Clutch pedal stuck to the floor

[Oilslick]

Hi all,
Just started up the car, clutch hit the floor and didn’t come back up.
Have been driving with no signs of clutch issue. Don’t see any obvious fluid leaks.
Did have the water pump changed few thousand miles ago.
I can lift it up manually and it stays up, then when I depress it stays stuck to the floor.

Any ideas? Or do I need to get it towed to a garage?

[Paul70]

This happened to mine last year and the cause was a leak in the hydraulic system after some other work had been done on the car. In my case there was hardly any fluid loss. Check your brake fluid reservoir and if it looks slightly low a leak is the most likely cause.

There could be other causes though so wait for other feedback.

[madstaff]

Did a Tiguan a while back suffering the same issue, turned out to be the clutch master cylinder.

Not saying yours will be the same but changing the master cylinder is a whole lot easier than changing the slave cylinder which requires the gearbox to be removed.

[Oilslick]

On further inspection it looks like there’s no clutch/brake fluid in the reservoir and a very small puddle directly under the air box.

[madstaff]

You'll see where the clutch hose connects to a plastic connector with the bleed nipple.

I would make sure the bleed nipple is snugged up, 7 or 8mm spanner.

Make sure the hose is properly seated into the plastic housing, and the housing is seated onto the pipe coming out the top of the gearbox.

Ignore the arrows in this pic.

[Oilslick]

Is that under the air box?

[madstaff]

It is indeed.

Should be able to see it without removing the airbox.

[Oilslick]

Topped up the clutch fluid and pumped the pedal and it’s come back to life.
Will check for leaks but is that normal behaviour? Fluid drops below x amount and it cuts the clutch?
Level didn’t look to be below min on the reservoir.
Also I just topped it up, assuming there’s no need to bleed it despite the pedal having disappeared?

Tia

[madstaff]

Because the clutch uses the same reservoir as the brakes, the fluid feed in the reservoir is ¾ the way up so if the clutch line/hose/slave cylinder leaks it doesn't leak all the fluid out of the fluid reservoir leaving no fluid for the brakes - brake failure.

[Oilslick]

Makes sense, thanks.
No need to bleed is there?