[intonation]

A week ago I noticed my clutch slipping slighltly at high rpms last (about 16,000 miles). It wasn't bad, and barely noticable. I scheduled a service appointment with Baron VW to have it checked out, as the clutch shouldn't experience slippage at that milage.
It slipped a little through the week, no big deal...until last night, when the Jetta left me stranded on a deserted highway at 3:00am. It began massively slipping until it wouln't go anywhere... After a steadyhour of highway driving, it started slowing down until it wouldn't get any power to the wheels.
I had roadside assistance tow it to the dealer, and went in to pick up my loaner in the morning (so far so good)... Until I recieved from the service manager. He informed me there was a clutch problem, and they need to authorize 6 hrs of servicing to tear down the tranny and find the problem. He said if it's "not a warrantable part", then I will be responsible for parts and labor.
Bear in mind I've driving manual for 10 years, and had multiple BMW's and VW's with well over 100k on their first clutch.... I don't feel that is at all plausable wear and tear for the clutch to fail at this milage. I'm not a kid learning to drive manual, and I don't race around. I leased this car, in part due to the 50k bumper to bumper warranty, and didn't expect multi-thousand dollar repair bills.
I haven't heard back from Baron on the problem, but what can I do in the meantime? I had my brakes go at 20k on my '01 Jetta, and they "goodwilled" the parts and labor because they should have noticed this at the regular service intervals. Do you think a call to VWoA would help? I will do anything within reason to avoid VW getting my $$ over something which I know is clearly not my own doing. Baron has been entirelyh professional in the past, and I'm very confused by this situation

Thanks guys!

Modified by intonation at 2:12 AM 7-22-2003

 

[intonation]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (intonation)

shameless bump


Modified by intonation at 2:12 AM 7-22-2003

 

[boost4speed]

my clutch went at 15000 miles with hard driving and volkswagen covered it i wouldnt worry

 

[Khyron]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (intonation)

There's no way that sounds normal tho - Even clutch abuse is a gradual wearing out (not counting drops etc).
But then again it all depends on how you feel about your dealer. I say get them to find out the problem, THEN decide if you even need to fight.
Khyron

 

[Anthony.L]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (Khyron)

Make sure they run your VIN and look for service bulletins. I've heard there are some out regarding the clutch on 02 models....

 

[Bolsen]

Your not chipped right?

 

[VRSic]

Re: (Bolsen)

As long as your not modding the related parts and systems (what ever the hell that really means) I would authorize the hrs to find out the issue. If they really try and stick it to you fight like hell. I am not calling you a liar but if you really treated this car well I would think MOST dealers will hear you out and allow to to pursue the proper avenues. That being said I have learned that being polite but firm is the only true path to a resolution and I wish you the best!

 

[intonation]

Re: (VRSic)

Thanks guys... I never drop the clutch, or race this car. It's not chipped, just the stock 180hp. I'm confindent that it was a defective part because the car went from slipping slighlty to complete disablement over the course of a week of light driving.

 

[vwgtirob]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (intonation)

It could also be a fluid leak that contaminated your clutch. In any case, they should cover it. Good luck http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

 

[Quick VW]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (intonation)

VWOA.... what do you have to lose?

 

[intonation]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (Quick VW)

Well, the service rep called back and says it's because of "hard driving", and the total will be $1500. I've explained that I've driven clutch for 10 years and never had this happen, and in fact they could check their records and see that I owned the same car, an '01 which I drove over 30k w/out any premature replacements. It's not as if my driving habits changed when I purchased this one...
I called VWoA and I'm on hold right now, but they're saying the clutch is only covered for 12k/1 year and I've had the car for 16/13months! This is terrible...I'm nEvEr purchasing a VW product again if this is going to be the end result

 

[joesturbo]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (intonation)

I would think they would cover it. It sounds as if the pressure plate failed. I doubt it was fluid as you would have noticed taking off from a stand still would have slipped the clutch.
Good Luck!

 

[intonation]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (intonation)

The customer service rep had to bail due to an "emergency tornado warning"! What kind of company is this?! Anyway...I don't know what else to do. They say they "have" to honor the dealer's diagnosis.
Does anyone have knowledge of exactly what parts are covered under the bumper to bumper? I'm going to get an itemized list of what this $1500 is supposed to entail.
By the way, the VWoA rep told me that with "hard driving" clutches aren't even covered under the 12k warranty... is that even true?


Modified by intonation at 3:51 PM 7-21-2003

 

[soupnazi]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (intonation)

What dealership is this? I just happen to be a KC guy with a bit of experience in dealing with all of them in the metro area. That's total BS. Should be covered under bumper to bumper at the least, and if not, the powertrain warranty. Do I have some stories for you... Anyway, I'd want to know what part specifically is to blame for the clutch failure.

 

[mj6234]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (soupnazi)

Take it to Baron. I think they are the best dealer and you would have the lowest chance of having a hassle over this. That does suck though. Dealers are always trying to get out of warranty work.

 

[Buran]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (mj6234)

Baron did a good emergency fix on my Golf when I was in town overnight and got stuck with a stripped oil pan plug and thus no way to put any oil in the car after I'd drained the pan with the car in a driveway. They didn't insist on replacing the pan like a lot of places would have done but admitted that it's possible to do the cheap but permanent fix and rethread the hole.
Plus their showroom looked absolutely fantastic. Very nice place.
I read that as "take it to Buran" for a second, and I started wondering what I was supposed to do with an undrivable car.

It does sound to me like this is something you should get fixed ... though you should keep arguing. It doesn't sound normal to me, not at all. While my Golf isn't a stick, both my previous cars were, and I never ever had a problem with clutches going out.
Consider that you'd be out a similar amount of money if you went to trade this car in, too, due to depreciation and so on. And if it's fixed right, your new clutch should last a good long time.

 

[GolfPro]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (intonation)

Quote, originally posted by intonation »

The customer service rep had to bail due to an "emergency tornado warning"! What kind of company is this?! Anyway...I don't know what else to do. They say they "have" to honor the dealer's diagnosis. Does anyone have knowledge of exactly what parts are covered under the bumper to bumper? I'm going to get an itemized list of what this $1500 is supposed to entail. By the way, the VWoA rep told me that with "hard driving" clutches aren't even covered under the 12k warranty... is that even true? Modified by intonation at 3:51 PM 7-21-2003

That really sucks bro, but question for you....how would they tell if it was a "hard driving" clutch?

 

[istumble]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (intonation)

Don't worry about your clutch! Same thing happened to my 1.8T just 2 months ago.
15000 miles on it and clutch burnt out. Ask them to cover it as a **one time goodwill gesture**. They do this for most ppl.. they sure did it for me. Saved me 2k.
But guess what. 3000 miles after my clutch was replaced I feel it slipping again.
And I don't even have a chip. No mods on the car other than exterior mods.
What the F***

 

[brian1377]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (istumble)

Yeah, my clutch was ALL messed up like everything else in my car, so I had a VR6 cluthc and flywheel (ecstuning) kit installed. I think total, it set me back about $1100, but I'm sure it will last longer then the 1.8t clutch.
Just one of the many VW Problems.

 

[intonation]

Re: Catastrophic clutch failure - Advice to avoid $$ for this please... (brian1377)

Well, apparently they diagnosed it as "hard driving" because there was no evidence of internal falure, and they said there was "wear on the car to indicate so". Not very scientific ;-)
Anyway, VWoA says they *have* to honor the dealer's diagnosis, and the last channel is the district service rep. So, tomorrow I will speak to the rep and the service manager at Baron VW and see if anything can be changed. I'm pretty much stuck getting it done there because they are charging 6 hours of labor @ $95/hr for the inspection and to put it back together again, if it's not covered by warranty...so it would be almost $700 just to have it towed to another shop.
In my discussion w/ the rep tomorrow I plan on mentinoing that I've had 3 new VW's, each driven 30-40k w/out clutch problems (they can check the records). My driving habits should speak for themselves. The vehicle was in for 15k service and coilpacks two weeks ago, and they didn't inform me of any problems... isn't a test drive part of the scheduled maitainance? Surely if the clutch should have been slipping then if this was normal wear. If they failed to notice an something of this magnitude then they were perhaps not excercising due diligence in their servicing of the vehicle. Perhaps the flywheel wouldn't have needed replaced if this had been diagnosed earlier (although I still find it highly suspicious that the clutch seemingly disappeared at 5th gear on the highway)
If all fails, I'll pay Baron the $1500 to repair the vehicle, and file a small claims court case with the help of my attorney. If they do the right thing, and cover/goodwill this , I'll actually have them install some Eibach springs at their dealer rate. I'm not opposed to spending money and supporting a shop who care for their customers, and provides value for my VW. Well, will either get my $ and lose a customer for life, or get my $, and maintain highest regard for Baron as a dealer and service center. We'll see

For those who got this far, thnx for your support. Cheers