My clutch stopped working on me today in my 83 Diesel.  It turned out that
brake fluid leaked out of the clutch slave cylinder seal.  Ever since the
temperature has been dipping to 10 degrees F or colder the seal has been
leaking. What I didn't realize is how much it has leaked until today. Good
thing VW designed the brake fluid reservoir to leave enough fluid for the
brakes and not let the clutch hydraulic circuit run it dry.

What amazed me is I didn't have to bleed the clutch slave cylinder after
adding fluid. My clutch didn't operate at all before adding the fluid.

Thanks for your timely post Joel,
Kevin

At 09:06 PM 11/18/96 -0600, you wrote:
>just a little story to encourage those sluggish and procrastinating among
>you, with regard to replace the brake fluid (which is also the clutch
>fluid on the vanagons):
>
>one year, on my 80 bus, a cold snap came through and suddenly my clutch
>pedal went plummeting to the floor. gadzooks, i've lost my clutch, thinks
>i!! so i drive gingerly to the mechanic, 60 miles away. first thing he
>does is bleed the brake/clutch fluid, paying special attention to bleeding
>the clutch slave cylinder.
>
>surprise! i have a new clutch!  it seems that dirty old brake fluid can
>contain a bunch of different crud and some of that crud can get trapped
>in some of the seals, especially when cold weather keeps the rubber seals
>kinda shrunk in size. and this allows the fluid to just go rushing past
>the seals ... making it seem for all the world like the clutch is gone.
>
>just a thought. :)
>joel
>
>