hatchjasper

Hello everyone,

I just picked up an 89' 200 Quattro Avant and I have been having some clutch problems. The last time I was driving it the clutch was working perfectly, but this morning I went to leave and found that my pedal was stuck to the floor. This morning there was pressure behind the pedal and it slowly retracted but now the clutch just springs back and forward violently. The best way to describe it would be to say that the pedal only has 2 positions; on the floor and not. Please let me know if you have any advice.

Thanks a lot.

yodasfro

First thing I would check is if the pedal broke where it attaches to the MC clevis or perhaps the rod on the MC broke. If that checks out your next thing to check would be for hydraulic failure 1. is the brake fluid level going down? 2. is there brake fluid running out of the bottom of the bellhousing? 3. is there presence brake fluid on the master cylinder? 4. is the hose from the master to slave bad?
If it's the clutch slave or the clutch master you might as well replace both unless you are 100% sure which one failed. Final and worse case scenario would be the throw out bearing and or the the pressure plate have failed.
Good luck and report back what you find.

hatchjasper

Thanks for the quick response,

I have to admit I'm not much of a mechanic, and I don't know a lot about these newer European cars. I own a few 60's muscle cars which is really what I'm good at.

Because of this and a local garage connection, I'm having them take a look at it. Before the truck arrived I did open the hood and saw that the brake fluid container was completely empty. I read about the clutch using this fluid since it is also hydraulic, so I suspected this to be the issue. I did all that I could which is basically put in new fluid, turn it on, and pump the clutch and brakes.

This did nothing, and the clutch pedal is still feeling disconnected from anything. I figure that having no fluid did the damage.

I'll post again once I hear the diagnosis and explain the issue.

Prospeeder

Hydraulic issue, Either slave or master failed. Possible for the hose to leak and have it leak the fluid out. The reason it stays on the floor is theres no hydraulic action for the clutch springs to push the pedal back up.

GroupBquattro

Obviously you have a leak that needs to be fixed. Once that is taken care of, there will be air in the system and the pedal will still stay at the bottom. You will need to bleed the system and all will go back to normal