1996 VW Passat 4-cyl intermitant clutch

Hello,

I'm having a intermittent clutch disengagement problem on my 1996 VW Passat, 4-cyl, original owner with 140000 miles. This is the original clutch.

The problem is that periodically under varying conditions, cool early mornings or long hot drives; the clutch will fail to disengage. The clutch pedal feels normal, but the clutch simply will not disengage. Then, it will simply begin to work properly. Its as if there is a loose wire or something to that effect. I've had it to the shop and they say it may be dirt in the hydraulic lines, they bled the lines but the problem persists. They also suggested it might be the master or slave cylinder. I'm reluctant to replace them on a hunch. Besides, when the clutch does work again, its immediate. I would imagine if the cylinders were leaking it would take some time to come back.

Anyone else have this problem? Can you suggest diagnostics I can perform at home?

Thanks,

I dont know if the systems are the same but my 95 VR6 had a clutch problem that seems kind of similar to yours. It would stay in first sometimes instead of going into reverse or wouldnt go into 3rd or 5th. It turned out to be a plastic linkage at the tranny end of the shift cable. It had only partialy broken and would work sometimes but not others. The part was about $10 and it took about 5 minutes to fix. Check the clutch cable connections on top of the tranny, you never know!

Kurt. Hopefully you'll get an email on this... I'm having the same problem. by now I assume you've made progress with your's. Can you let me know what was wrong? Thank's -Kris