[Vwdiesel] 04 VW Jetta Diesel flywheel defect

[Tad]

Shuddering is the least of the concerns - some of them disintegrate at
speed.  And all the cars from 99.5+ have the DMF.

I have a chipped 01 and the DMF would slip under certain conditions, but it
lasted about 140k miles before I got tired of having to be careful of the
slip and changed out for a VR6 SMF.

I have to say that (other than the slip) I do miss the DMF.  It's much
smoother, and the VR6-induced gear chatter (which I went to some lengths to
avoid/minimize) is pretty annoying.  If I had to do it again I might keep
the DMF and go for a stronger clutch plate.

On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 11:53 PM, James Hansen <jhsg at sasktel.net> wrote:

> 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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