VR6 Clutch Problem.. Please help

[Europolo 0]

Is it fubbar'd????

 

Something in my clutch decided to give in today.. I mean I knew something was up for a little while but was hoping it would hold out for a while. Dont think its just the pedal box like when my polo one went about 4 months back because there is still some tension in the pedal at the very very end...

 

Its 96% on the floor and I cant select any gears.. Only on the very very odd occasion. I just about made it home early, got it into second and crawled, just making the traffic lights...

 

B4 this the clutch never slipped and always bit and released well on hard(ish) launches..

There was no sudden snap that it stopped workin, I pulled up, went to drive off and it nearlly hit the floor and grinded first gear.

But recently it had been working lower / closer to the floor and not feeling right at all...

I could put my foot down and pull the pedal out with my toes a little bit after pressing it

i found myself grinding gears if not taking my time through the box..

Could it be the master cylinder or slave cylinder? Is there any way to tell?

 

 

Can anyone take a guess and diagnose the problem?

 

Has anyone upgraded their Vr6 clutch?

Where'd you buy? How much?

Might aswell do the timing chain now at the same time while gearbox's out...

 

Please help thanks...

[Leonard 0]

I dont think it is worth upgrading your clutch.

 

Just get the best OE one you can should be around £100 mark. They last ages (Im on 83K) and are easily good for 250bhp.

 

Matt

[CrazyDave 0]

Could be any of the above. Master / Slave etc but most likely cause of sudden pedal loss is a cracked release arm.

 

You could maybe try bleeding the slave cylinder first just to make sure.

 

Standard clutch is good for at least 260lbft and maybe a bit more, so unless you have big turbo plans in the near future I'd go standard.

 

And yes might be worth doing the timing chains at the same time.....

[Son_of_Thor 0]

Slave cylinder went on my VR6 a few months back - main symptom was that it dumped the entire reservoir of fluid all over the road when it went! It'd been gradually been leaking out and needing topping up for a while before it eventually went - Turned out that it was the seal that was shafted. Sounds like the same symptom though, pedal clunked straight against the bulkhead when you pressed it.....

[ProdigalSon 1]

Been through this myself, and ended up changing e v e r y t h i n g (hydraulics and friction parts!) :roll:

 

Some diagnostics:

 

If you have a hydraulic leak somewhere, that's a good clue(!)

If you have pooled hydraulic fluid on top of the gearbox, it is probably your slave cylinder.

If you cannot bleed the master cylinder (continuous froth or fine bubbles in the fluid), it is probably that.

If you can bleed the master but the slave has froth/foam and can't be bled clear, it is probably the rubber hydraulic hose between (they go porous to air even if they don't weep).

If the hydraulics are all OK, it is mechanical, probably the release arm.

If the gear change had been hard/clunky before it went, it probably would've been an overworn/disintegrated friction plate (as mine was :pale: ).

Note that there are few definitive ways to check parts other than by replacing them and re-testing, and that you may have more than one part on its way out (I had a total of 5 :bad-words: )...

 

Hope that helps :wink:

[dinkus 10]

I'd go with the clutch slave or release arm, although the clutch slave sounds more likely of the two.

 

It's fairly easy to see and remove (hah, well as anything is in a VR engine bay) so you can check it out without going to the extent of taking the gearbox off. They're £60 or so to replace, but it'll be obvious pretty much straight away if it's dead.

[Toad 0]

On earlier VRs you have to remove the gearbox brace. Take the gearbox mount bolt out and remove the 2 17mm bolts through the bracket and lift it out, then there is enough space to pull the clutch slave out. Removing part of the shift tower can also help.