Clutch pedal sticking 300tdi

Hi all, while testing my van from an earlier coolant repair I changed gear into 3rd and my pedal stuck to the floor. I pulled it out of gear and retried but then couldn't get it into any gear. I was able to lift the pedal with my foot and get it into a gear and continue but its done it a couple of times since and one time I could get into any forward gear but no reverse.
I've checked the master cylinder for fluid and its ok and I have no leaks by the pedal, any suggestions?

Chris

The pedal is sticking down, and you cannot get gears sometimes...

The pedal can stay down if there is air in the system or the master is shot etc... I have also seen this when the clutch cover diaphragm spring packs in, but the randomness of your issues does point to the hydraulic system.

Is there any fluid leaking from the master, or from the slave?

The reason you cannot get any gears could be because your clutch is not disengaging because there is no fluid or air in the system so your hydraulics are down the pan. The system on these is notorious to give strange symptoms like this when failing or even after install of new parts before proper bleeding.

Next time it won't let you select a gear, switch the engine off, put it into 1st, take the handbrake off make sure there is nothing in front of you, push the clutch to the metal and switch on the engine, if the vehicle moves forward then the system is not disengaging, or if the vehicle feels like it is trying to move forward take this as big time clutch drag through lack of hydraulic pressure or worn seals letting fluid leak back etc.

The reason I think you have this also stems from you saying on one occasion you could get forward gears but no reverse... syncros on forward gears but not reverse.

If you do diagnose it as hydraulics best bet is a good quality rebuild kit for both slave and master unless you know one to be in good order. Or a new good quality slave and master. I've done parts of hydraulic systems in the past and it always seems like a month or two down the line you are doing the other end and it's the bleeding bother all over again.

Clutch fork punching through maybe, but eliminate hydraulics first.

Well I've checked for leaks and found nothing and the level is ok. I will try the test you suggest but usually when its done it I've been in traffic desperately trying to get some gear to get moving again. The van has been sat for a while due to a coolant overhaul that took a while to complete so I hope its just going to need a reseal kit.
Is it a pig of a job? Time isn't something I have lots to spare at the weekend and why jobs normally take me ages to complete so it may be easier to just get it to a garage and get them to fit the kit.

Is it worth changing the fluid first and trying again?

Would the following statement be true?

"The clutch starts to behave strangely after some driving and usually after a bit of use in traffic. Gear then becomes difficult to select. When you get it back home and leave it overnight for example it then works OK until again you have to exercise your left leg a bit in traffic"

It only did it for the first time today on way into work and then several times on the journey and when I got to work I couldn't reverse into a space. When I checked the fluid levels at lunch time I manually pushed the pedal down with my hand and it stuck down again. Took it out to get lunch and didn't do it again and that's your lot. Just nervous I need the van on Tuesday to tow my bike and really don't want it going wrong on the motorway or at all tbh.

Roadie said:

Well I've checked for leaks and found nothing and the level is ok. I will try the test you suggest but usually when its done it I've been in traffic desperately trying to get some gear to get moving again. The van has been sat for a while due to a coolant overhaul that took a while to complete so I hope its just going to need a reseal kit.
Is it a pig of a job? Time isn't something I have lots to spare at the weekend and why jobs normally take me ages to complete so it may be easier to just get it to a garage and get them to fit the kit.

Click to expand...

A reseal of the master and slave will take longer than replacing them with new items.
Considering how cheap the new parts are and your time restraints..fit new.
Highly unlikely that a garage would reseal anyway, too time consuming and no guarantee it would cure a dodgy component.
Doing it yourself , a full morning I'd guess, add another hour or so for a reseal .

The problems I had were not as bad as yours but my clutch pedal kept sticking down, had the slave and master cylinder done and it fixed the problem.

Flossie said:

A reseal of the master and slave will take longer than replacing them with new items.
Considering how cheap the new parts are and your time restraints..fit new.
Highly unlikely that a garage would reseal anyway, too time consuming and no guarantee it would cure a dodgy component.
Doing it yourself , a full morning I'd guess, add another hour or so for a reseal .

Click to expand...

Personally I reseal because I have genuine parts and I have genuine seals and it takes about 4-6 minutes per cylinder to reseal it - if it takes you an hour then yes, buy new! I know that replacing parts with quality new is often easier.

A lot of garages now don't have the skill to fix things but that is driven by the fact they just want to remove a part fit a new one and get onto the next car, I understand it is business but when they throw out an alternator because the overrun pulley has failed I must say it's painful to see a perfectly good part being thrown into a skip. I was once berated for changing a top spring mount on a car when a mechanic walked past and said, oh, I'd just toss that all in the bin and by a new strut complete with spring and mount all assembled. The parts I were replacing the mount on were all good working genuine parts that would better than the cheap junk the garage would have thrown in.

Anyway, back to the OP's problem - you almost certainly have a hydraulic system fault. You could diagnose, or go direct to replacing the two cylinders.

I'm guess the OP would take an hour to reseal due to lack of experience and looking around the shed to find the spring or clip that shot off somewhere behind the lawnmower.
Has he the experience to know that the bores are serviceable? Or that they can be saved by honeing etc.. probably not due to his lack of knowledge with his problem and his time restraints, hence fit new and forget for years to come.

Will do thanks all

I would also recommend the replace rather than reseal route. I've just done it myself (also replaced te flexi), not because it had failed but because it was 20 years / 170k+ miles old so will have had a fair amount of use. I used TRW master and slave, I may reseal the master and keep it as a spare but they are relatively cheap versus the time they last and I would rather not do the job twice. Understand the statement above about resealing OEM units but they will still have wear marks on the piston / bore (mine did) from just the amount of use they have had