Clutch or gearbox?

Hi all,

I have been experiencing some problems with the gear change in my golf (MKV 2.0 TDI GT 6 speed manual):

• It is sometimes very hard to get it into or out of reverse gear.
• It is sometimes hard to get it into 1st gear.
• The biting point of the clutch pedal sometimes seems to move or have 2 stages of engaging.
• The clutch pedal sometimes moves when in gear as the engine revs change

This is often worse when cold, but it does also sometimes occur during long drives.

The clutch plates don’t seem worn since all other gears work fine and there are no problems when I try pulling away in a high gear.

I have tried the following simple/cheap fixes so far:

• Changed clutch master cylinder.
• Flushed clutch hydraulic fluid
• Replaced gear stick lever ball joint
• Readjusted gear linkages (twice to be sure)

At this stage I think the problem is most likely to be the slave cylinder, but this is within the bell housing and so costly to replace. I am now contemplating replacing the clutch, DMF and slave cylinder but I am wondering if this problem could be to do with the gearbox synchromesh instead. The car has done 140,000 miles so I am a bit wary of spending £600-£700 on this if the problem is with the gearbox since replacing them both would cost more than the car is worth.

Is there any way to confirm if the problem is with the clutch system or gearbox?

Thanks

Phil

I'm still struggling with this issue. I have now had the slave cyclinder replaced as well as the clutch, which I really had hoped would cure the issue, but it has not.

It feels to me like there is air in the hydraulic line since the clutch sometimes does not disengage when the pedal is fully depressed. However it has been blead multiple times over the past year both by myslef and 2 different garages including last week when the clutch and slave cylinder were replaced.

Could anyone offer any other suggestions to try? I need to sell the car now, but I want to fix it first.

philjwb said:

I'm still struggling with this issue. I have now had the slave cyclinder replaced as well as the clutch, which I really had hoped would cure the issue, but it has not.

It feels to me like there is air in the hydraulic line since the clutch sometimes does not disengage when the pedal is fully depressed. However it has been blead multiple times over the past year both by myslef and 2 different garages including last week when the clutch and slave cylinder were replaced.

Could anyone offer any other suggestions to try? I need to sell the car now, but I want to fix it first.

Click to expand...

I am struggling with a similar issue following the slave cylinder replacement. It is most likely either air in the clutch line because if I bleed it, it shifts really well and after a while the clutch pedal stays sometimes on the floor (while still engaging the gear). By varying the incline of the car when bleeding really improved the situation it is still not 100% good. At this point I am not sure if I could bleed it fully or if one seal let air in.