The clutch on my 87 Syncro has never had as smooth an action as that of
my 84 Westy.  I would compare the feeling to a tight heater control cable
or a mountain bike brake cable that has sand grit in it, always worked,
but with a rough action.

A few days back things took a turn for the worse, the pedal had a
definite rough or tight spot about halfway through it's range of travel.
Two nights ago it started sticking halfway up on the return from fully
depressed, I had to pry it up with the toe of my boot to get the pedal to
release fully.  Before I got home the problem cleared up to where the
pedal would return to rest, albeit with the rough spot about halfway
through the range of travel.  Last night on my travel to and from the
YMCA it happened again and this time the sticking was worse requiring
more effort to pry the pedal fully up to rest.

While sticking halfway up the clutch is partially engaged, producing
quite a bit of slippage especially at anything other than a very light
throttle, and prying up the pedal did cause the clutch to fully engage
sometimes causing some interesting lurches as it did so. I might also
mention that I noticed a bit of squeaking coming from the pedal linkage
or master cylinder after I got home.  Haven't checked the fluid level
yet, have not noticed any leaks.

Any thoughts on the nature of my difficulties for the hydraulically
challenged?

Thanks.

Tony

Anthony L. Mourkas
Hampden, Maine, USA
1984 Vanagon Westfalia
1987 Vanagon GL Syncro
1991 Jetta Eco Diesel