924Board.org

[joecitizennn]

When I bought my 924S, the first thing that I noticed was that the clutch had almost no travel. It was like pushing a button. It did work however, and the clutch is definately good, as it does not slip. If I did not push the clutch hard enough I sometimes ground a gear, but that was my fault. Naturally qurious about it I came here and asked everybody. The response that I got was that the clutch was normal, and someone in fact said, "all these cars are like that, just takes getting used to"

WRONG

Yesterday, I was trying to determine the amount of freeplay in my clutch, as the factory specs are 3mm. I was frustirated that I found no freeplay at all, and inadvertantly pulled up on the pedal. It came up with a jump and stayed. No amount of pushing would get it back to the original position it was in. Wierd, I thought. Strange also was the fact that now all the pedals were in line, like they were supposed to be. I crawled under the dash with a flashlight and saw that there was a clutch stop, that the clutch was now resting against like it was supposed to. Wow.

So it was supposed to be this way. I took the car out and drove it and the clutch worked wonderfully, just like on any other car I have driven. Now here is the wierd part! The clutch pick up used to be about 3 inches from the floor (guess). It is now maybe 6 inches from the floor (guess). So not only has the clutch travel changed so has the pickup. I thought it would stay this way.
I took it for a test drive this morning on winding switchbacks, and noticed that occasionally the pedal would begin to fall for no apparent reason. It would settle to the original point where it was when I bought the car. All I had to do was flip it up with my toe, and it worked the other way. I cant predict when it will pall to the other position, so i am stumped.
My first thought was that the master or slave cylinders were leaking, but my clutch fluid is still on the MAX line, just like the day i bought it.

Please tell me what the heck is with my clutch?

[-nick]

Could need bled? You probably noticed there is a helper spring that pulls the pedal up, but it only begins to pull at about half way to the top of the travel. That's what is giving you the snap back up to the regular position.

If you loose hydralic pressure then the pedal won't pop all the way up to the point where the spring on the pedal takes over (to pull it up the rest of the way).

Try bleeding and see how it goes. The bleeder valve is on the slave cylinder.

good luck,
nick

[Smoothie]

Well you put a 924S question in the General Discussions forum and wound up with a few responses on how a 924NA clutch behaves. 924T(931), 924S and 944 all got the hydraulic clutch while the 924NA is cable operated.
Anyway, to your problem... The seals in your clutch master and/or slave cylinder/s are worn, but not completely shot, but they need attention soonly nontheless. That attention can be either in the form of new MC and slave or rebuilt MC and slave or you could get rebuild kits and rebuild them yourself or if you're doing the work yourself, you might start by replacing or rebuilding just the slave cyl. From my own experience, that's the one that's likely to go bad sooner/more often. Do it while it's still warm because partly worn seals seal worse in cold weather.
In their present borderline condition, they'll sometimes catch all the fluid, sometimes not (and the pedal will sink some before catching). Also engine vibrations can cause some leakage past the seals, so you'll sometimes find the pedal's lower after a high rpm accelleration.

The last slave seal rebuild kit I bought was approx. $14.
My slave cyl rebuild procedure - http://www.924board.org/viewtopic.php?t=11373
_________________
"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."


'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

[joecitizennn]

That all seems to make sense to me, but why do I not loose fluid? I would think that if my seals were leaking in my cylinders, I would see fluid loss.
And I find rebuild kits at the local Autozone, or will I have to special order them off the internet?

[Smoothie]

I don't know why you're not loosing fluid. When my clutch MC went bad, it dripped some on the carpet behind the pedal and whenever the slave needed re-doing, it leaked on the ground below it. In any case, your symptoms point to a seal problem in one or both cylinders.
Autozone should have the seal kits. That last $14 slave kit, I ordered at the local Advance AutoParts. NAPA carries them too - order, then they're in in a day or two. Should be able to get them from any auto parts store.

Here's my kooky MC rebuild procedure (I was given the wrong parts, but used them anyway) - http://www.924board.org/viewtopic.php?t=10686 That #1899 kit price was $24, but parts for a $125 924S-944 -brake- MC kit were inside.
_________________
"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."


'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox