Considering 02 wagon -does this description of problem make sense?

From an ad on craigslist. Price is only 2800. Might make a great car for one of my kids.

2002 VW Jetta TDI diesel wagon for sale. This car get 50 MPG and is running strong. The timing belt and water pump was replace at 160,000 miles. This car seems like it will run forever. It appears the clutch slave cylinder is not functioning properly. When the clutch pedal is pressed down the car does not go into a neutral position. I was told is was the slave cylinder. But it does make sense to me.

This car is super clean and straight. All leather (black) and in great shape. Fix the clutch issue and drive this car forever. Clear title

Does this description make sense? How to fix/how much to fix?

Has 226K on it.

Thoughts?

Slave cylinders rarely fail. More likely the clutch release arm pivot wore through the arm. It happens, no big deal. Trans will have to come out, obviously, and you'd want to do a new clutch/flywheel etc. while in there anyways.

I've seen the little clips that hold the pipe fail and cause a leak, also if someone has been at it they might not have bled it properly which of course can stop it's full travel.

That's all I can think of

oilhammer said:

Slave cylinders rarely fail. More likely the clutch release arm pivot wore through the arm. It happens, no big deal. Trans will have to come out, obviously, and you'd want to do a new clutch/flywheel etc. while in there anyways.

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With that mileage, I'd do the rear seal while there too.

Agree with the above, and adding 0.02 more...

2002 - 2003 5-speed TDI wagons are generally regarded as a holy grail of sorts.
If it's a reasonably straight car overall, even if it needs some mechanical work, $2800 is an attractive price and the car won't last long.

If it's really just a slave cylinder (and I'm suspicious, just as the others above are...) the slave cylinder is a fairly cheap easy repair- why wouldn't the owner just have that fixed and sell the car as 100%, not needing that repair, etc. ?