SimonK

Ok had accumulator and slave changed. That fixed my stiff clutch pedal. However, my steering wheel is now kinked to the right by half an inch – no longer dead center as it was before. They assured me they haven’t touched anything that could cause this for an example - dropped my engine at the repair procedure. I understand power steering and clutch assist are somehow connected via the pump? Is it possible that by changing clutch assist parts, wheel alignment went out of spec? I will do the alignment again, no problem but I don’t understand why this has happened…

Bos

While the clutch and power steering share the same hydraulics, per se, having your slave and accumulator would not have knocked out an alignment / steering wheel position.

mmmmmm

how many "test drive" miles were present when you picked up the car?

SimonK

6.

Changing slave, dropping engine job?

Bos

Changing the slave does not require dropping the engine. Regardless, dropping the engine would not affect steering wheel alignment.

mmcmilla

I think I need to have the same repair (R&R accumulator and slave, not make steering-off-center). How much should I expect to pay at my dealer?

SimonK

Unless slave is leaking most likely is the accumulator only. The later cheap – $300 the whole job at dealer about $900.

chris walrod

Dropping the engine *could* cause this as rear toe settings are disturbed. If rear toe settings are out one may have an offset steering wheel to compensate.

MechanicalEng

I dont mean to hijack your thread, but how do you know when the accumulator or slave are bad?? I am in the process of buying a 996TT and the clutch feels very stiff before I start the engine, after the engine is running it feels OK. Are there any tests I could do to find out?
Thanks

Bos

The symptom you describe "can" be an indicator of a bad accumulator. The role of the accumulator is to maintain pressure in the system. After a few days or so the pressure has a tendency to naturally bleed off and the clutch will be harder to depress prior to starting the car. So it depends on how long the car sat before you started it to really say this is a true indicator. If it's consistently hard to depress I would say you would need to replace it - and possibly the slave given it's failure has similar symptoms - at some point in the future.

MechanicalEng

Thanks for your input, the car was being used so it shouldnt have been so hard to depress.Is the cost for replacing both at a dealer about $900 like Simon said? or is that the cost of only the accumulator?

SimonK

$900 for both. $300 for accumulator. To test, run the car so clutch is soft. Switch off engine and depress clutch 10-20 times. If it hardens it's probably accumulator.

SimonK

That's what I was thinking. I believe slave is located at the top of the gearbox, so was wondering if that means engine drop as hard to get to otherwise.

Bos

I'm not sure that accumulator test is reliable. The procedure for replacement calls for depressing the clutch, with the engine off, ~ 25 times to release system pressure. As system pressure is released the clutch will be increasingly harder to depress.

Bos

Good point. Didn't think about that. While a pain, the slave can be replaced without dropping the engine. I guess it's now a question of whether they did or didn't?