Club 80-90 Forums

I'm having exactly the same problem on the LT and thought I was going mad too - when I first start off the gears are fine but after I've been running for a while, 1st and 2nd are very ratchety and it's often difficult to get the van into a low gear when approaching a roundabout.

I've found fluid down by my steering column today and suspect it's the master brake cylinder - could this be affecting the gears too or is that something completely different?

It could well be the clutch cylinder leaking Silky? Seem to remember that's near the pedals but actually I havent got a clue. Anyway, just a suggestion.

Ringo

Thanks Ringo, I posted up a pic on the LT Facebook page as I've had fluid leaking, there've been some suggestions but it's only reading this thread that makes me wonder whether the leaking fluid has something to do with my ratchety gears...

Quote ghost123uk
First, the Master cylinder also acts as the Master cylinder for the brakes, it is under the pod, behind the speedo. If it is dodgy you could have brake trouble, so I would keep an eye on the fluid level in there and if you do get any more similar problems, get it checked sooner rather than later as we don't want you to bend your van, or you, through a lack of brakes !

Two slightly misleading comments, sorry mate.....

The resevoir supplies fluid to both the brake and clutch master cylinders (there are two) BUT a leaking clutch slave or master cylinder will only result in partial resevoir fluid loss as the take off point for the clutch is on the side of the resevoir and not underneath. So the long & short is brakes cannot be effected by leaking clutch hydraulics. (the fluid will only drain down to the clutch take off pipe which still leaves a reserve of fluid for the brakes)

Martin

Cheers for the clarification Martin, you learn something every day

(My train of thought was that a drain on the reservoir from a leaky seal could, eventually reduce the fluid enough to affect the brakes. On reflection, of course "they" (VW) would have thought of that !)