sullyTDI
Veteran Member
Wanted to throw this out there for information.
My 98 Beetle TDI Started having problems going into gear almost over night. (Original Clutch)
Was like hard to go into first, and fifth where the worst others where hard to, reverse would grind.
I knew from reading the forum posts, that the clutch wasn't releasing properly.
So I check the fluid and it was to the minimum mark. So, that ment air in the clutch system, I bled, and bled and bled. No change.
Anyway, took it to my trusted mechanic, he thought the same thing I did. He bled and bled. Nothing.
So we decided it was something in the clutch broke. He pulled it and low and behold, the clutch release lever,
steel had failed, cracked and bent 1 1/2" out, severly limiting clutch release.
Here is a photo borrowed from IDParts.com showing where it had cracked and failed. As this one is shown, cracked and the end bent downward.
Edit: This must have been going on a while, we replaced the clutch and lever, an now shifts better than it ever has..
My 98 Beetle TDI Started having problems going into gear almost over night. (Original Clutch)
Was like hard to go into first, and fifth where the worst others where hard to, reverse would grind.
I knew from reading the forum posts, that the clutch wasn't releasing properly.
So I check the fluid and it was to the minimum mark. So, that ment air in the clutch system, I bled, and bled and bled. No change.
Anyway, took it to my trusted mechanic, he thought the same thing I did. He bled and bled. Nothing.
So we decided it was something in the clutch broke. He pulled it and low and behold, the clutch release lever,
steel had failed, cracked and bent 1 1/2" out, severly limiting clutch release.
Here is a photo borrowed from IDParts.com showing where it had cracked and failed. As this one is shown, cracked and the end bent downward.
Edit: This must have been going on a while, we replaced the clutch and lever, an now shifts better than it ever has..
Last edited: