Clutch Pedal Oddness

Car: 2006, 295k. DMF replaced with Valeo SMF and clutch at about 120k.

Malone 1.5 tune, hitch installed, occasional towing, mostly highway use.



Issue:

The clutch pedal has some randomness when it comes to the release point. Most of the time, the pedal has normal feel.

Other times, the pedal will go nearly to the floor before the clutch releases.

I thought that there may be some clutch slip happening that causes this but I've observed none.

I don't think it's heat related because sometimes the pedal will fall nearly to the floor first thing in the morning.



One last thing I also noticed. When going from DMF to SMF, of course my car got the gear / synchro rattle that's common. Over the last 20k or so, that rattle has disappeared. If I "stab" the clutch pedal to the floor and immediately release it, I can make it come back.



Ideas? I'm hoping for something simple, like slave cylinder. But, the rattle noise tells me that maybe the clutch isn't releasing all the way. Which makes no sense, as there is zero clutch slip while driving.

Hey 325 Guy,
I can’t say for sure that you have the same problem that I had? But this would be Good for Everybody that Owns a TDI MK5 Jetta 5-Speed Manual Car to know.
My Clutch Master Cylinder went Out with 192K miles on it, So I ordered a New CMC and Also a New Slave Valve (since it was just as Old). I’m going to make a Long story short, and tell you what I Learned after Swapping Out the CMC Twice! I took the New Slave Cylinder Back Out of the Car and Measured (Both the Old and the New Slave Valve with a Good Set of Calipers. I found that there is a Big Difference in the Length of Travel in the SV Actuator Rod on the New SV and it Was Not Long Enough to Work, .25” Too Short, and Also 3/16” smaller OD which was keeping it from going to the right place inside the Bell-housing!?!
I then Put the Old Slave Valve back in My Car, Bled the Clutch and it Now is working Great Now!
I Looked at the Original Slave Valve that was in the Car that was Manufactured 10/2006, that I bought New From the Dealer In 2007. (This Came From the Factory With a Slave Valve that has the part Number stamped into the plastic Body on One Side, and on the other side it is Stamped in Very Small Print (VW A6). So if you have a Late Year Model VW MK5 TDI, it Very well May have a Few Mk6 parts Here and there and a few Mk4 Parts too? I took pictures of the Factory parts that I Removed from the Car, I’m not able to post them at the moment but could later if needed? I did find a Link to a Dealer that Shows the part That fits the Mk6 and Fits in several different MK5 Models Too. VW was trying to Use Every available part they had since they were Not Going to be selling the TDI’s in the US in 2007 or 2008,
I will post the Link Below Here;
https://www.cascadegerman.com/product/1k0721261l/
I Hope this helps. Good Luck.

Appreciate it man! Sometimes I'll reply to my own threads with info like that, little tidbits or gotchas that I find that may be useful to somebody years down the road trying to find a solution to a problem.

As it stands here, I feel like I'll have to just swap out parts and see what happens. The good thing is that none of this is affecting driveability so it's not an urgent rush.