So, I got a jetta with clutch problems. The clutch stopped working for the last owner, and after pumping the pedal he could drive it home. After that he left it at the parkinglot.
So what I did was to first bleed the clutch, the clutch then worked for a short period of time.
Looked for leakage without any luck, so changed slave cylinder. The clutch now worked for around 50 km until it stopped working again. The pedal felt good, it didn’t drop to the ground or anything. But I decided to change master cylinder. Still no luck, I can put the 3rd and 5th gear in tho. But with a bit of pressure on the stick…
The weird part is that if I lift the car so front wheels is in air, I can put all gears in without a problem with car running… Anyone got any suggestion on what I should do next? Have I bleed the clutch badly, is it the clutch disk itself that is bad, anything with the gearbox?
When you did this…was the clutch pedal pressed? Were the wheels turning with the clutch pedal down?
I’d guess the pressure plate is failing. Or the clutch disk itself is failing. Either way the transmission needs to come out. You can test the trans while it is out.
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If you are certain the MC and slave are working correctly, all visible clutch linkages good, no air in the hydraulics, then not much else at that point to do other than remove the transmission for a look-see. But double check all those other things first. Does your clutch use an external slave cylinder, which activates the clutch fork? If so there’s probably a spec for how far that linkage is supposed to move when you depress the clutch pedal. That’s a good test to do if you can find the spec.
There’s an off chance there’s air in the system if you have the external slave configuration. Sometimes you have to figure out a way to prevent the slave from moving anything during the bleeding process. Otherwise you can’t get all the air out. Temporarily wedge a piece of wood to hold the mechanism in place during bleeding. Unlikely to do the trick, but a lot easier to do than removing the xmission.
Look under the dash in the clutch pedal area too. See anything unusual? Broken welds, bushings, old coca-cola cans, etc.
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The clutch pedal was pressed yes, and the wheels turning with the pedal down…
I’ve been looking for any leaks without finding any. Nothing unusual that I can see…
Since it worked for ~30 miles with a new slave cylinder then stopped working again, I can’t stop thinking about something wrong the the bleeding and some air still in the system.
However, it is a slave cylinder like the picture below.
When you say that I have to prevent the slave from moving anything. You mean that I have to make sure the rod (Red arrow) not moving anything while bleeding?
Bleed it again. Have a buddy press the clutch pedal and hold it while you watch the slave. The slave should not move back. If it does, you still have air or the slave or master is bad. If there is no movement, have your buddy stroke the pedal a few times to see if it moves the same distance each time. If it does, your problems are deeeper in the clutch or trans.
Thanks for the reply, going on a business trip for a few days but will try it as soon as I’m home again.
Since its mounted like in the picture below, I have to disassemble the slave cylinder to see the movement.I will give it a shot and then write here how it goes. 
Hmmm, you really can’t. I hoped it was external.
Damn, yeah i was afraid that if I take it out and press the pedal, it will push the rod out of the cylinder and break it…
