Re: Who solved clicky clutch pedal? 5kcstq

[Igor Kessel <e6941tb@ix.netcom.com>]

Myke456@aol.com wrote:
> 
> I noted some discussion a few months ago regarding an intermittent clutch
> pedal "clicking" when depressed. Has anyone done the fix for this?

I did. After breaking two clutch pedals within a year. It was a sticky MC. 
Replace it with a new one, don't waste time rebuilding. BTDT.

Here's a repost from my personal archive:
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I was in the toll booth' concrete corridor, money in the left hand, shifter 
in the right, clutch in, when suddenly it went: *BANG* and the Q 
leaped forward. Naturally, I stabbed the brakes and killed the engine, but...
to have it happen in the bottleneck of a tollbooth, in a rush hour, with a 
line of cars behind going nuts, coz they were trapped in the same concrete 
corridor behind me...The clutch pedal was laying on the floor and it was 
obvious, that the hinge, which secures the pedal to the clutch MC, had 
snapped off.
Fortunately, there are wery few things that will make me call a tow truck, 
and a *no-clutch* condition ain't one of them. Took me a bit longer to reach 
home, though, since I decided not to go above the 2nd gear. Since RPMs were 
pretty high, I turned the heater all the way up (32°C and on "Hi") and opened 
windows and sunroof in order not to fry myself.

One more thing. I did rebuild the MC about 2 years ago, and yes, it was 
slightly pitted. OTOH, I have rebuilt dozens of clutch and brake MCs in
the past without a single problem. The clutch MC, that I rebuilt on my 
'85 5000s 4 years ago, shows no signs of weakness up to this day.
Then again, that car had a steel clutch pedal, so, who really knows?...
Yet one more thing: on my 200 the clutch pedal has always made a cracking/
snapping noise, when pushed in, as if a walnut shell has been placed under 
it. I just learned to live with this sound.

> >>If you open up your clutch MC sys and see all the muddy gunk, that used 
> to be rubber seals, you'll agree. I have rebuilt a number of them.
> So you are suggesting that I replace just the fluid, or it's likely that
> the system itself is shot?
> --

Quite honestly, on your '86 I would replace all of the components (there 
are only 3 of them), if they are still original.

What happens is old fluid, that had never been replaced, pulls in a lot 
of water from atmosphere (it's highly hydroscopic). The MC inner cylinder 
walls become pitted. That starts to wear the tender inner rubber seal lips. 
The rubber flakes, escalating the process, since now seals are gliding 
inside the bore with the rubber particles between the wall and themselves.

Meanwhile, the inner wall of the rubber pressure hose is flaking also. 
All of this sh*t precipitates in the buttom portion of the MC and in the 
whole volume of the Slave Cyl. You_will_not_believe the mud inside your MC, 
if you were to open up your's now (if it's still the original one)!

The last time I did it on my '89 200, it cost me:

MC-$75
Pressure hose - $51
Feed hose, MC to reservoir - $10/1m
Slave Cyl - $59
1L of Pentosin DOT4 brake fluid - $9
------------------------------------
total=$204, 
hardly an expence for the next 7 years of trouble-free clutch hydrolics
(provided, you bleed the clutch/brakes once a year. The first owner of 
the car had never done that - hence the disasterous state of hydrolics, 
that I inherited).

The whole job takes hardly an hour (don't tell this to Phil);)

BTW, because of a sticky clutch MC I had to replace the broken clutch 
pedal twice(!), $80x2. And the only reason why I did not waste money on 
a tow truck both times was my ability to shift by ear. If it had happened 
to my wife, she would've gotten stranded.

All past '87 44 chassied Audis have these ridiculous alloy clutch pedals, 
a Stupidity with a capital *S*.
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Igor Kessel
'89 200TQ - 18psi (TAP)
'97 A4TQ - on order
Philadelphia, PA
USA