Clutch and gearbox questions, help please.

[Animal Mother]

I am about to get the cambelt done on the car (and all of the other things that go with it) and was wondering if I should get the clutch changed at the same time?
The clutch is very nearly on its last legs and I was thinking it might work out cheaper overall to get it all done in one go.

Also, is first gear always noisy? Tim at Renn-tech said that first usually sounds quite agricultural.

Will be getting belts done on monday so some help by then would be great.

[Knight Rider S4]

You got money to burn .if you get that done(clutch) add another £300 to the bill ...get the gear oil changed might help 1st gear issue

[Animal Mother]

You got money to burn .if you get that done(clutch) add another £300 to the bill ...get the gear oil changed might help 1st gear issue

Clutch is knackered I reckon! It is currently has a two stage action with no pressure haf way down (with no effect on the plate) and then very heavy to the floor with a very much on/off action on the clutch plate!
Will get the gear oil done, but is 1st a little noisy normally?

[Jas11n]

That sounds to me like the master cylinder push rod is bent. You push the pedal down and it's quite light, then the bent part of the rod starts catching inside the master and it gets VERY heavy. When it gets alot worse the clutch pedal can actually stick down, you have to hook a foot under it to help it spring back up.
Get down under the dash and have a look, on the clutch pedal arm you'll see the clevis pin attaching the rod, peel back the rubber boot and check to see if you can see the rod bent.

For me, signs of a clutch about to drop dead are biting at the VERY top and slipping like nuts.

I could obviously be wrong, but it's worth checking out before having to pull your gearbox off the change the clutch.

[Animal Mother]

That sounds to me like the master cylinder push rod is bent. You push the pedal down and it's quite light, then the bent part of the rod starts catching inside the master and it gets VERY heavy. When it gets alot worse the clutch pedal can actually stick down, you have to hook a foot under it to help it spring back up.
Get down under the dash and have a look, on the clutch pedal arm you'll see the clevis pin attaching the rod, peel back the rubber boot and check to see if you can see the rod bent.

For me, signs of a clutch about to drop dead are biting at the VERY top and slipping like nuts.

I could obviously be wrong, but it's worth checking out before having to pull your gearbox off the change the clutch.

Do you mean the rod which actually pushes the master cylinder piston?
What is the clevis pin?
Any pictures of this anybody? Even a diagram would be great.

[Jas11n]

Do you mean the rod which actually pushes the master cylinder piston?

The very one

What is the clevis pin?

The clevis and pin is what attaches the rod to the clutch pedal arm.

[Jas11n]

Picture;
Peel back the rubber slightly and you should be able to see if the stupidly thin rod is bent. It will eventually snap, leaving you without your clutch. IIRC Si (Hpmuirt) BrianSmith_S2 and T2Andy have all replaced this due to it snapping. Whether they had the same heavy clutch at the lower end? I don't know, but that's exactly the symptoms I had. I've even bought a spare for the future, as Audi like to make things go NLA without any warning.

Worth a look, if it's not that, you've lost nothing.



Jas..

[Animal Mother]

GREAT
Really appreciate this as it could save me bags of cash!

[Knight Rider S4]

Pic of one

[Animal Mother]

Right, I decided I would have a look at this master cylinder piston rod today. After taking off my lower dash I discovered that it is a right to get to and that unless you take off the cylinder you can't see the rod!
A steel box completely surrounds the assembly and makes it impossible to check.
I have attached this little CAD drawing to show the problem. It is a side projection from the passenger side.

[S2central.net]

It was a Friday afternoon design on S2 - prolly not much better on S4/S6... I think Jas is onto something here though and has got me thinking of buying one actually for that rainy day.

Paul

[Jas11n]

Sorry, don't about any steel cage, my S2 didn't have that. Not much help I know, but having never had a urS4/S6 I'm not sure how you'll check that rod.

Jas

[4WheelDrifter]

Strange. That diagram doesn't look the same as an S2 clutch arrangement.

I've just removed my clutch master cylinder and the rod looks fine. Not bad considering it's been in use for ~16 years and 180k miles.

[Animal Mother]

Definately my clutch is knackered.
From advice, knackered clutch=heavy clutch=more force=bent master cylinder rod!
Getting sorted on Monday, along with belts and pulleys.