Clutch/Transmission Problem

I have a 2012 Jetta TDI with the 6 speed manual transmission. It’s at 150k miles and when I went to leave work I couldn’t get it into gear. The clutch goes down but it’s still grinding trying to get into any gear. It was dark outside but it also looks like (what I am assuming is transmission fluid?) had leaked all over the place. Once it was towed to my house and I got a chance to look at it a few weeks later I checked to make sure all the plugs were tight on the bottom of the transmission which they were so nothing leaked from there. I removed the battery and battery platform as well as the air intake components so that I have a clear view of what I think is the top of the clutch. It looks like maybe there was a leak from the top of this but I can’t be sure since everything is pretty dirty under there. What I need to know is if this sounds like a cut and dry clutch failure or if it’s possibly something else. I included a picture of what I am looking at that may have leaked. I’d really appreciate any help because taking this to a shop to have it diagnosed, towed and fixed isn’t in the budget at all right now. Thanks

The clutch is hydraulically operated, so have you checked into that, or know where the clutch master and slave cylinders are located? I have an automatic so have not studied the clutch system for the manual box...

I have not and I’m not sure where it is but I can find it and that gives me somewhere to start so thank you. I’ll keep up with this thread as I go.

If the master cylinder or slave cylinder were to blame that would affect the pressure in the clutch pedal right? My pedal still feels the same and pops right back up when released which makes me thing the issue is with something past that point in the system.

ZWBeamer said:

If the master cylinder or slave cylinder were to blame that would affect the pressure in the clutch pedal right? My pedal still feels the same and pops right back up when released which makes me thing the issue is with something past that point in the system.

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That depends on how it fails. I had a total failure of the (couple month old) slave cylinder in a Cavalier years ago. The pedal went straight to the floor and stayed there. If it is just a small leak it could hold enough pressure to feel normal but still not disengage the clutch completely.

Sounds like your clutch slave cylinder died. Time to pull the transmission out.

Thanks guys

did you checked brake reservoir for low level ( must be fully filled)?..That would more confirm if the clutch hydr. is leaking..hard to believe that clutch is popping back up and feels like there's pressure with a slave/master failure..just went thru this.. I had to pull trans. and replace the slave..

I do have a full reservoir. Just to clarify, in order to replace the slave cylinder I have to pull the transmission? Also here’s an update. I had it towed to a shop finally who held it for 3 days and said they looked at it but it’s clear nothing was even attempted to be disassembled repaired. They said they couldn’t fix it and had to go to dealership but it’s all of a sudden shifting fine. It’s been sitting for a while now so I don’t know how it went from not working to shifting again. Seems like a sign something is failing though. Other shop is trying to get me to have them replace the clutch right off the bat. All of this has driven me back to trying to fix it myself since you can’t trust any of these shops in town.

The slave cylinder is integral with the throwout bearing. The transmission has to come out to replace it. Sometimes they go bad without leaking externally, sometimes they blow fluid out into the bellhousing. Your clutch is probably fine.