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The definitive Pedal Box Thread


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Hello

I've finally got myself a Lupo and I wish I'd found this thread before I bought it - I just thought the clutch needed adjusting!

Icegeezer (or anyone that's done this themselves): do you have to disconnect the steering column to do this? Are there any particularly tricky bits to look out for, or is it just generally fiddly and quite a long job?

Thanks to everyone for all the information so far - it could well have saved me further outlay for clutches and gearboxes...

Hey ninety... Yeah the whole steering rack has to be removed... lay in the well of the car (remove the seat) look up and youl see the top of the stering rack is held in by 2 sheer bolts, these have to be drilled (chizeling didnt work for me)But make sure someone holds the wheel before you drill them both out :) then if you have not done so already. remove the bottom of the steering column (DONT DROP THE BOLT) and it should just pull up and out :) see www. facebook. com / tdunning and go though my pictures, im still in the process of replacing it...

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Hope these help guys....

The snaped clutch part of the pedal box (still stuck above the pedals)

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The steering column HAS to come out... seat is negotiable, but it will be near if not Impossible..

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What it looks like at the moment...

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Seat is out... (THE KEYS ARE IN AND TURNED SLIGHTLY TO TAKE OFF THE STEERING LOCK) Do not try to torun on the ignition if you havent disconected the negative from the batery... if you have give it 15 - 20 mins or Air bag will pop (apparently)

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Pedal box removed and we can see the damage... the peice of metal to the left of the clutch pedal is what snaps off.

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BEfore i took everything out.. this is what the pedal box looked like after the breakage (you can just see it)

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Finaly.. The area which is snapped (the spot weld remains attached to the pedal box... however, the component doesnt....

c3328414.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have just taken my car to a VW dealership in Kettering who told me both my pedal box and clutch have gone. They have quoted me over £1100 to get this fixed as it is going to take 8 hours of labour. To me this sounds an atrocious amount! Anyone have any clue of where I should go from here as I'm not sure I can justify spending that amount but at the same time my Lupo is just too good and means too much to me to scrap or sell as a project. It is driveable at the moment but they said I shouldn't be driving it as it's dangerous.

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They have said they'll match any quote I get in writing using genuine VW parts. Is this something that's worth doing or should I just get it done at a local garage? Also is it true they couldn't actually tell if the clutch was worn if the pedal box was gone?

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If the pedal box has 100% snapped then there is no way in my opinion of telling that clutch is worn. Probably just trying to rake more money out of you.

Few people have had there pedal box on here replaced at garages for £180-£250.

So would you recommend just getting the pedal box done at a local garage and then seeing if it gets through next month's MOT with the same clutch?

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  • 1 month later...

Hi there everyone.

First of all i'm glad I have came across this post and im just hoping that it might possibly the problem I have rather than the gearbox! My clutch had always been a bit weird, sometimes it would be fine to use other times i would find it hard to go into gear and take it out, and i was driving on the motorway the other day and went to put my foot on the clutch and CRUNCH! the clutch pedal went straight to the floor. So at first my boyfriend thought that it might be just a broken clutch cable and this has now been changed, however... now I don't have first gear and the clutch is very heavy compared to what it used to be, and the cable is going full stretch and is reaching the right gears.

do you think this might be a break in the pedal box? second is crunchy too, but other gears are fine, but no first gear what so ever! and do you have to take out the pedal box before you can see the damage, can it go on different areas of the box?

many thanks

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mine has a funny fault; the box is fine but seems to have problems moving back in reverse. It just feels heavy and sluggish, i'm also finding that the engine doesn't idle properly, it's like there is a sticky idle control valve or something. When i'm moving it feels great and like a normal car, but from stop to go it's a proper menace.

Any ideas guys?

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Would appear this is my issue with the Lupo i bought today.

Crunch into reverse, clutch pedal it lotsa lower than the brake pedal, sometimes crawls when in 1st and clutch is (what i thought was) fully down

My car is just too old to try blag a dealership i thinks, is it that much of a ball ache to do DIY style so worth taking the hit on a garage doing it?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Righty, had mine replaced over the weekend by "some guy" a mate of mine knows

I supplied the parts and he sorted it, took his time as not done one before (audi tech but meh) also he managed to break my brake pedal switch things so paid a tenner for that at local motor factors

Parts £40ish

Labour £90

I'm happy with that really

Drived a million times better

Where mine broke :-

DSC04942.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

our lasses polo has been crunching into gears sice we bought it, the garage had replaced the clutch and i hadnt read this post until yesterday when her pedal box went, i thought the clutch cable would just need adjusting due to the new clutch :(

oh and the warrenty ran out 6 or 7 days ago :(

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

My local VW dealership know of this issue and the goodwill gesture VW offer for the Lupo, but told me to get in touch with a Seat branch for my Arosa. The service manager at Seat isn't interested, he just wants the business. Phoned Seat to be told they don't have any issues with the pedal box on their system. Found that a bit hard to believe. Anyone had any luck with their Arosa?

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  • 1 month later...

Does this sound like bummed pedal box?

Had a long drive up north yesterday, when I got off the motorways and into the city it felt like my gearbox was getting major stiff to select gears, when I was driving into the carpark in first there was a real high whining or kind of whistling noise, when I got back to the car a few hours later it started fine but still with the stiff to engage box and whines, when I got it out of the carpark and tried to shift for second it was near impossible to get it in it was just like my clutch wasn't down at all. It got left in a parking space for a few more hours and when I came back to it late at night it was slightly easier to get the gears if I was gentle but still not right, once it was in the gears she drove fine and managed to get her home but with a whistling noise in every gear when accelerating. I thought pedal box but I could be wrong.

Thanks in advance for the help guys

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Our pedal box has gone at 55K miles, car was just under 8 years old but is now over......

RAC man showed me with his LED lamp and wrote it on a report.

VW are useless w4nkers and refuse to address the issue, the dealership will give a small discount which VW will match, but it's still cheaper to go to a local smaller firm as we need other work done, and the whole bill is not worth the effort and stress I'm going through trying to sort it out. Everyone is so full of bull5hit it's untrue. There are much more important things in my life.

VW is only going to fix your car if you've already wasted plenty of your cash on their overpriced servicing. Well, they can stick it.

Next time you go in a VW dealership, have a good look around at the shiny buildings of glass and offices full of 'customer service' people. Who pays for that...?

:angry:

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Hi all!

Well, I have also been an unfortunate victim of the dreaded clutch pedal box melodrama, so thanks to posters for the helpful info.

Lupi is W reg, 77000 miles on the clock and in pretty good nick for her age. She got towed to a large VW dealer on a saturday afternoon, so I left a wee note enquiring about goodwill considering the common nature of this problem. Ahem, got a call back late on the monday afternoon from service lady saying No, no goodwill as car is over 5 years old (Why this makes any difference is beyond me, it's not the age of the car that's the problem, it's the stinking design fault!) No goodwill at all, quote for repair £541 *cough, splutter, splutter*. Did a bit of enquiring around, independent garage in Byres road didn't even flinch "Oh yeah, common problem that, we know all about it" and qutoed £350 incl VAT, they'll even fetch the car for me. A smaller VW dealer quoted £309.61 incl VAT, which original dealer said they'd match if I got a written quote. I decided (very politely) to raise my middle finger at VW full stop and go with the independant garage.

I'm frankly disgusted. Considering the origin of the problem lies in the design, all affected vehicles should be repaired FOC regardless of age/mileage/service history etc.

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  • 2 months later...

Does anyone know if this pedal box issue is uk-specific or applies to european left-drive lupos as well?

i'm driving a 2001 lupo 1.4 highline, 112 000 km.

issue : the clutch pedal is hard, noisy (as if some lubrication was missing somewhere) and the clutch does not engage fully in some conditions.

result:

1st and 2nd gear are hard. To put the first gear when fully stopped you sometimes have to get in 2nd first and then up...

I was going to blame the cable before changing the whole clutch but this thread looks interesting...only problem, can't find anything similar on other forums.

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