[Vwdiesel] 04 VW Jetta Diesel flywheel defect

[James Hansen]

But then again, I have friends here that have over 100K miles on theirs, and
it's just fine.
I suspect that driving style has some influence on the clutch Doyt. Some
folks are pretty rough on a clutch, which can pound hell out of a dual mass
setup, but usually, it's the tuners that kill the dual mass setup.  Dual
mass clutches  are matched to the engine torque curve, so if you add a tune,
you really should change to a single mass clutch, as lots have a built in
safety device to slip so as to protect the isolating springs/elastomers if
torque is higher than stock.  If it slips lots, you kill the flywheel.
Stock, *shouldn't* have problems.

I loved my 89 td Jetta dearly, and still think it's the most practical car
I've ever owned, but the 99 Jetta I had, was far more fun to drive.  The
2005 Passat was a bit of a downer, but handles well.
Reliability has been great with all of them.

We'll see.
I picked up my 2012 Passat TDI 6 speed on the weekend.  Other than being
quite easy to stall from a standing start, it's okay so far, and is the car
that I expected the 2005 Passat TDI to be.

So far, 55mpg imperial average. With the cruise set at 85mph.  It does
around 65 mpg at 65mph. Handles like it's on rails, and is a pretty good
drive, did a rounder to Calgary on Monday, put on 1400 miles. I would like
to thank Bell for such a fine radar detector.  

It's really spooky to start a diesel, and have no smoke, no smell, NOTHING.
Was a few degrees below freezing yesterday morning, and not a flutter, and
not even a sniff of diesel out the exhaust.  I've had it started with my
nose by the pipe, and nothing, just a faint ammonia odour, and a gas engine
sort of smell. We'll see how long that lasts....
-James



-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of Doyt W. Echelberger
Sent: October-20-11 10:31 PM
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Subject: [Vwdiesel] 04 VW Jetta Diesel flywheel defect

I have an 89 Jetta na diesel and had it in the shop for some winter 
maintenance, and as I sat in the waiting room I had a chance to chat with 
the Service Director. I mentioned that I was happy with my ancient vintage 
oil burner, but was interested in the TDI's.

He said that maybe I was lucky not to have one. He described an 
exasperating experience the company had recently with the correction of a 
"shuddering clutch" in a customer's 04 Jetta TDI.

The customer complained that shifting gears was accompanied by a serious 
shudder or vibration that was alarming and unpleasant, and he asked that 
the shop replace the clutch.

The mechanic discovered that the dual-mass flywheel was mounted in rubber 
to reduce vibration, and the rubber was deteriorating and failing, allowing 
the flywheel to move around.  This was putting extra stress on the 
transmission, and was in general a very weak and problem-prone system.

It was also a very costly repair. The flywheel replacement was $835 just 
for the part.

I am posting this because it changed my enthusiasm for owning a used TDI. I 
also Googled "shuddering clutch" associated with TDI, and got hundreds of 
hits describing similar nightmares.

So, I'm even happier than I expected to be with my simple old vintage VW 
diesel.  Ohio had a record breaking amount of rainfall this year, and that 
may translate into vastly increased amounts of snow and ice this winter. It 
is probably time to put on 4 new winter ice tires, in addition to a 
freeze-plug electric block heater.

Doyt Echelberger


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