depressive cluth pedal...

[Louis-Alain Richard]

Hi,

I am a new and proud urQ owner and I need your help.

I found recently a 1983 Canadian urQ with only 80 000 kilometers ( 50k miles
! ), it never saw winter, was driven from may to december only.  The car was
sitting still since September 99, so I had a few things to replace;
alternator, trunk struts, ignition, filters, bulbs, high-pressure power
brake hose.

Now, after 1 month, I am still in love with this 99% original mars red
Quattro ( even the exhaust is OEM
).

But this weekend

Saturday evening, 11h30pm, cruising slowly downtown with my girlfriend


First, the right parking brake cable stuck, I had to push the lever back
through the rear wheel after I smelled burned brake pads; cable to be
replaced this week.

Second, I noticed a greasy front wheel, CV boot to be replaced; again, a
task I will complete this week.

Third, the big one: half an hour later, clutch pedal went to the floor and
stayed there.  I was able to pull it up with my foot, only to change gears a
couple more times, then the clutch is inoperative ( always engaged).  I
drove back home without stopping, changing gears without the clutch, and
parked the car in my driveway.

Sunday morning, very early ( could not sleep
), after searching Bentley’s
pages ( I received the book on Friday
: Murphy’s law #57: never buy a shop
manual, you’ll use it the very next day), I tried to diagnose the problem.

No noise from the clutch itself, it seems to grip well too since I was able
to drive 10 miles the last night.
No visible leak, Master cylinder reservoir contains enough brake fluid.
I bled the system the usual way ( pumping clutch pedal ) and after no
results, I tried to use a syringe to pump out the ( dirty ) liquid from the
bleeder; liquid is now fresh, but no more results.

My brother, a professional mechanic, said that it is maybe a sticking master
or slave cylinder piston; I believe it is not the master’s piston since
there was no fluid pressure when I first opened the slave cylinder bleeder.
Could it be the slave’s piston ?  If so, the car would not run, the clutch
doesn’t transfer power.  Or could it be a slowly destroying clutch pressure
plate ?  I already had this very problem on a 1989 Taurus SHO.

Please help me, I paid this car good money for its lack of any rust and low
mileage, but now my buddies are laughing at me since I must drive my
girlfriend’s VW Cabrio to work


Louis-Alain Richard,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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