The clutch/transmission troubles thread.

[hifichip76]

I had my flywheel replaced @ 800 miles and just had my Inst Cluster replaced @ 1300 miles. My flywheel started at 100 miles. This is on a 2013.

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What were the symptoms?

[davesco]

This is exactly what happend to me today. Going 60 on the highway in 6th 2500 rpm and when accelerating
at 3000 rpm the rpm needle going up and down for a few seconds. 8100 miles. Going to the dealer soon to get some answers.

[specialkk43]

I was coming back from H2O with 3 people in car, and full trunk. I was in 5th, pushed the gas pedal to go around someone, spooled up and then I felt the RPMs jump up and then drop all while my foot was held down =( I was able to replicate it in 6th aswell. I have a feeling the extra weight had a big role here

Mine is happening in 5th and 6th. Easy to duplicate. But as of right now my dealer is telling me they'll go to bat with VW, but I'll have to pay for the tear apart if VW doesn't pony up (quoted approx $800).

The thing is... is it really worth it??? With stage 2, a replacement factory clutch is gonna fail all over agin from the looks of it... so I'm considering just upgrading instead. Especially since they can't guarantee that VW will pay.

What are people using that have decided to upgrade?

[BRSomm]

Mine is happening in 5th and 6th. Easy to duplicate. But as of right now my dealer is telling me they'll go to bat with VW, but I'll have to pay for the tear apart if VW doesn't pony up (quoted approx $800).

The thing is... is it really worth it??? With stage 2, a replacement factory clutch is gonna fail all over agin from the looks of it... so I'm considering just upgrading instead. Especially since they can't guarantee that VW will pay.

What are people using that have decided to upgrade?

Spec stage III with a lightened flywheel through HPA.

Definitely noisier than stock, makes a loud groan if I accelerate in 6th from 2000 rpms. Other than that it's fine. Supposed to be rated for 580 ft/lbs or so of torque so it should handle my needs for the foreseeable future.

[webcrawlr]

Mine is happening in 5th and 6th. Easy to duplicate. But as of right now my dealer is telling me they'll go to bat with VW, but I'll have to pay for the tear apart if VW doesn't pony up (quoted approx $800).

The thing is... is it really worth it??? With stage 2, a replacement factory clutch is gonna fail all over agin from the looks of it... so I'm considering just upgrading instead. Especially since they can't guarantee that VW will pay.

What are people using that have decided to upgrade?

That's exactly why I haven't bothered with the dealer yet. Why go through the trouble if the replacement is just going to do the same thing. I saw someone post their stg1+ car was having clutch issues just like this as well so I wouldn't limit it to just stg2 and above.

I'm on the fence with clutches. I'd like to retain the OEM feel and sound, or lack of sound, if possible. For that reason I've been looking at the SRE clutch disc and pressure plate combo while retaining the OEM DMF. The package is rated for 405+ tq at the flywheel which is gives plenty of room for stg2+ tunes and below. Haven't pulled the trigger yet though.

[Coderedpl]

Spec stage III with a lightened flywheel through HPA.

Definitely noisier than stock, makes a loud groan if I accelerate in 6th from 2000 rpms. Other than that it's fine. Supposed to be rated for 580 ft/lbs or so of torque so it should handle my needs for the foreseeable future.

Anyway you can take some sound clips?

How's the clutch pedal feel compared to stock?

That's exactly why I haven't bothered with the dealer yet. Why go through the trouble if the replacement is just going to do the same thing. I saw someone post their stg1+ car was having clutch issues just like this as well so I wouldn't limit it to just stg2 and above.

I'm on the fence with clutches. I'd like to retain the OEM feel and sound, or lack of sound, if possible. For that reason I've been looking at the SRE clutch disc and pressure plate combo while retaining the OEM DMF. The package is rated for 405+ tq at the flywheel which is gives plenty of room for stg2+ tunes and below. Haven't pulled the trigger yet though.

Got a link for the combo?

[dsrtfox]

12/11 build date, experiencing clutch slip at the 3k-4k torque band in 4th, 5th and 6th. APR 1+ for just about 1k miles, 11k total miles (and no I don't work my clutch like a jacka$$, though I have launched a few times).

Just curious bc after reading this thread there wasn't a lot of info on whether the clutch slip issue specifically was being covered under warranty, especially with performance upgrades. I really don't want to have the dealership spend 4 or more hours ripping the tranny apart only to find out its not covered under warranty and drop the charges on me.

My plan is that I will get it replaced under warranty if possible, and if not to upgrade to either the sachs clutch kit (from earlier in the thread), the SPEC kit from HPA or the DXD kit touted by APR. The only reason for going DXD would be that my local tuner (who is awesome and I will go there for everything I can) is an APR dealer and most likely carries it or will ship it there for free.

Any experience with this issue, or advice on clutch selection would be greatly appreciated.

[MK2 16v-T]

Anyway you can take some sound clips?

How's the clutch pedal feel compared to stock?

Got a link for the combo?

http://www.sachsperformance.com/Sach..._806_4696.html

[davesco]

Had my first clutch slip this morning in 5th and 6th.Went to my VW dealer this afternoon and they told me that before 2008 clutch had a warranty for 6months or 6000 miles but after 2008 clutch has no more warranty period!
Now looking for a upgrade and see what's best out there. Any ideas?
P.S. on my 17 miles drive home from work ( mostly highway) I tried to duplicate the clutch slippage
as experienced this morning but nothing happened! But eventually it will happen again.

[specialkk43]

Had my first clutch slip this morning in 5th and 6th.Went to my VW dealer this afternoon and they told me that before 2008 clutch had a warranty for 6months or 6000 miles but after 2008 clutch has no more warranty period!
Now looking for a upgrade and see what's best out there. Any ideas?
P.S. on my 17 miles drive home from work ( mostly highway) I tried to duplicate the clutch slippage
as experienced this morning but nothing happened! But eventually it will happen again.

How many miles do you have on your car?

[specialkk43]

Does APR have a cluth setup for our cars?

I daily it. Never, or rarely track... so I need something that is still easily driveable.


Edit: Just found some info on their site. Does anyone know anything about them? Used them? Noise?

[davesco]

How many miles do you have on your car?

8200 miles.

[Tiguan2011]

Had my first clutch slip this morning in 5th and 6th.Went to my VW dealer this afternoon and they told me that before 2008 clutch had a warranty for 6months or 6000 miles but after 2008 clutch has no more warranty period!
Now looking for a upgrade and see what's best out there. Any ideas?
P.S. on my 17 miles drive home from work ( mostly highway) I tried to duplicate the clutch slippage
as experienced this morning but nothing happened! But eventually it will happen again.

Are you saying VW won't cover the repair of your clutch?

[davesco]

Are you saying VW won't cover the repair of your clutch?

As stated above VW does not have a warranty for the clutch after 2008 . If somebody has info of something different please let me know!

[Coderedpl]

Then how did people get it replaced under warranty? It would/should be considered a defective part... or premature wear ....i think

[<Platypus=]

Then how did people get it replaced under warranty? It would/should be considered a defective part... or premature wear ....i think

I thought I read in another thread clutch warranty is only to 6000 miles, I could be wrong.

[FDP]

I just read the warranty book. Among other items, it lists "clutch discs" as not covered "unless their replacement is a necessary part of warranty service on a covered component." The wear items are listed at 1 year 12,000 miles, with the exception of wiper blades which are 6 months or 6000 miles. While the clutch is not covered under wear items, it certainly should be covered if it is defective from the manufacturer. The flywheel is under the powertrain warranty, which is 5 years or 60,000 miles.
I know people have had cracked flywheels, so maybe that is why they are being covered.

[FDP]

Please note, "it certainly should be covered if it is defective from the manufacturer" was my question, it was not stated as such in the warranty book

[Rebellionelite]

There is a bloody TSB for it... or at least for people reporting certain systems that calls for things to be replaced... at least thats what I thought?

[webcrawlr]

I just read the warranty book. Among other items, it lists "clutch discs" as not covered "unless their replacement is a necessary part of warranty service on a covered component." The wear items are listed at 1 year 12,000 miles, with the exception of wiper blades which are 6 months or 6000 miles. While the clutch is not covered under wear items, it certainly should be covered if it is defective from the manufacturer. The flywheel is under the powertrain warranty, which is 5 years or 60,000 miles.
I know people have had cracked flywheels, so maybe that is why they are being covered.

The short of it is this, wear items are not covered for wear related issues. Wear items are covered for defects in materials or workmanship.

[specialkk43]

There is a bloody TSB for it... or at least for people reporting certain systems that calls for things to be replaced... at least thats what I thought?

Maybe in Canada... My guy said he checked and there was nothing... Hmmmmm

[Coderedpl]

Maybe in Canada... My guy said he checked and there was nothing... Hmmmmm

Same here.

This kinda sucks. I'm over 12k now, if not 13k already. So it seems like I'm sol since if I complain, they take it apart, then they will want to throw the labor and replacement charges at me

[bsmith75]

I wonder if the issue with my clutch was actually a faulty pressure plate..

After repair, the clutch feels much stiffer (more pressure to depress) and the enagement point is much closer to the floor. The clutch never felt this way from day-1 I recieved it back in Jan.

Additionally there were these clunking like noises from the undercarriage of the car when depressing the clutch while moving slowly (<5mph). Even the tech commented on these noises. Those also went away after the repair.

I'm happy to have it fixed and it feels better than when I bought the car, but curiosity has me thinking about what the root cause was. Question to the experts out there would be if a bad pressure plate could be to blame?? Would this also cause some of the cracking we saw in others clutches?

Thanks

B.

[batman25]

I have joined the clutch slipping club. Happened this morning in 4th gear and this afternoon in 2nd. I noticed that reverse was easy to get into which it has never been and first and second are more crunchy. Just went over 4000miles today.

[Rebellionelite]

I have joined the clutch slipping club. Happened this morning in 4th gear and this afternoon in 2nd. I noticed that reverse was easy to get into which it has never been and first and second are more crunchy. Just went over 4000miles today.

Any Mods?

[batman25]

Any Mods?

stage 1. all the gears were notchy today but no slipping.

[RCKEV]

Man..... I was heading out in the a.m. to to buy a used R w/3120 miles on it. Now I am not sure I want to trade my 2010 Autobahn dsg for this.
Fook! Why can't they do a TSB on this? I mean they have to know it's a problem.

[imdarkrider]

well just joined the club. Build date 4/12. Clutch slipping in 5th and 6th gear. APR stage 1. Time to get VWOA to get in on this. I drive 5 miles each way to work. 4300 on the clock. I'd consider myself really gentle on the car and I rarely drive on the freeway so this kind of came as a shock to me when I was trying to pass someone on the freeway.

[iThread]

well just joined the club. Build date 4/12. Clutch slipping in 5th and 6th gear. APR stage 1. Time to get VWOA to get in on this. I drive 5 miles each way to work. 4300 on the clock. I'd consider myself really gentle on the car and I rarely drive on the freeway so this kind of came as a shock to me when I was trying to pass someone on the freeway.

Something I've been noticing, and, this isn't me pointing my finger at anyone but, when I want to pass someone on the freeway and need all the power the engine can muster I drop down to 4th. If it's a light overtake I'll go down to 5th but, not if I'm applying full power. 5th and 6th are pretty much cruising gears not necessarily overtaking gears.

[imdarkrider]

Something I've been noticing, and, this isn't me pointing my finger at anyone but, when I want to pass someone on the freeway and need all the power the engine can muster I drop down to 4th. If it's a light overtake I'll go down to 5th but, not if I'm applying full power. 5th and 6th are pretty much cruising gears not necessarily overtaking gears.

I agree with you. But I wasn't going to open throttle maybe like 50-60% power when I noticed the slipping. If I would have downshifted into 5th and gave it a go i'm sure it would have slipped worst. Point is either way it shouldn't be slipping that early on in the life of a car.

[webcrawlr]

Time to get VWOA to get in on this.

Why would VVOA be responsible for you adding more torque than the stock clutch can handle? After I started to slip I flashed back to stock and guess what.. No more slip. They may have cut it close on the amount of torque the clutch can hold long term but it doesn't seem to be an issue if you stay stock.

[iThread]

I agree with you. But I wasn't going to open throttle maybe like 50-60% power when I noticed the slipping. If I would have downshifted into 5th and gave it a go i'm sure it would have slipped worst. Point is either way it shouldn't be slipping that early on in the life of a car.

Cool, yeah, it should not necessarily be slipping under those conditions, you're right, and, that info was not in your post. And it's been slipping with folks who are stock. I'm not trying to say there isn't a problem because clearly there is. But, I think a lot of folks are also trying to replicate the problem by going full throttle in 5th and 6th and doing it repeatedly and potentially causing the problem they're trying to avoid. Just something I'm trying to get more of a feeling for.

And, to add more value to the topic, I'm at 7000 miles and Apr stage 1+ since about 100 miles and stage 2+ since just under 5000 miles and my clutch isn't slipping yet. Including a full on track day at Thunderhill with the stage 2+ setup. Car was assembled Nov 2011.

[iThread]

Why would VVOA be responsible for you adding more torque than the stock clutch can handle? After I started to slip I flashed back to stock and guess what.. No more slip. They may have cut it close on the amount of torque the clutch can hold long term but it doesn't seem to be an issue if you stay stock.

It's been a issue on cars who aren't modified.

[BRSomm]

Something I've been noticing, and, this isn't me pointing my finger at anyone but, when I want to pass someone on the freeway and need all the power the engine can muster I drop down to 4th. If it's a light overtake I'll go down to 5th but, not if I'm applying full power. 5th and 6th are pretty much cruising gears not necessarily overtaking gears.

With APR 1+ 6th gear is a passing gear at 3000 rpms. When lazy I'd even accelerate from 2000 rpms. I love the feeling of easing in to the power and then having it hammer you in the back.

I don't do it anymore as there's a really loud and annoying vibration with the SPEC clutch from <3000 rpms in 5th and 6th gears.

[iThread]

With APR 1+ 6th gear is a passing gear at 3000 rpms. When lazy I'd even accelerate from 2000 rpms. I love the feeling of easing in to the power and then having it hammer you in the back.

I don't do it anymore as there's a really loud and annoying vibration with the SPEC clutch from <3000 rpms in 5th and 6th gears.

Sure, with a aftermarket clutch, but, I'd not do it on a stocker personally. It's not that the engine isn't in it's power band, it's the maths about the gearing. A good analogy is the gearing on a bicycle, put it in it's top gear and then try to accelerate and see how your legs feel. The engine in your car is having a similar sensation and the clutch is what's in between. The engine is trying to accelerate hard but, the driveline in 5th and 6th is working against that.