In France - No Clutch Pedal - HELP (please)

[HPmuirt]

Hi guru's,

So I'm on hols in France...right now...yes I know I am sad for taking my laptop on holiday

Day 1 - cruising around the place at monstrous speeds (I assume when it says 110 they mean MPH :mischeif: ) and then my clutch pedal starts getting stiff.

Day 2 - the pedal will only return to just above the bite point, but will only come all the way back up when pulled. When I then depress it again, it feels stiffer but OK, until the bite point, then really stiff.

Day 3 - now driving with clutch pedal wedged in sandal so I can push and pull.

Day 4 am - sticking point on pedal is now below the bite point so if I do not pull the pedal back after a gear change, the clutch slips. Call my mate who owns an Audi specialist garage and after the laughter dies down (he's put me on speaker phone) he says talks me through a few checks and suggests I call in at a garage and get them to check the pedal mech and bleed the clutch.

Day 4 pm - Stop at a garage. They look in the engine bay, check the brake fluid reservoir, then look under the dash and tell me the pedal is broken. I tell them I will drive home using the pedal in shoe method and they agree might be possible. Go to leave and find that the pedal is all the way down, with no feel and definately no effect on the clutch, so the car is dead What the hell did he do when his arm was all the way under my dash?

I phone VAG assistance who organise me a Golf TDI (Crap for overtaking and damn hard to attain the 110 MPH speed limits). They tell me a lorry will arrive shortly to take my car to the nearest VAG garage. I explain that the car MUST be fixed tomorrow as I leave the next day for EN-GER-LAND.

Oh, and it's now raining

Day 5 - I phone the VAG garage, who have not got my car, but think it might arrive this afternoon....maybe....but he does not sound convincing.

So, here we are, as car that the VAG garage do not have, do not understand what an S2 is and they do not hold parts for, has no clutch pedal. Might have stopped raining though

What do you reckon is wrong...clutch or pedal? Which other cars shared common components, especially those likely to be broken? Are they gonna be able to fix it, or am I stuck in France as the summer finally ends and the rains come?

Cheers n (cheap French)

Si

P.S. anyone own a trailer and fancy doing a booze cruise to France

[jameswkr]

I had this happen on my S2 ( search the threads - April '04 ). It was the pushrod from clutch pedal to master cylinder - it has a rubber connection in the middle. If you have tools you can mend it. If it is the master cylinder there are other BTDTs also. If you cannot find the thread PM me and I will explain further. Good luck...

[HPmuirt]

Hey James, thanks for the info. Now just gotta find out where the hell they have put my car and hope that they carry spares in this little backwater.

At least the rain has stopped for now.

Cheers n

Si

[WabTheKing]

i had a similar problem, slave cylinder ****ed

[Fat Audi 80]

I beleive the the actuating pin on the master cylinder has a habit of bending slowly or all in one go like mine did. A design fault apparently. That is where I would start.
When mine did this I just ended up with a hard pedal and the clutch would not disengage.

HTH

Good luck

Steve.

[MidnightBlueS2]

France !!!

Hang in there Si !

But, if I may, if I were you, I'd get the hell out of France.
I just came back from over there and I did pay the local ( yeah right, local for southern France is a 100km round trip ) VAG d/ship in Toulon a visit since I needed to replace a blown light bulb.
The guy behind the parts counter had seen me pull up in the garage lot and he was intrigued to say the least by my "bizarre" Avant. Asked me what kind of Avant it was and I say "S2". Then he gets puzzled, frowns and furrows brows whilst scratching head.
"I've never seen one" he says, "Saw the catalog for the coupe about 10-15 years ago but we never sold one or even serviced one to the best of my knowledge but we do have the bulb you're after".
So I'm about to leave when the whole service garage empties its full lot of mechanics, body workers, etc... Only the salesmen stayed holed up as they know to stay well clear from enthusiasts, especially me
Geez, they were all over the Avant ! Got lots of compliments since the body has just been resprayed and got a group "Whoaaaaa !!!" when I popped the hood after the parts counter guy wanted to have a peek. All were interested in the S2 but the service manager did confess that they wouldn't know where to start if the car had some sort of boost pressure problem or anything more complicated than an oil change. No kidding !

Left the lot after promising to go up the road and hammer the S2 past the d/ship so that they could get a load of the S2's single turbo kicking in and to hear the WG pschhhh whilst passing them by...

So, all in all, a very fun visit to a d/ship ( hasn't happened for.... well actually I 've never liked d/ships come to think of it ) but I couldn't help thinking "Boy, I'm happy my engine's running fine !"

Best of luck and if you need help with translations ( verbal or written ), I'm perfectly fluent in French so just PM me with your mobile # and I'll sort you out with'em.

Take care,

David

[HPmuirt]

Hey David,

Thanks for the story...cheered me up no end and thanks for the offer of translation...I am already on the limit, so may well need you.

I got the impression from this place that they had no idea what an S2 was but hopefully by the sounds of the ideas above, which fit my symptoms, hopefully they have ordered the correct parts and should be able to fix it....it is just a clutch at the end of the day (famous last words).

Cheers n (cheap French)

Si

[HPmuirt]

I beleive the the actuating pin on the master cylinder has a habit of bending slowly or all in one go like mine did. A design fault apparently. That is where I would start.
When mine did this I just ended up with a hard pedal and the clutch would not disengage.

HTH

Good luck

Steve.

Hey Steve,

Sounds bang on, so I told this to the garage and they seemed to understand what I meant so it may save so hassle.

Many thanks for the info.

Cheers n (cheap French)

Si

[porkkis]

The clutch pedal nor the hydraulic mechanism is not anyway unique for the S2 so any garage familiar with about similar audis should be able to fix it with no probs.

Without the slipping I'd say it's the slave cyl but as one symptom is slipping then it might be the slave cyl bar is somehow bent and does not allow the clutch to fully disengage. May be a long shot.

Steve may be right with the master cyl bar being bent.

[Flexx]

..if u need parts of clutch or the cylinder or pedal...let me know. I can send it from Germany

[Fat Audi 80]

Confession time, I can't remember whether it was the Slave or Master Cylinder pin/bar that was bent on mine.... The Mechanic at the garage informed me. The reason I think it is the master cylinder, is that I think he said he was going to change the slave cylinder while he had the gearbox off as well as it was only £60 and not worth the hassle of taking the gearbox off to do it again at later date should it fail.....

Hope that is still of some help!

Cheers,

Steve

[~Delta]

Bent rods are normally in the master cylinder. Caused by worn pressure plates (normally) when clutch action becoms heavy.

Always replace ABY master cylinders with the right one, 3B and non S cars share the same cylinder, but they don't last long with 6 speed boxes running dual mass flywheels. The rod simply isn't up to the job of the beefier clutch. The rod on ABY cars is stronger than 3B items and slightly thicker.