Craikeybaby's VW T5 Bike Van

[Craikeybaby]

Bing, but with a lot of refining.

[SunsetZed]

Thanks!

[Craikeybaby]

The van seems to have a knack of letting me down when loaded up for a day on the bikes. Annoyingly this morning it was loaded up with kit for the whole family, then when I went to start it the clutch went to the floor and stayed there.

I expect that there’s been a leak in the clutch hydraulic system somewhere. Although I could not see any fluid underneath the van, or in the footwell.

[DickP]

If it’s been very cold don’t discount the pedal sticking. My Superb, which at a guess has similar clutch components, also has the clutch pedal sometimes stick with a squeak if it’s been sub zero a few days. Couple movements and it frees up. Something to consider?

[EVOTECH3BELL]

Craikeybaby said:

The van seems to have a knack of letting me down when loaded up for a day on the bikes. Annoyingly this morning it was loaded up with kit for the whole family, then when I went to start it the clutch went to the floor and stayed there.

I expect that there’s been a leak in the clutch hydraulic system somewhere. Although I could not see any fluid underneath the van, or in the footwell.

Could be slave cylinder which will require gearbox removal if you're a 6spd

[Craikeybaby]

DickP said:

If it’s been very cold don’t discount the pedal sticking. My Superb, which at a guess has similar clutch components, also has the clutch pedal sometimes stick with a squeak if it’s been sub zero a few days. Couple movements and it frees up. Something to consider?

I'll see how it is tomorrow, but I suspect it is the slave cylinder.

EVOTECH3BELL said:

Could be slave cylinder which will require gearbox removal if you're a 6spd

I expect that's what it is. And it is a 6 speed. Given it is on 82k miles, it will probably be worth doing the clutch at the same time too. What a start to the year.

[Craikeybaby]

My strategy of ignoring the van wasn't working, especially as the roads are currently too salty to drive my MR2. Being a 1 car family is not ideal.

Today I topped up the combined brake/clutch fluid reservoir, it was quite low. After a bit of pumping the clutch pedal I was able to get some pressure in it, but it still felt spongey. The trakes felt OK though. Somewhat reassured that I might be able to drive it, I called my local VW specialist to see if I could get it booked in - I'm waiting for a call to let me know what the lead time will be.

[Craikeybaby]

The local VW specialist messed me around for a few weeks, it turns out that they're not taking on any more "big" jobs, so I am taking the van to a generic clutch specialist tomorrow. Time is getting a bit pressed now as the MOT is due in less than 2 weeks, and it will be nice to have the van back so I take the kids out over half term.

[Origin Unknown]

Craikeybaby said:

DickP said:

If it’s been very cold don’t discount the pedal sticking. My Superb, which at a guess has similar clutch components, also has the clutch pedal sometimes stick with a squeak if it’s been sub zero a few days. Couple movements and it frees up. Something to consider?

I'll see how it is tomorrow, but I suspect it is the slave cylinder.

EVOTECH3BELL said:

Could be slave cylinder which will require gearbox removal if you're a 6spd

I expect that's what it is. And it is a 6 speed. Given it is on 82k miles, it will probably be worth doing the clutch at the same time too. What a start to the year.

Does your spec have a DMF? The Sportline has a habit of killing DMF's at ~100k miles so might be worth doing clutch and DMF. Ours failed at almost exactly 100k miles, we had a local place do all for, I think, £1200.

[Craikeybaby]

Yes, it has a DMF, quote is £1350 including clutch and DMF.

[Origin Unknown]

I just checked, I paid £1300 for Clutch, DMF and Labour

[Craikeybaby]

It is around the ball park I was expecting.

Now to see if I can get it started, and enough pressure in the clutch system to limp it to the garage 2 miles away.

[Craikeybaby]

Made it to the garage under its own steam. I was pleasantly surprised that it even started first time after just being abandoned on the drive for a month.

[mercedeslimos]

Is the DMF shuddering? I'm tempted just to replace the clutch on our T4 as the DMF isn't making any noise or vibration, but the release bearing is rattling like a bd

[Craikeybaby]

No, that is something that I had been looking out for, as it is a known weakness on the Transporters, but it seemed fine. I expect that the issue is with the slave cylinder, which is inside the bell housing, so if you've stripped it down that far, you may as well replace it all.

I was told that the job would have been done today, but I didn't hear from the garage.

[Craikeybaby]

I have got the van back, it was the slave cylinder that had gone, but given they had to get the gearbox off to fix that they fitted a new clutch/dual mass flywheel. Hopefully that will be good for another 80k+ miles!

Becasue the subframe had to come off, the steering is slightly off-centre. The garage didn't have any alignment kit, so given that they would only be eye balling it, I'll get an alignment done when I take it for an MOT in the coming weeks.

[Craikeybaby]

MOT = passed!

Usually, I am not concerned about the van, but given it is now 10 years old, and has barely been driven this year I wasn't as confident as usual.

[Craikeybaby]

I had last week off work, so the van got a fair bit of use doing what I bought it for - ferrying me, the kids and our bikes to various trail centres. I have been running it without the seat next to the sliding door, which makes life easier for getting changed in the van and sorting out kit etc. However there are two downsides: if the kids are both in the back they are able to hit each other, but most importantly the only place I have to store the spare seat prevents me from getting my MR2 out of the garage, and I need that for the PH Sunday Service this weekend, so the spare seat is back in the van.

I still need to get the steering sorted, I was waiting for March when the garage said their alignment rig would be up and running, but somehow we are already in April...

[Craikeybaby]

I had a big day in the van on Saturday - I think I ended up doing 8 hours driving Cotswolds -> Mid Wales -> Cotswolds -> Coventry. The MR2 would probably have been better for most of the driving, except I had to take some furniture to my starting point in the Cotswolds, which is much easier in the van. And I knew there would be some forest roads to navigate, and I figured that the van would be less likely to bottom out than the MR2. The MR2 would have been fine, and smaller size would have helped when doing a 3 point turn on a forest road with a cliff off the side...

I probably need to give it a wash now!

[Craikeybaby]

I still haven’t given the van a wash…

But have treated it to new windscreen wipers, as driving to Wales in rain the other week I noticed that the windscreen wasn’t being cleared as well as it could have been. So with another trip to Wales planned, I thought I had better be prepared for rain.

I have also noticed that the rear sliding door has caught the rear bodywork, so need to investigate that and touch in the paint. Of course I am reluctant to touch in the paint before ensuring that the same thing won’t happen again…


The door has not been adjusted, so I’m not sure why all of a sudden it has been able to hit the van. My only idea is that it was parked nose pointing up hill on my previous trip to Wales.