Friday morning I got into the family car (1998 VW Passat with manual transmission) and, depressing the clutch, started the engine. The car rocked backwards (I normally leave the gearshift in reverse when parked, plus the parking break was on), the engine died, and the clutch petal stayed on the floor (not good!). The clutch petal had lost all resistance, so I couldn’t shift the car. Looking under the hood, I found that a hose leading from the brake fluid reservoir had popped off and sprayed brake fluid around. I connected it back to the reservoir, and started the engine in Neutral, but the clutch didn’t magically start working. (Sigh…I like easy solutions.) Twenty Dollar bike to the rescue!

Continue reading →