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2K views 29 replies 11 participants last post by  ichopz 
#1 ·
ok so i am new to this forum, as well as the b5 Passat.. so here is the history.. i bought a 99 sedan 1.8t with manual trans. Drove it for about a month. one day while driving i heard a small pop and the clutch pedal went limp.. it wasn’t a dead pedal just wouldn’t allow me to shift gears... after doing a little research on this site i replaced slave and master cylinders and gave it my best shot at bleeding the system with a mightyvac.. right now i still cannot get the car to shift gears.. if the car is now running it will shift gears, but when the car IS running it will not allow 1rst,2nd or reverse.. all other gears just grind.. i have tried using the search function but i HONESTLY have no idea what the issue may be now.. hoping it isn’t the tranny..

SN: up until the day it stopped functioning i didnt have any clutch slip of any "graduating" symptoms..


Any and ALL information is greatly appreciated
 
#2 ·
i replaced slave and master cylinders and gave it my best shot at bleeding the system...
Attach a suitable tube to catch the waste brake fluid, then open the bleeder on the slave cylinder. As the fluid, and probably air bubbles, drain out, keep a close eye on the brake fluid reservoir to make sure the level doesn't drop below the line feeding the clutch.

Sometimes it can take up to half an hour to gravity bleed all the air out of the line and slave if you started with a dry one.
 
#3 ·
Is gravity better than vacuum bleeding? i don’t know the difference but i tried what i read in this forum... I'm doing the best i can as a noob, and I'm not getting anywhere fast OR slow.. i really need help.. this is the daily driver.. which line is the clutch feeding line? the black hose coming off the reservoir(spelling) on the driver side?
 
#10 ·
Wait for someone to chime in. It's only been 7 hrs. Plenty of manual owners here. I've had auto and manual. Haven't seen your exact symptoms. The manual isn't complex. Since you've done the master and slave, mechanical connections would be next. Check linkage for one. After that, you're looking at the sometimes failure prone dual mass flywheel or clutch.

Just keep the capital words to a minimum. People take that as yelling and a foul tone.
 
#11 ·
Make sure you bleed the cylinder with the back of the car higher than the front. Otherwise, there will still be air in it.

Replacing the clutch on a FWD 1.8T 5sp is fairly easy as the trans only weighs 80lbs. Look for any of the 5sp conversion threads for a better idea of what you are up against. I don't know if anyone has made a clutch replacement writeup for the 1.8T
 
#12 ·
I wasn't trying to yell or speak foul to anyone.. I just wanted to show the difference in word infliction... " Take it to the shop" isnt the reason people join forums like this.. We do it to gain knowledge and understanding from people that have been there and done it.. if anyone was offended i apologize.. I have been researching and fighting with this car for about two weeks and cant make heads or tails of it.. its extremely frustrating to try to fix an issue that you aren’t familiar with..
 
#13 ·
Take it to the shop" isnt the reason people join forums like this..
That is incorrect. Sometimes people come here to collect info about a symptom and repair alternative so the shops won't fool them on diagnosis or perform wrong repair or overcharge them.

We do it to gain knowledge and understanding from people that have been there and done it.. if anyone was offended i apologize.. I have been researching and fighting with this car for about two weeks and cant make heads or tails of it.. its extremely frustrating to try to fix an issue that you aren’t familiar with..
This forum like any other is a crowd-sourcing place. It means that you will be exposed to many different opinions from the crowd about a particular issue. You collect the info and you take the common denominator or the best that suits your needs.

I gave my opinion but there were others too. So you essentially do what you think is the best course of action. If taking it to a shop as I suggested (for a reason of course) doesn't appeal to you then simply move on to the next suggested alternative.

What I was referring to by "take it to shop" meant that if you haven't worked on a clutch before, it may prove challenging and it may be worth considering it to be taken care of by shops. But if you want to take the challenge by yourself then you simply ignore my suggestion and move to the next best option.
 
#14 ·
Emry i totally understand.. I do apologize if it came off harsh, but i'm sure you understand the frustration.. I don’t believe that it would be that difficult to perform i just don’t know where to start.. and i definitely do not wanna take the tranny out if i do not need to.. i am very mechanically inclined, and have full faith that i could get the job done.. gonna jump back on the bleeding again today and give that another whirl.. Ill keel ya'll posted as the day progresses.. hopefully its just air still trapped

as of right now.... the pedal travels... full stroke but pedal pressure seems low to me and gears still will not shift while car is running.. shifts fine when the car is off.. tried to start it while in gear but it just pulls forward and doesn’t start..
 
#15 ·
Referring to post #6 it would not be a bad idea to also check the clutch spring. My knowledge on manual cars is limited but based on my old recollection from the last century when gears were not engaged while driving it was usually a disk issue that needed to be replaced.
 
#16 ·
so it would be best to go ahead and buy a clutch kit.. even if the bleeding doesn’t work out i'd at least have one already here ahead of time.. if so any good reccomendations that wont break the bank.. was looking at a LuK kit the other day.. would like a little better than OEM but not race built either..
 
#17 · (Edited)
If it were me, I wouldn't buy anything before I know for sure what's wrong. Even if you have to pay like $50 to a shop to properly diagnose it for you it still worth it. After you know for sure what's wrong then buy the parts and DIY. This would save you a lot of time and money. If you buy a clutch kit now and later you find out there is something else wrong then it would be a wasted effort. The best bet is correctly identifying what is wrong first before buying or doing any repair.
 
#18 ·
If you do end up doing a clutch job, Amazon and RockAuto both have a decent price on the new dual-mass flywheel you'll need. (Either that, or buy a clutch kit that coverts you to a single-mass flywheel with a sprung disc, instead of the other way around.)
 
#19 ·
ok update on current situation... removed and reinstalled slave.. when i unhooked the hard line fluid drained out but no bubbles.. hooked the hard line to a clear hose in a bottle to make sure no air travelled back in.. kind of like normal pedal bleeding.. once re-installed the slave now makes a swishing kinda grunting noise like air is moving around in the slave.. could it be a faulty slave.? both slave and master were new when i installed then..
 
#21 ·
this times two. PZ is dead right on this one. bleeding the slave on the B5 is a horrible task unless it is done as Paul says to do it.

Emry, you are not helping - get your hands off the keyboard for those things you know absolutely zero about. there are loads of people who a) drive sticks here, and b) use the forum to get self-help clues as to how to fix stuff themselves. if you give me grief about this, I'm gonna ask for my mod status back just so I can perma-ban you.

OP, there are lots of people here to help you work thru this, but you have to understand that help over the internet is going to be when people are available - and it might not fit your timetable.
 
#22 ·
JayTheSnork;4126609 OP said:
i greatly appreciate that.. timetable isn’t really that critical at the moment.. but honest real help is def needed.. the bleding has me super frustrated.. Will re-try the bleed CORRECTLY tomorrow.. smh i was wrong the whole time.. i will definitely keep all involved posted
 
#23 ·
It sounds like the clutch is not disengaging. That's why you can shift through all the gears with the engine off but can't with the engine running. When the engine is running and the clutch is still engaged, all the gear-sets are spinning so they will just grind if you try to shift into them.

You heard a pop when the problem began. You need to figure out what popped. Was it a hydraulic system releasing? Was it a linkage, fork, pivot or throw-out bearing breaking? Did you find anything broken when you replaced those parts?

Air in that hydraulic system can cause the clutch to stay engaged even when you've got the pedal to the floor. The other parts I mentioned (if broken) could also cause the same thing. I wouldn't buy a clutch kit unless you know you need one or you don't care if you spend that money.
 
#24 ·
Air in that hydraulic system can cause the clutch to stay engaged even when you've got the pedal to the floor.
That's an interesting point Steve. My question is if he manages to get all the air out of the hyro system and the pedal is not to the floor, should the gears engage normally then? If so, what is the role of the clutch disk in this regard (if hypothetically has failed)?
 
#25 ·
OP, looks like something has broken in the clutch mechanism, you will need to dismantle to verify what has failed.
Before removing the transmission, make sure the clutch has been bled properly, as suggested by PZ using the pedal method or a pressure bleeder.
I suggest you never use a vac bleeder on any hydraulic system.

Does the pedal have the same feel now as it did before you replaced the cylinders ?
If it does, it is likely that you have bled it satisfactorily.
 
#26 ·
Lets keep this thread on topic please.


We don't yet know for a fact that there still isn't some air remaining in that system. Results would be similar to having air in brake hydraulics. The pedal would be pushed back up, but if you press the pedal, air in the line would compress instead of transmitting all the force to actuating the slaves. The feedback you feel while you press the pedal will change because air squishing presents a different resistance then actuating the mechanisms does.

Unless the hydraulics (and other parts of that mechanism still under suspicion) lift the clamping force off the clutch, the trans input shaft will still be being driven and as a result you won't be able to engage gearsets.
 
#29 ·
Did you find the problem? Was it a broken clutch spring?

On teh current problem, does the car move at all whe it stalls, or does the negine just quit? If it just quits, I would suspect something with the clutch-depressed sitch used for starting. Can you start the car with the clutch disengaged, just your foot on the brake?

Otherwise, check the shifter alignment to make sure it is fully in neutral when the stick says it is.
 
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