwed being the day before a holiday, so my soonest I could even get it to someone would be Monday anyway. /sigh

Thanks for the help guys!

Beeah said:

I just limped it up to the local auto shop and bought a small bottle of fluid. It took almost the entire small bottle. I pumped it a few times and it returned to normal, but only for a little bit. It's back to being to almost the floor.
So it was def low, but somehow not low enough to throw a light. And the brakes feel good. I'll pull the air box and double check the bleed valve as you suggested.
I'm def screwed being the day before a holiday, so my soonest I could even get it to someone would be Monday anyway. /sigh
Thanks for the help guys!

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I just bled this today on my car. Check out...

https://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=482344

and...

https://www.autoinstruct.com.au/man...lf-clutch-delay-valve-removal/?v=7516fd43adaa

If you have a power bleeder, it is easy. If not, you can have a partner pump the clutch for you. See...

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=481818

It shouldn't take you more than an hour or two.

When you pull the airbag inspect the whole clutch line for leaks. Also check if any fluid is leaking out from the bellhousing below.

Friend and I bled the system, got a TON of air and foamy fluid out. But, it never really stopped being soft. I had a quality bleeder kit setup and we pulled a vacuum on the bleeder valve. Poured about a full half liter of fluid though the system but continuously got bubbles, so it's gotta be an air leak.

We tested the vacuum bleed setup by simple turning the bleed valve off and pulling vacuum, the connection was solid.

Now the issue is which side of the bleeder valve is it coming from, the pedal side, or the clutch side? Or could it be the bleeder valve itself?

You could try the clutch bleeder block here. Not a cheap option, but it does help greatly with future bleedings and pedal feel is greatly improved as this eliminates the "delay valve" in the stock unit.

Though, if it were truly an air leak, would you not also have a fluid leak?

adjat84th said:

Though, if it were truly an air leak, would you not also have a fluid leak?

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We've been thinking the same thing, but no leaks of any kind have been found anywhere. I took it to the expert shop I bought the car from yesterday an it was a good 30 mile drive. I jumped in the car, had to pump up the clutch as it was almost to the floor but driving it to the shop I didn't have any issues of any kind...

When it first started I had to keep pumping the thing almost nonstop to keep the clutch functional. So now it seems to be intermittent.

It’s got to be either the master or the slave. I would think it’s easier to start with the master as you would need to pull the trans to do the slave(tob).

Picked up the car Monday, so far so good. I got a feeling it's going to be OK. I think the level just got low and it pulled in some air into the clutch line. HOW the level got low as of right now there is nothing. No evidence of any kind of leak.

Just going to drive it and hope for the best for now, not worth spending a ton of money until we find the smoking gun.


/crossfingers

UPDATE!!

Yeah, the hydraulic throwout(slave cylinder?) is leaking. Local shop who is gaining my trust quoted me $1,500 for the job. Much better then the "Few Grand" quote that I got before.

Is the clutch bad too??
The throwout is less than $100 so should just be paying labor. That seems steep.

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If it's anything like the 6MT on the older cars (Mk4, e.g.), the slave cylinder / throwout bearing is inside the bell-housing, so the transmission has to come out to fix. That won't be cheap.

(Just checked - yep, that's not easy to get at.)

not easy but also isn't that bad, many places should have cracked the bell housing and starting to replace the throw out bearing in under 3 hrs.

$1500 quoted seems about right, my only concern is that the pressure plate or clutch may be needing replacing if the fluid has been leaking out, so 1500 may turn into 2500 real quick once it's cracked open.

adjat84th said:

Is the clutch bad too??
The throwout is less than $100 so should just be paying labor. That seems steep.

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To remove a transmission, perform a clutch kit replacement and re-install? Seems pretty reasonable to me. I looked up a kit on IDParts.com and one kit was $400.

If the clutch is bad then that absolutely sounds more reasonable for all parts involved. I'd think the flywheel and pressure plate would be ok with just a resurface though. Labor should be under 6 hours, transmission removal isn't that bad on these with proper lift and second pair of hands briefly.

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That's not a terrible price if the clutch disk and pressure plate are getting replaced too. If the car has over 100k miles I'd seriously consider replacing the dmf(with dmf) too while it's apart. Luk Clutch kits+ dual mass flywheel can be bought for about $550.

I believe I paid $600 labor for my '01 clutch replacement that I just didn't have time to do. I've done the work myself, twice, on my Golf and it's not too terrible. Just throwing out one data point.

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Just looking at the underguts of my 2015, I'm not sure if the transmission on the Mk7 drops out nearly as cleanly / easily as on the Mk4 5sp. Putting a 6MT back in my Mk4 was certainly more of an adventure than dealing with the 5sp., so I assume the 6MT on the Mk7 would be at least as....interesting.

You still have to pivot the engine forward like the MK4..it's very similar clearances. It's not that involved and much easier with a lift and extra body to pull off and put back on.