Heres a weird one for you

[Error404]

Putting my car back together and had fitted all new brake lines so bled brakes as normal using a pressure bleeder off a spare tyre - all fine.

Went to bleed the clutch last so opened the bleed valve on the slave cylinder and nothing came out - weird i though so i screwed it out a bit further - still nothing.

Hmmmm..maybe its just blocked with gunge etc, so i pressed the clutch pedal and heard fluid spurt out, and the pedal sank to the floor and stayed there. Clearly no pressure getting from the reservoir pushing fluid to the master cylinder

So checked the pressure in the tyre - all ok.

Pulled the feed line to the master cylinder off the reservoir and found this:



WTF! The nipple was blocked, but not really blocked, the hole was never there, the nipple was solid on the end from the original mould, like on a new tube of sealant or something
So I cut the end off and fluid poured out, connected the line back on, bled the clutch and all was well.

Is this a freak manufacturing defect or a sneaky audi trying to outwit the aftermarket fitters?
Wonder if thats the first time my clutch has been bled in almost 19 years

So if you can't seem to bleed your clutch, have a look at the reservoir nipple first!

Alex

[mcandmar]

Heres another one for you, you know the little brass piece on the back of a 7A throttle body that connects to the fuel pressure regulator, mine was a solid lump as they had neglected to drill the hole through it

[Big Lee M]

Audi slacking on fetteling then. Bet your glad you found out it wasn't just full of crap and blocked up.

[Error404]

yeah i was about to go mad thinking the amster clylinder had packed up on me! I like the simple fixes

Weird how a car can go 19 years without ever needing the clutch bleeding though - fair play!

[S2central.net]

My clutch has never been bled either... it is on the list though

[macspring]

My 2.0L 16v Avant's

clutch used to judder when the car was queuing in heavy traffic on a hot day making it hard to move the car forward a few feet in a smooth manner, we put it down to the clutch being old and getting too hot in traffic and that the clutch was on it's way out.

While bleeding the brakes, we bled the slave cylinder at the gearbox until fresh clean brake fluid came through. Clutch never acted up again after that.

The fluid from the reservoir to the clutch cylinder was obviously old and the water it had absorbed over the years was boiling and making the operation of the clutch difficult.

HTH someone also.

Think I mentioned this here a good while ago, but worth repeating.

[Greg_S]

I'll def give that a try then since I get the same problem if you are in traffic for a while.

[driftin jo]

I suspect that the reservoir was replaced at some point , probably due to it bursting due to someone using a pressure bleeder with too much pressure !

They prob just put a new one in in a hurry and did not cut the end off or being stupid did not even realize that there was no hole in it and that it needed to be cut.

I friend of mine had his Audi a4 come back from the dealers a few years ago , it had been in for a free service and one of the things they replaced was the brake fluid reservoir, there was a note saying it had been replaced due to a split in it and that it was free of charge !
Upon further inspection we found where lots of brake fluid had been all over the engine bay ! It had exploded when they did the brakes, they just didn't want to say it.

Javad from 034 also had this happen to him , I remember reading about it .

http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/view...asc&start=1025

If yours had been fitted like this from new they never would have been able to get the clutch to work, unless they poured fluid into the pipe then put the pipe on .
I think this would be more effort than just cutting the end off the nipple.

A lot of cars have these that don't have hydraulic clutch, the reservoirs are just generic so it is cut when needed.

[Error404]

Sounds logical, must have been replaced a while ago the reservoir looks ancient and the fluid that came out was pretty rank!

[s2driveruk]

for anyone who hasnt had their clutch bled, whilst its a PITA to do, looking at the colour of the fluid I had when I did mine I would say definately well worth doing sooner rather than later.

[Greg_S]

Is there a procedure for doing it on the forum?

[Rusty]

I know mine's fine, it's been done a couple of times...

[s2driveruk]

Is there a procedure for doing it on the forum?

Car up on axle stands x 4 or on a ramp

Ezibleed or equivalent - (make sure enough fluid in the bottle to allow a decent flush through and no bubbles)

Fumble in the dark on the passenger side of the box, just infront of the gearbox support arm
13mm spanner to losen off the bleed nipple
piece of small gauge pipe to connect to nipple and something to catch the old fluid in
Open nipple and draw through fluid until runs clean
close nipple.......drop car, job done

[Rusty]

It helps if you put the car in gear to move the mechanism out the way... I just can't remember which gear

[mcandmar]

5th, but i found it easier to unbolt the bracket from the gearbox and push it out of the way.