[urq] Bad clutch master cylinder?

[David Glubrecht]

I had a clutch master go bad in an unusual way.
It was working just fine until I decided to do a maintance bleeding of brake 
fluid.
Having lots of experiance bleeding audi clutches and such I was carefull.
The hole in the top that allowed new fluid in the master had clogged and was 
not allowing enough fluid in the master on the return stroke and while 
moving fluid I would continually get lots of bubbles.  I was carefull to try 
and return the petal slowly but still bubbles.  Solution was a new master 
although I could have rebuilt it.
    Bubbles without leaks.
    Dave G

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz at kla-tencor.com>
To: "urq" <urq at audifans.com>
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2005 2:29 PM
Subject: Re: [urq] Bad clutch master cylinder?


> You've got a lot of symptoms ... which have varied possible culprits ...
> some of them contradictory ... but IMO very few of them point to a
> clutch M/C.
>
> ... that said ... on the topic of replacing the clutch M/C ... keep in
> mind that the M/C is easily rebuilt for considerably less than $150 ...
>>
>> I was wondering if folks could help me out with this one.  My car
> seems to be
>> having issues with the clutch.  Here are all the symptoms so far:
>>
>> - Gear lever is hard to pull into neutral after sitting over-night
> (initial
>> pull)
>
> [assumption] this is with the engine running.
> To my mind this is most likely due to cold lube in the transmission ...
>
>> - Car seem to pull forward slightly (with clutch in) in initial
> start-up, then
>> no problem
>
> This one is not that uncommon and is probably due to the clutch plate
> being a bit sticky on the splines ...
>
>> - Gear lever gets hard to pull out of 3rd gear after trans warms up
> (no issue
>> when cold)
>
> ... this one sounds like the first one ...
>
>> - No problems shifting into ANY gear
>> - No grinding sounds at all
>> - Trans shifts perfectly when cold
>
> These types of reports speak against a problem with the clutch M/C and
> slave functionality.  It sounds as though the clutch is being fully
> disengaged.
>>
>> I bled the clutch the other day and noticed air bubbles in the bleeder
> line
>> when my buddy pumped the clutch.  I can't help but think the seals in
> the MC
>> might be bad.  I would like to verify before I order this $150 part
> though.
>>
> ... this seems so odd to me ... there does not tend to be much suction
> in the clutch hydraulic system to promote leaks ... if there's a problem
> letting air in without pressure, I'm inclined to believe that you'd also
> see fluid leaking out when it
>
> I assume that you've completely gone over the shift linkage ...
> replacing any wobbly ball joints and worn plastic bits.  You may have a
> bit of stickiness inside the bellhousing ... but even that's not
> completely clear based on your symptoms.
>
> Happy hunting!
> Steve B
> San Jose, CA (USA)
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