Ahh yes, disengagement good when the pedal is pushed in. Never heard of that happening before ( pushing in, no diengagement)
I've had that happen Ferret. The slave cylinder was leaking. On a 500 mile trip. I had to stop and add fluid every now and then until I got to my destination and put on a new slave cylinder. Fun times
In this case, I think something (some sort of pin at a pivot point, perhaps?) broke, as it was sudden. Very disconcerting. But maybe cheap to fix? I hope so, as the car has no real value beyond being my baby.
been there too, slave cilinder needed to be replaced around the 130.000 mark on the '98 NB european.
Wow had no idea it was a common thing. I've driven sticks from 1966-2013 and never a clutch problem. Had an automatic for the last 3 years. Wouldn't mind another stick but not going to happen. Next car another automatic Accord for my wife.
It even happened to me once in the first car I ever bought—an old Ford Cortina. Got to the end of a highway, put my foot on the clutch and ... well, nothing. It felt very light, so I pumped and pumped and got enough pressure up to change gear. Actually drove quite a way that day. As long as I remembered to pump it was fine. Lucky it was a pretty windy road.
Turned out it was the slave cylinder.
I've had friends that have had the happen to slave cylinders on clutches. I've had it happen on a master cylinder (no brakes!) pump pump pump....
Lost the slave cylinder on a Ford P/U driving home from work. I put the transmission in second and used the starter motor to get me moving until the motor fired and just left it in second.