Mk3 Golf TDI clutch pedal repair

My Mk3 TDI has a hydraulic clutch and recently as I pulled out of a t-junction, the clutch just stayed down when I tried to shift from 1st to 2nd. Luckily I could just coast to a halt and no real harm was done.

Once I got home I could see the cause of the problem. A poor piece of design has meant that the metal plate that pushes on the end of the master cylinder plunger is only held on by 5 pathetic spot welds, and it was these that had given up, and not the clutch itself.

I already removed the pedal, but here you can see how it is attached. The pedal has two nylon bushings that fit inside it (only one is visible, the other is removed in this image), and these run on a metal tube that sits under the dashboard. The pedal is prevented from coming off the shaft by a weird fancy rectangular circlip (also removed - you can see the groove at the end of the shaft). I couldn't figure out how to remove it and broke it on removal. Having got it off, I can now see how its supposed to be removed - it locks in place in the end of tube (shaft) that the pedals run on. Use a screwdriver to unlock it and it slides off quite easily. I planned replace it with an ordinary circlip, however its thinner than all my circlips so I ended up buying the VW part (43 pence didnt break the bank).

This image shows clearly on the left side, the two studs that the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) is mounted on. I removed the two nuts that held it on, and unplugged it, and unclipped the little cable that connects it to the throttle. This gives _far_ better access to the clutch. I suspect its probably impossible to remove it without removing the TPS.

Here you see the removed pedal and the pathetic spot welds that should be holding on the small bit of metal. The end two spot welds were weak and rusted out, which left the other three overstressed. Metal fatigue took care of the rest.

Amateur welders take heart - if I can do it, so can you. It may look like crap but it scrubbed up nicely, as you can see:

After a little grinding and filing…

The finished repair, after applying a generous coat of hammerite. Note to self… next time, brush off the dust. D'oh!

Reinstallation is simply the reverse of the disassembly process, however the large spring that provides the pedal with some feedback is a problem as it takes some effort to compress it. My solution was to put the spring module ina vice and compress it, then drill a hole though it, into which I placed a wire coathanger. This kept the spring mostly compressed, and so it took little extra effort to compress it that last little bit on installation. I dont think the drilled out section has been substantially weakened, and it doesnt do anything once the spring is installed anyway. Here is a series of pictures to illustrate:

Compressing the spring module in a vice.

Drilling a hole in the inner white nylon part. Its not possible to compress the spring quite far enough and still drill a hole in it, so this is as close as you can get.

The spring module, held compressed by a length of wire coat hanger inserted in the hole.

The spring module reinstalled - wire coathanger removed. As noted above, its impossible to compress the spring quite as much as needed, but a stiff push from both thumbs was enough to compress it the rest of the way and pop it below the pedals 'notch' in which it rides. Note that unlike the picture, you should reinstall the nylon bushing and the 'circlip' before installing the spring, as I found out. If you dont, then the force of the spring can prevent the shaft from sliding in the bushings easily, which makes aligning it for the new 'circlip' difficult.

Also not shown (because I havent taken a picture) is the nylon bushing that was missing from the clutch pedal. Thus should sit inside the rectangular carrier which I repaired above. I'll take a picture of it soon.