Clutch troubles?

[flak monkey]

Noticed on my Leon today that its sometimes tricky to get it into gear, almost as if the clutch isnt fully disengaging.

Is an FR TDi 150, chipped to ~180bhp. 6 speed box. The car has done about 52k miles, so I would have thought the clutch would have lasted longer.

Its done it quite frequently today, but its the first time. Could be the weather, or just a coincidence I guess.

Does it whether its hot or cold.

It does it regardless of what gear you try and put it in, so I ruled out synchro's.

You can also try any other gear first then try and put it in first and it still wont go in.

Fluid level is OK I think.

It doesnt seem to slip, whether you boot it in second or in top gear at slow speed. Also tried handbrake on in second, stalls quickly as soon as clutch bites.

The biting point seems at about the right point in the travel, ie isnt too low or too high

Nothings been apart or fiddled with so its nothing I have done.

Its most noticeable if you have to stop then select first (though if you try other gears it wont go in either).

Any suggestions or ideas before I resort to taking it to the VW garage?

Seems like clutch drag to me, but seems random and low milage for that?


Thanks,
David

 

[flak monkey]

No one?

 

[sockpuppet]

Not sure if you have quite the same problem as me, as I have trouble getting 1st and reverse sometimes.

The main difference with mine is that the biting point is not consistent on mine, when it is going into gear properly the biting point is where I would expect, but sometimes I will have the car in 1st in traffic with the clutch pedal fully depressed and the gear will engage.

It has happened on and off for the last 2 years / 55000 miles. I took it into seat and they couldn't find anything wrong as it's intermittent and wouldn't happen when they had the car.
I have had 2 fluid changes, the 1st cured the problem for about 3000 miles and the 2nd fluid change didn't do anything. I have also had the gearbox oil changed. This has done nothing either.

I have read on here about incorrect gearbox fluid and incorrect gear ratios causing this.

It is starting to drive me mad so I will probably take the car in next year and let them look at it.

 

[pintpharm]

I have similar problem but mainly just in 1st and reverse and it feels like very occasionally in 2nd.

I have taken it to 2 garages and neither notice anything!

It is intermittent but happens at least once a trip, usually if I have been gently rolling in 1st in traffic or parking, maybe when I ride clutch slightly?

I have also noticed a very small amount of clutch slip in 4th and 5th gears at about 2500rpm. The revs only rise very slightly and then drop again as it bites....

I am going to try bleeding clutch in case there is any air in there....

I know what you mean about biting point also, definately changes, could this be a sign of air/leak in system??

please let me know if anyone has ideas or gets this resolved....

B

 

[20v roper]

Hi I posted on here about this last week. My dads mk1 cupra was doing this and it turned out it was the clutch pedal and the clutch needed replacing as there had been a fluid leak from the hydraulic pipe. It's all sorted now but it was a bit expensive.

 

[sockpuppet]

Have you had the fluid changed? Supposed to be done every 2 years I think.

I had this and it drove me mad for 2 years/50000 miles. It would work fine for days at a time and then it wouldn't go into 1st 1 in 10 times. Eventually it was bad enough (1 in every 5 attempts) that the garage could experience what was happening and diagnosed the slave cylinder was at fault.

I had the clutch done at the same time (no labour cost) as they had to split the engine from the gearbox to get to the slave cylinder.

 

[pintpharm]

Is that the brake/clutch fluid?

did you ever experience slight slipping also?

I am going to try and bleed it see if that helps then maybe master cylinder?

Any more tips for diagnosis very welcome