Clutch pedal rod to Master Cylinder Problem

[Alistair E]

Clutch pedal on my 94 Avant has been making an annoying squeak for a couple of months now. Decided to finally try and grease / WD40 it yesterday. One thing I did notice while crawling under the dash was the unusual movement of the rod from the pedal into the master cylinder. It appears to have some kind of ball joint in the middle.

I can't say if this has developed gradually or whether it's been there all the time, but when depressing the clutch pedal, there is almost a two stage movement. The first part of the movement is as this joint skews to one side. It's difficult to describe, but what I thought would be a straight rod, ends up with an elbow in it. The second movement is as the rod is pressed into the master cylinder.
Lately, the pedal has sometimes stuck at this half way point, clutch engaged but pedal partially depressed.

Anybody got any comments / advice?

Thanks

Alistair

[Pete_RS2]

It sounds like you need to replace the master cylinder. I had the same problem on my old S2. First there was squeaking. Then the pedal wouldn't return fully. A few days later the master cylinder push rod snapped. Make sure you use a genuine Audi part as the ones from GSF & the like don't work.

[S2 Ant]

Yeh need a new MC, also as above, needs to be genuine, esp if yours is ABY as they are specific to ABY only.

I changed mine when i had clutch problems but there was nothing wrong with the original, still have it at home, if you want a cheaper alternative to brand new then chuck me a few quid and i'll send you it.... genuine from memory is about £120.

[ericd]

As Ant mentioned , anybody's whose suffered clutch problems has been down here at one time, just worth a check that the push rod is actually snapped, in some circumstances others have found it just need reassembled and that it's dislodged rather than broken.

HTH

[Graham]

BTDT, mine was exactly the same, the knuckle was kinking and it wore a groove in the side of the Master cylinder.- Tiz an easy job, even with Aircon. And with a drilled out socket, 1/4 ratchet, and an ezi bleed it takes about 10 minutes to bleed the system.
Graham

[yoggi]

I've broken 2 rods on the master cylinder! The second time we did our own that seems to hold just fine

[jade]

I ve got the same problem hope to look at it this week , been like it for along time

[Fat Audi 80]

Mine master cylinder rod broke too a month after buying the car. A weak link on the S2 I think. You should check it out and see what's going on.

[Alistair E]

Can anybody tell me why there is a joint on the rod? When you press the clutch pedal, how does the joint operate?

Thanks

Alistair

[Stick Insect]

Can people save their old master cylinders please?

I will pass them to a friend to see if he can rebuild them with a stainless liner and a new high tensile steel rod.

It will be a lot cheaper than a new one.

David

[jameswkr]

Do a search on this. I posted a "fix" about a year ago. Touch wood its still working fine.