TheSamba.com :: View topic - Possible transaxle issues in Southern Utah

Sat Oct 04, 2025 5:09 pm

Bleeding a Vanagon clutch while similar is not like bleeding brakes. When you open the slave bleeder and depress the clutch, the pedal will likely need to be pulled up off the floor. You then need to pump, rest, pump and then open the bleeder. Once the master empties it doesn’t recover quickly like the brake master. Taking time gives the master time to refill. If you just open and pump away in a catch bottle it may never recover. Patience.

I mention this so that when you attempt to bleed the clutch be somewhere you might need to stay in case you can’t get a pedal back. I don’t know exactly why, but the brake master has 2 circuits where the clutch has only one. When the pedal is on the floor, at that moment the master is empty and takes a bit to recover.

Sat Oct 04, 2025 5:27 pm

MarkWard wrote: Bleeding a Vanagon clutch while similar is not like bleeding brakes. When you open the slave bleeder and depress the clutch, the pedal will likely need to be pulled up off the floor.

My’90 doesn’t behave like this.
My van has a spring on the clutch pedal that returns it.

See this link: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php...t_dir=DESC

Sat Oct 04, 2025 5:50 pm

Yeah, Mark my '84 has an extra spring on it. I installed it when doing the conversion project to make sure the clutch switch consistently worked properly per adjustment (cruise control circuit). (Brake pedal too)

We spent a lot of time trying to bleed the air out. I finally determined that it was sucking air on the rebound. Maybe the extra spring contributed to that scenario.

At home, in my garage, I use a power bleeder.

Edited for clarification.

Sat Oct 04, 2025 5:54 pm

Sat Oct 04, 2025 6:23 pm

My point was it easy to loose the pedal and can be frustrating to get it back when you haven’t done one before.

Sat Oct 04, 2025 6:35 pm

Besides the OE springs on the Clutch and Brake pedals, I added an extra spring on both pedals for my conversion. Maybe I should have made that clear.

I removed the entire assembly, cleaned, polished, and lubed all moving and stationary parts due to not rebounding adequately for the sensitive Clutch and Brake Switches needed for the Cruise Control of the TDI conversion. Additional springs did help.

Sun Oct 05, 2025 4:47 pm

We’re making adjustments to our schedule so that we can be in Salt Lake City on Thursday.

VW Upfitters is going to take a look.

https://www.vw-upfitters.com/