Gearbox is out, nice job!

[ericd]

No need to bleed the hydraulics Eric. Did you mention you worked for a VW dealer?? Do they mention in the tech books how to check a flywheel??

Tom, that's what I was wondering, anything we've seen is visually obvious like excessive play or a broken bit, though some of the guys have removed them from VR6's and a few other Golfs, I'll ask my friendly master techs in the morning , get you access to any books/cd's we're a VW/Audi/Skoda dealership/garage/s (one VW, one Audi/skoda) with a separate body shop goes under the name Ingrams , used to be a customer before I started working for them...

[audiman]

Same here Eric, they are normally visibly fooked!

[Graham]

I used a bent spanner as well and I also noticed than one of the nuts I removed was smaller than the rest.

This was the one part which gave me greif when i took the head off, in the end i used a mates socket set which was snap off. And it made the job very easy. The socket fitted on straight away with about a foot of extension bars the ratchet was next to the brake reservior. This made it really easy.

[Graham]

This was the one part which gave me greif when i took the head off, in the end i used a mates socket set which was snap off. And it made the job very easy. The socket fitted on straight away with about a foot of extension bars the ratchet was next to the brake reservior. This made it really easy.

And BTW it needs to be 3/8 drive as 1/2 drive is a bit big
Graham

[ericd]

Got all the parts I needed today (pp,fp & release bearing)plus some replacement nuts & bolts, gaskets etc and 2 exhaust clamps that I knackered separating the exhaust all for about £230. Might be worth noting for those contemplating a clutch change at the garage in feb to order up in advance some new bits & pieces just in case some of them are 'stressed' during removal.

[audiman]

Yes one of those nuts is smaller. its 15mm head and not 17mm like the others. either way its a sod to get at. But now i have a seperte WG pipe, you can get that off and its dead easy to get at!!! Another reason for doing the mod.

What did you find out about the flywheel Eric?? Anything?

[ericd]

....What did you find out about the flywheel Eric?? Anything?

Tom, I couldn't find anything specific to flywheel failure analysis or failure rates, other than visual inspection criteria and tolerances relating to movement ( basically the oracle says it's just as we thought if it don't look
knackered it ain't, brilliant eh ? !!!!)

Only other thing I did notice was the the new release bearing had what looked like a nice perfectly flat plastic face on it, compared to the old one that had shiny grooved metal face, also looking at it i'm guessing the plastic is about 3mm high/thick.

[audiman]

that could cause the selection problems as the fingers on the pressure plate actually only move about 8-10mm maximum.

[ericd]

that could cause the selection problems as the fingers on the pressure plate actually only move about 8-10mm maximum.

Tom, that was what I was hoping (and still am), but several of my colleagues
were happy to tell me that they'd seen a lot worse & that wasn't my problem, I guess we'll find out soon, hopefully if I get down to the garage meet I'll bring along the pieces I've removed , I'm sure the friction plate is useable if anybody wants it..

[caterpillar]

sometimes its EASYIER to take out the engine AND tranny,with front end. IN my car i cant take out the engine,or the tranny,i cant splitt it in the car.....the car are a 32b gt wagon,but alot of the parts are commen in it....i have one car witch i want to modify,with big brakes,and huges 2,6liter IL5 20v......8-))

[s2avant]

the car are a 32b gt wagon,but alot of the parts are commen in it....i have one car witch i want to modify,with big brakes,and huges 2,6liter IL5 20v......8-))

old school 32b wagon? quailty. Got any pics of it? I've got one that's been unused since I got my S2 and have been toying with sliding an I5 turbo lump in it.

Ben

[caterpillar]

picks later one,have to make some change first..8-)

[ericd]

Forgot to update this, gearbox and bits back together with the lightest feeling clutch I've had in an s2 over the last 10 years !!!

Changed the following ; pressure plate, friction plate & release bearing (which I believe was source of the fault), also changed slave cylinder since it was easy enough to do during the rebuild process, renewed various exhaust gaskets & connected nuts & bolts, renewed steering rack bolts & locknuts
which were removed to ease the process of extracting the gearbox, renewed propshaft bolts (since i lost one , and they were less than £1 each anyway),
renewed the two exhaust clamps/clips joining centre section to rear as we had to remove them with a hammer, that's about it , total cost of parts came in just under £300, not bad I thought !, the slave was around £50 and if you don't mind (or can) reuse some of the bits & pieces you'll probably save another £30, but I'd recommend renewing as you go...

For those attempting a clutch change on an ABY at the garage meet or elsewhere, I would allocate a good bit of time & then double it !!!, as other have indicated thers' lots of stuff to remove, the removal & replacement of the clutch is probably the easiet and eventually the most accesible part of the process. Anybody with experience of any 4motion vehicles will see many similarities, Removing & replacing the g/box it'self needs a few good men & patience, for those who have completed this without the use of a 4 post it must be even worse, except that obviously the box doesn't have too far to fall.


Hope the above is useful to anybody contemplating a similar job soon...

To Tom and others who offered their advice & experience , many thanks...

[SteveH]

Good to hear she's back together Eric