Clutch question (on a Mk1 Golf GTi)

[olly]

Ever since we've owned the Golf, the clutch has always been slightly heavy (5spd G-box), which I just put down to mileage (184000 when we bought it 3 years ago).

Last week, the clutch pedal stopped returning all the way, so at the weekend I replaced the cable with a brand new VW item (once I had the old one off, it turned out the cable had started freying).

So, with new clutch cable installed (and lightly oiled), clutch felt no worse/better than it did before (car is now up to 233000 miles). However, as of Tuesday (having done about 250 miles in the car) it feels like I'm picking up a stack of bricks with my left foot (pedal has got VERY heavy). I have slackened off the cable & it still runs very sloothly through the housing.

Any suggestions as to what could be making the clutch so heavy ? Could the release bearing given up the ghost, or is the clutch just telling me that after 233000 miles, it's had enough !

[olly]

Thanks for the reply.

I thought that might be the answer !

Oh well, it's had a fairly hard life during the 50,000 miles we've done in it, and g*d knows what the previous owners had done to it in the other 184,000 miles ! As far as we know, it's still the original clutch too !!!!!

[olly]

Many hands make light work , so thanks for the offer ! Sach Clutch kit is only about £50+VAT, so it's not the end of the world.....

So in other words your timing is WAY out ! And you can't even drive it back to Bristol.... I don't know why they woun't do it - it's only getting the timing right... ???? Oh well, at least you know what the problem is !

Clutch still works ok (for now), it's just about twice as heavy as the Cerbera's !

[olly]

Thanks deltaf & z chromozone ! Was reading the Haynes manual last night (as you do !) & it mentioned the oil seal (but a 2nd person saying the same thing means it's well worth doing). And I've seen the results of said drilled hole ! Apparantly is happens if you rest your foot on the clutch pedal, rather than taking your foot off completely.....

You 2 have both done this before by the sounds of things !

[olly]

Jolly good - if I get stuck, I know who to ask !

[olly]

Got my local garage to do the clutch over the new year, as I ran out of time & needed the car ASAP. Clutch is now working fine.....

BUT, it is still fairly heavy (nothing like as bad as before it was done, but heavier than I remember it being 5,000 miles ago), but after sitting in traffic for a while, it gets lovely & light ? If you stay in stop/start traffic, it stays light, but pretty soon after getting back up to speed (and presumably it cooling down), it returns to it's heavier state.

Any suggestions (I suspect it might be the bearing that pushes the rod through the box), or shall I take it back to the garage that did the work ?

[olly]

Might try greasing the pitov point tomorrow & go for a drive & see if it's any better.

If thats no good, I'll call the agrage & get them to have a look at it.

Thanks