help with clutch...

[MandieGirl]

my friend was driving my beetle the other night and said that my clutch needed to be adjusted. you barely have to push the clutch in to change gears. he said that it should have to be pushed in all the way. i'm such a girl and don't know too much about them, although my ex and i put a new master cylinder in my old explorer. any help?

[VW2.0Driver]

Originally Posted by MandieGirl

my friend was driving my beetle the other night and said that my clutch needed to be adjusted. you barely have to push the clutch in to change gears. he said that it should have to be pushed in all the way. i'm such a girl and don't know too much about them, although my ex and i put a new master cylinder in my old explorer. any help?

Hopefully I can help you out here.

For starters, the clutch in the New Beetle can't be adjusted. Why, I don't know, but it can't be.

Second, my Beetle does the same exact thing. You can push the clutch halfway in and shift gears. However, this is not good for the car. It can cause wear on the pressure plate and the clutch, and ruin it's useful lifetime.

So I am sure you're clutch is fine. All clutches are different in some way shape or form, so if your friend has driven a lot of clutches then this could be totally different from others.

[from Margaritaville...]

I've sold used cars for over five years and have literally driven several hundred cars. They're ALL different. Drive it until stops disengaging properly. By the way, why is someone else driving YOUR Beetle? I barely let my wife drive my Beetle. I'm ready to tell her to get her own...

[noR]

Just sayin' I agree with these two. The clutch is fine.

[iScott]

Originally Posted by VW2.0Driver

You can push the clutch halfway in and shift gears. However, this is not good for the car. It can cause wear on the pressure plate and the clutch, and ruin it's useful lifetime.

Is this true? So it's always best to push the clutch in ALL the way rather than "just far enough"?

[MandieGirl]

Originally Posted by Alan Margosian

By the way, why is someone else driving YOUR Beetle? I barely let my wife drive my Beetle. I'm ready to tell her to get her own...

i was trying to talk him into letting me drive his truck. plus, since he is a mechanic i wanted him to see if he could figure out why 1st gear is a little hesitant. but mostly so i could drive his truck. like i said, i'm such a girl. lol

[noR]

Originally Posted by UFC_Champ_Scott

Is this true? So it's always best to push the clutch in ALL the way rather than "just far enough"?

Yes yes absolutely positively.

All the way in, all the way out. Anything else causes unnecessary clutch wear.

[Oyveychris]

Most cars these days have hydraulic clutches which cannot be adjusted. The old school alternative was the cable actuated clutch which could be adjusted to some degree. Always push your clutch in all the way so there's less chance of rubbing of the clutch against the pressure plate. Why? Because clutch repairs suck, and are expensive, and take time! I got 196,000 miles out of my 89' Cabriolet with nary a clutch problem, other than a broken cable.