My clutch just broke!

[jediknight]

Was just turning into my road after a 200mile trip and press the clutch down and SNAP.. something gives and the pedal goes right to the floor and is now stuck there.. wont come up even if i pull it a little.

Managed to start in gear and limp home

Is this gonna be expensive?

 

[Sinny71]

My guess is its likely to be a snapped clutch cable. Though I've not had any experience of this on an Audi, just my previous cars. They were easy enough to sort out but they also had a hell of a lot more room under the bonnet than an Audi.

 

[jediknight]

dont think the s3 has a cable. think its all hydrolic

also strange i thought was why is the pedal stuck down?

 

[steve1975l]

Sounds like a master/slave cylinder or pipe to me.

 

[joe6886]

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=32488

Sounds like a similar problem to me.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Yes. It's that old problem again. Very common, cheap and easy to fix.

 

[dgannon69]

don't they run off the same fluid as your brakes?? can't be too disasterous if they still work...

Dave

 

[aidank1981]

yeah mate it happened to me!

theres a connection where affectivly a ball goes into a hinged adapter then into a square unit my clip an where it joined was broken!
was cheap to fix but labour an investigation took time, they had to remove a few interior panals
might not be the same but the exsact symtoms, the same a snap an the clutch stuck to the floor!

just be wary he ordered me a new clutch pedal, but didnt take the bushes out of the old one an binned them ie didnt reduce the diameter of the pivot of the clutch ie it had sideways movement! i went back twice sayin it wasnt right till i got a mate to source the problem!

sorry it aint technical but i wouldnt stress just yet!

 

[siruz]

Hi. Im new to this forums but have had my S3 for 2 years now and have a fair amount of knowledge on this machine.

Your clutch doesnt have a cable. Ita a hydraulic system. You have burst your slave cylinder and it wont be cheap to fix. Took me 3 days to fix it on 2 jacks. Once done i also had to change the master cylinder behind the pedel. Check under the bell housing to see if its leaking brake fluid if yes the slave is screwed. If not then its the master and thats easy to change.

 

[jediknight]

siruz

i have take the clucth pedal out and it the bracket that is broken. No sign of leaking fluid anywhere

Only problem im having now is fitting the damn thing back together. The white clip is on the rod from the master cylinder but i cant compress the rod into the cyclider atall and without doing that i cant get the clip into the bracket on the pedal.

starting to get annoying now!

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Hi. Im new to this forums but have had my S3 for 2 years now and have a fair amount of knowledge on this machine.

Your clutch doesnt have a cable. Ita a hydraulic system. You have burst your slave cylinder and it wont be cheap to fix. Took me 3 days to fix it on 2 jacks. Once done i also had to change the master cylinder behind the pedel. Check under the bell housing to see if its leaking brake fluid if yes the slave is screwed. If not then its the master and thats easy to change.

Ha ha. You have a lot to learn then. Stick around and do some searching, you're in the right place.

 

[TheSpaceCowboy]

I had this same problem I didnt realise at the time, took it to my so called reputable garage and ended up paying for a new clutch and the like for around £400. I only now realise it was probably what you was describing, I have little recourse now though. I even found the little plastic clip on the floor of the driver footwell!

Lesson learnt (the hard way).

 

[siruz]

To put the pedel back you may need to take the master out to make life easier.

You wont get the clip off. Its actually part of the master cylinder if i can remember correctly. You need to take the master out then push it back in to the pedel once removed and then put the pedel back through pushing the master in to place first. Then you bolt it down with the two nuts.

Once you disconnect the master you gonna have to bleed the clutch system to get all the air out. It will take about 2-3hours start tofinish with the right tools.

 

[darko]

there is no need to remove the master cylinder - search through my old posts, this is a straightforward job - just fiddly