My 16 year old son bought a '97 passat vr6 wagon w85k for a nice price, so he knew there may be issues. I wasn't invited to the purchase party and his mom didn't have it checked out before buying...

ANYWAY,

The clutch stopped working on him and I looked at the pedal assy. I found the clutch pedal has a square welded boss that holds a cable I am assuming is the actuator. The boss was broken (looks like it was cobbed by the PO, it was scratched and mis-shapened and there was evidence of sloppy work there) so I calmed him down and felt like there may be more to do, but the car is back on the road with a new pedal.

We took it to a shop in the area and left it to him and his Mom to figure out.
They want about $200 with diagnostics, a new pedal and labor. That price includes the all-mysterious "clutch flush".

Is it a hydraulic clutch in this car?

Also, because it was his Mom, they're trying to sell them a thousand dollar brake job... I drove the car and it may need pads, but that's it.

I'm smelling the "dumb women special" because of that.

Anyone help out today?

Thanks
paul

Paul,
I'd say wait for Cap'n Krusty to answer, HE would know.

Or, just call the Service Dept at the VW dealer near you.

According to ETKA it has a clutch slave cylinder so it's hydraulic.

You can also get an idea of parts prices by entering the part numbers into Pelican's VW catalog

http://www.pelicanparts.com/euro/catalog/s...086_catalog.htm

The clutch system is hydraulic. I think I may have changed a clutch master cylinder on a Passat, and maybe even a pedal, and it's a b*tch. A brake job usually requires rotors, and pads are on the pricey side. I would charge about $657, out the door for a brake job on that car, including a brake fluid flush. We're at $100/hr. VR6s have a problem with the timing chains, tensioner, and guides, which requires the removal of the tranny to access, and can easily cost $2k, and probably substantially more. Sometimes happens as early as 80K miles, sometimes a lot later. The Cap'n

Replaced one of the tensioners on my wife's '97 VR6 last year. Fortunatly it was the outboard unit. If it had been the inner one, as much as she loves it, the car would have been junked. The nice thing about the VR6 is that it seems to get stronger with age, and I figure it should easily 200k miles mechanically. Bad part is - everything is ba_l busting expensive for it. Shame too, because it's such a good motor.
Pat

WOW!

Thanks for the info.
Cap'n, your price for brakes is about $75. lower than the 2 I got.

I figured there moght be a schematic on Pelican, but I didn't have enough time to find it this morning. Tough news about the potential repair bills. I only had my 98 glx until it was 80k old, then other systems started to fail.
Sounds like finding a boneyard lump may be cheaper than doing a timing chain!

Paul