Help ! clutch pedal is dead...

darko

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(luckily?) just as i was parking the car outside my flat i heard a loud crack and the clutch pedal fell to the floor (i was just half way through pressing it down) I had a look down there and the pedal is stuck down with pieces of sheared plastic on the floor mat.. Ive had a look through tons of posts and it seems this has happened to people before but i wanted some information about fixing it myself if possible ? the car is a 2001 S3. hopefully the weather will stay ok and i can use my scooter till I fix the car.....

Please help !
 
Had this happen to me last christmas - not nice (I thought something major had broken). You will be able to fix it yourself, but from what I can remember it was a complete ball-ache of a job.

You'll probably need a couple of new parts to fix the problem - a new clutch pedal (as it will be one of the welds on your current pedal that has snapped) and a new plastic bracket (not sure of the name of the part - it is the black bit that makes contact with the clutch sensor - but show whats left of it to someone down at audi and they will know what it is). These will set you back about £20 in total.

To fit the parts you will have to take the bottom half of the dash off as the pedal attatches way up inside (there are a few screws and some clips holding the dash on). As I did this over 6 months ago I cant remember exactly what I did but basically you need to first remove the current clutch pedal by removing the bolt which attaches it to a large metal bracket up inside the dash - then install the new one.

Somewhere amongst the broken bits on your floor should be a white clip(this should still be intact). This fits inside the bracket on the side of the clutch pedal - the ball on the top of the clutch cylinder then clips into this. Sounds simple, but it is a pain in the **** and the bit that took me the longest.

Fitting the black bracket is the easist bit as this simply clips into a couple of holes on the arm of the clutch pedal. (you will see where this needs to go by looking at where the pedal makes contact with the sensor)

If I remember correctly, the steering column and the clutch sensor get in the way, so you may need to turn the steering wheel until the column moves out of your way. The sensor is easily removed.

Sorry about the lack of detail. If I remember anything else I will update my post. You will also get a bad back from laying on the door sill for hours /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
thanks for the info ! i will have a go at doing it myself and if i cant do it ill have to get it towed to the local audi specialist.. i managed to download a pdf showing how to remove the pedal which also shows a special tool for doing the part you mentioned was difficult - i might invest in one of those if it means less back breaking time!!
 
mmm

right fixed the pedal with a new clip, was a bit of a **** of a job. all was fine for about 20 miles and now its happened again except this time i dont think the clip has broken... will have to get the car towed home to check it properly but maybe the master cyclinder has gone ? does anyone have any more info to offer on this ?
 
i think the answer may be because i didnt replace the actual pedal too ! lots and lots of info on this problem on the tt forum plus full info on the work required here:

http://www.kisolutionz.com/ttforum/clutchinfo.pdf

luckily a new pedal is around £15 and the clips if i need new ones again only cost £2.37

part numbers for clips are:

1H0721357 - mounting
1J2721332A - stop

ill try to post some pictures this time when i do the job again.....
 
i have some pix of the broken pedal - cant remember ho w to post though ??!!?, the quality of the welds and in fact the metal are a throw back to 1970s Alfa Romeos ! I had the new pedal welded along the left hand edge where the original has no welding at all so hopefully that will stop it ever happening again....
 
[image]http://img314.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clutchpedala4hs.jpg]
clutchpedala4hs.th.jpg
[/URL][/image]
 
Host the pic, right click on it and view properites, copy and paste the url between the image tags...

Should be as simple as that.

Kev.
 
i have just taken my lower dash off and my problem is EXACTLY the same.

Thing i cant work out is how do you get the pedal off??

I tried removing the whole pedal box but the master cylider is connect to it. Cant work out how to get the pedal off without the spring going off and then it would be impossible to get back in i reckon.

advice please.
 
done.. its all off. the white clip seems intact. just the pedal that broke. will take it to audi tomorrow and shove a rocket up their ***... or maybe the pedal!!
 
The design of the pedal is flawed. The new pedal is the same, so unfortunately it is only a matter of time before that breaks too.
The only consolation is most dealers usually have the three parts in stock.
 
You called? I havn't been driving my S3 lately, been too busy, but funily enough, a mate of mine called me yesterday to ask for a quick fix for this very same problem... he called the AA in the end... must be the weather!.
 
jojo said:
You called? I havn't been driving my S3 lately, been too busy, but funily enough, a mate of mine called me yesterday to ask for a quick fix for this very same problem... he called the AA in the end... must be the weather!.

Sorted it, had it stripped down yesterday and fitted the plastic clip and had the pedal welded as Audi did not have 1 in stock. Just 1 thing...

Where does the BLACK plastic thing go???
 
Err, chaps, anyone that's done this I have a quick question... how hard was it to push the metal link into the cylinder to allow you to fit the new pedal?

Managed to swap the pedal and sort the spring pretty easily and I'm sure this bit shouldn't be a serious **** ache to do...
 
god_thats_quick said:
Err, chaps, anyone that's done this I have a quick question... how hard was it to push the metal link into the cylinder to allow you to fit the new pedal?

Managed to swap the pedal and sort the spring pretty easily and I'm sure this bit shouldn't be a serious **** ache to do...

Pretty damned hard to push back in mate! Is the metal rod straight? When this happened to me a few months ago, it was because the master cylinder locked up and the force of me puting my foot on the pedal caused it to bend the metal link rod! :3sadwalk:
 
It's interesting you said that - did you need a new master cylinder?

Mine was very slightly bent towards the pedal end, not even worth trying to bend back and got it all sorted.

I'm just wondering if the switch at the front it working as it should (and WTF it does)?
 
Yeah, I had to have a new master cylinder. Had that, new pedal and all the plastic clips etc, cost me around £70 from VW. (Same parts as used on mk4 Golf which I assume you know.)
I'm not entirely sure what the switch does, but I think it's something to do with the ECU.
I changed the cylinder myself btw and fitting it is very easy, bleeding it however is a bitch!!! :mad:
 
I don't seem to be able to change gear smoothly (which could just be my driving :ermm: ) but it wasn't a problem before. So I'm guessing either that switch isn't doing it's thing or there is something more seriously up with my car... which is nice. :lmfao:
 
The switch attached to the clutch pedal is supposed to make gear chaning easy and smooth. I think it must somehow drop the revs slightly as you change gear.

When In changed my brake light switch the first time I took the clutch switch off by mistake. Easy thing to do as it is in the middle!!

when I collected the brake switch from the dealers parts department I asked them what it did, and they just said, "something to do with making gear changes smoother"

It may be that the switch has been broken or damaged when you changed the clutch pedal.

I think they quoted me something like £13 for a replacement

Simon
 
simonwjones said:
The switch attached to the clutch pedal is supposed to make gear chaning easy and smooth. I think it must somehow drop the revs slightly as you change gear.
It's actually for disengaging the cruise control. The switch is there regardless of whether you have cruise or not. That's why it's so easy to retrofit cruise.
 
I've been messing with that sensor too. My A3 does not have cruise control, are you 100% sure that sensor is only for disengaging cruise control? no additional functionality?
 
i think it does something with the revs keeps it stable when changing gears
 
Mine broke last night... lucky me it was right in front of my house...

Planing on fixing it on Saturday... only got one question... what time frame am I looking at to complete the swop from the old pedal to a new one?
Also what tools will I need?
 
should take an 1 hour for a novice , i think a couple of 13mm spanners
 
Thanks!
Kinda keen on doing this... been without a car for the whole week...
 
my pedal snapped today.on a hill on ten idr in Reading near the police station how fun,lkuckily my mate had his work van so we towed it home,removed the dash and found the broken weld,the spring jumped out so not entirely sure how it goes back.****** car
 
hey there,

i've just had my clutch pedal break on me and i'm struggling with trying to get the car in a working state! I see that some guys compress the over-centre spring before removing the pedal via the pivot bolt. How difficult is it to re-assemble if the spring isn't compressed. I don't see it being very easy?!

I've got welding facilities so looking at the pedal a different way, i'm trying to take out the pedal and spring assembly which is bolted to the bulkead with 3 locking nuts. I thought loosening these would let the pedal box come away from the car, but the master cylinder has a complex three sided plastic clip which keeps the the cylinder attached to the pedal box. Is there someway of removing this plastic clip so i can get rid of the spring compressing process?

Many thanks in advance.
 
Just for your info guys..... this happend to me too about 6 months back just as i pulled of a motorway.... it is possible to still drive the car without a clutch pedal.... it's not easy but saved be the price of a callout from a break down wagon... with the engine off select 1st gear then with a small ammount of preassure on the accelerator turn the engine over.. the starter will pull you forward and the engine should catch and you'l be away in first gear.... accelerate then knock it out of gear and blip the accelerator whist pushing it into second gear... you can do this all the way up through the gears.... when it comes to changing down gears you need to rev the engine higher between gears but it works... i wouldn't recomend doing this for long periods but it got me home when mine went 3 miles from home... you just need to time it right for the traffic lights.... :eek:)

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/35127

Might help someone in the future
 
Hey, did you try to fix the breakage yourself or take it to a specialist? Would like to know about the spring before i demolish my car!

cheers