warranty/VW Customer Care

Craig Faison wrote:

> Again though, it all comes down to whether or not VWOA is willing to
> commit to anything without the risk of spending $550 for them to take it
> apart. I'll be placing the call shortly, but who knows how long it will
> take to get anywhere.

Even if VWoA would be willing to do something, there is still the
stealership, which could stand in your way.

Try putting yourself in the VWoA shoes: you have two statements, one
from (very often clueless, but convinced) customer and one from the
dealership, which employs a bunch of "trained professionals", whatever
it means Which one would you believe more?

Of course, VWoA could say "do whatever it takes to keep the customer
happy, we pay". But it is way different from saying "ok to change the
faulty cylinder under the warranty" and requires _much_ more commitment
from the VWoA side.

Of course, morons at the stealership is the problem of VWoA, not yours.
But I would still try to speak to other dealerships in your area. In
case of success you could provide a feedback to VWoA and know the
proper place for the next time you need one.

On 14 Nov 2005 wrote:

> Even if VWoA would be willing to do something, there is still the
> stealership, which could stand in your way.

Possibly. I'll revisit the question as to whether or not it's the slave
cylinder if/when VW decides no deny me.

> Try putting yourself in the VWoA shoes: you have two statements, one
> from (very often clueless, but convinced) customer and one from the
> dealership, which employs a bunch of "trained professionals", whatever
> it means Which one would you believe more?

I completely understand this, which is why I expect to be fixing it
myself. It's a shame though, and there's really no reason for anything to
be bad at 47k. VW could "do the right thing" and maybe keep a customer, or
deny me and definitely lose a customer. Sure, one customer is no big deal,
but it adds up. It's no secret that customer service isn't what VW is
known for. I knew that going in, so I'm telling myself "I told you so."
;-)

> Of course, VWoA could say "do whatever it takes to keep the customer
> happy, we pay". But it is way different from saying "ok to change the
> faulty cylinder under the warranty" and requires _much_ more commitment
> from the VWoA side.

Very true.

> Of course, morons at the stealership is the problem of VWoA, not yours.
> But I would still try to speak to other dealerships in your area. In
> case of success you could provide a feedback to VWoA and know the
> proper place for the next time you need one.

Unfortunately, the other local (closer actually) dealer is bad enough that
I'd really rather avoid them. I did intend to take the car there first
since I didn't want to drive it any more than necessary and they were
closer, but they couldn't look at it for nearly a week.

Time is a big issue. I've mentioned in another post, I have a newborn and
a 2 y/o. It's not a good time to be down a car. I need to get it going.
Fixing it myself might be the best solution from that point of view.

Craig

Peter Parker wrote:

>
> I think you should fail to mention that your wife drive this car.
>
>
>>But you're right, and I'm sure VW won't do a thing about it.
>
>
> They have had lots of experience with people that just don't know how to
> drive a manual transmission. :-)
>
>
>

Hmmm, I haven't seen such a good cause for calling someone a Sexist Pig
in many years ....

John

Hi all,

Well, I decided not to take the $550 gamble and brought the car home. At
least I do know the dealer did try to bleed the system... The rubber cap
missing from the bleed nipple and the missing bolt that secures the airbox
were good clues.

Anyway, I brought the car home and took a look. First, I bled the system
with a vacuum pump to make sure it wasn't an errant air bubble trapped in
there. No change. Then I pulled the slave cylinder to make sure it was
actually working - and it was working just fine. So, out came the
transmission.

The (surprisingly small) springs in the clutch disk that absorb the
rotational shock are falling apart. I'd guess that one/some failed and
started allowing some rotational freeplay which caused others to fail. The
metal portion of the clutch disk that should be contacting the springs got
hammered into submission and started to wear away too, allowing maybe 3/16
of an inch of rotational freeplay. Eventually, it started getting 'side to
side' freeplay as well, which seems to have led to the clutch disk being
off center with the center portion of the assembly. Or something like
that.

Anyway, it's broken. There is essentially no wear on the friction surface,
pressure plate or flywheel, but I'm sure VW wouldn't have agreed to pay
since it could be argued that abuse could've caused the failure. I know it
didn't, but my wife and I are the only ones who really know how we drive
the car (it gets babied), so there's not much I can do about it.

Oh well. I'll see if anyone local has a clutch kit in stock today and get
it back together ASAP.

Anybody want to buy a nice 1.8t wagon w/a new clutch?

Thanks for all of the insight and ideas.

Craig

Thanks for the update. I suspect you saved yourself the $550.


"Craig Faison" > wrote in message
...
> Hi all,
>
> Well, I decided not to take the $550 gamble and brought the car home. At
> least I do know the dealer did try to bleed the system... The rubber cap
> missing from the bleed nipple and the missing bolt that secures the airbox
> were good clues.
>
> Anyway, I brought the car home and took a look. First, I bled the system
> with a vacuum pump to make sure it wasn't an errant air bubble trapped in
> there. No change. Then I pulled the slave cylinder to make sure it was
> actually working - and it was working just fine. So, out came the
> transmission.
>
> The (surprisingly small) springs in the clutch disk that absorb the
> rotational shock are falling apart. I'd guess that one/some failed and
> started allowing some rotational freeplay which caused others to fail. The
> metal portion of the clutch disk that should be contacting the springs got
> hammered into submission and started to wear away too, allowing maybe 3/16
> of an inch of rotational freeplay. Eventually, it started getting 'side to
> side' freeplay as well, which seems to have led to the clutch disk being
> off center with the center portion of the assembly. Or something like
> that.
>
> Anyway, it's broken. There is essentially no wear on the friction surface,
> pressure plate or flywheel, but I'm sure VW wouldn't have agreed to pay
> since it could be argued that abuse could've caused the failure. I know it
> didn't, but my wife and I are the only ones who really know how we drive
> the car (it gets babied), so there's not much I can do about it.
>
> Oh well. I'll see if anyone local has a clutch kit in stock today and get
> it back together ASAP.
>
> Anybody want to buy a nice 1.8t wagon w/a new clutch?
>
> Thanks for all of the insight and ideas.
>
> Craig
>
>

Craig Faison wrote:

> The (surprisingly small) springs in the clutch disk that absorb the
> rotational shock are falling apart. I'd guess that one/some failed and
> started allowing some rotational freeplay which caused others to fail. The
> metal portion of the clutch disk that should be contacting the springs got
> hammered into submission and started to wear away too, allowing maybe 3/16
> of an inch of rotational freeplay. Eventually, it started getting 'side to

That wonders me, you would normaly clearly notice such a freeplay,
especially when stepping on/off the accelerator. Thats strange, as it
does not match the symptoms. Oh well, sometimes the strangiest things
happens...

> Anybody want to buy a nice 1.8t wagon w/a new clutch?

Good luck then I am slowly searching for the similar car, but you
are on the wrong side of the pond

On 17 Nov 2005 wrote:

> That wonders me, you would normaly clearly notice such a freeplay,
> especially when stepping on/off the accelerator. Thats strange, as it
> does not match the symptoms. Oh well, sometimes the strangiest things
> happens...

No kidding... when going over the possibilities in my head, I kept ruling
something like that out since the symptoms (or lack of) didn't really fit
that. There wasn't a hint of chatter, shudder, vibration, noise, etc. to
go along with it. Strange indeed. When I get a chance, I'll post a photo
of the clutch disk.

The new clutch kit won't be in 'til tomorrow, so either tomorrow night or
sometime over the weekend I should be able to put it back together and be
done with the issue.

Craig

"Peter Parker" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> Craig Faison > wrote:
> >On Sat, 12 Nov 2005, Joseph Meehan wrote:
> >
> >> I would take a close look at that bumper to bumper warranty.
Exactly
> >> what does it say? Generally things like clutches and brakes are
considered
> >> wear and they are not included.
> >
> >I would, but it's in the car, which is at the dealer 50 miles away.
> >
> >I understand that a worn clutch would not be covered. This is not a worn
> >clutch. This is a broken part in a car with less than 50k that's been
> >driven by my wife to haul a kid around. It hasn't seen any hard use at
> >all.
>
> Say no more. I was going to ask if you had any stupid people drive this
> car, but now I won't. Women are really rough on clutches, say no more.
>
>
> >I also failed to mention that I took it to the dealer with ~15k on it
> >because of a throwout bearing noise. The dealer, of course, couldn't hear
> >anything out of the ordinary. I had forgotten about that 'til now, I'll
> >have to point it out to the service advisor and/or VW Customer Care.
>
> I think you should fail to mention that your wife drive this car.
>
> >But you're right, and I'm sure VW won't do a thing about it.
>
> They have had lots of experience with people that just don't know how to
> drive a manual transmission. :-)
>

Dumb reply.

I have seen plenty of bad manual drivers of both sexes. MY wife put 135K
miles on a 95 golf with original clutch and has 75K on clutch #1 in 02 jetta
wagon. That said, I have seen a lot of really early clutch failures on VW's
that are associated with something breaking, not something wearing out.

To original poster...complain loud and often to VWoA as well as dealer. I
have become a very squeaky wheel in recent years (an unfortunate necessity
with more recent VW's) and have gotten some help. (New A/C in out of
warranty eurovan-woohoo!!)

Good luck.

Tony Bad
--------------

02 Jetta Wagon
01 Eurovan MV
91 Jetta 1.6 Diesel
86 Jetta
79 Rabbit 1.5 Diesel (semi-retired for now)
Schwinn Continental 10 Speed
Radio Flyer Pedal Car (my daughter made me add this)

From the "you've got to be kidding me" department...

Clutch came in on Friday and it wasn't the right part. Found one 65 miles
away on Saturday morning, so I went to get it. Install went smooth and
quick with no problems. 2.5 hours for reassembly and cleanup. It drives
fine.

Now, here's the "funny" part. I fixed the clutch Saturday afternoon. Took
the car for a test drive and parked it. This morning (Sunday) I took it to
the store. I put the passenger side window down and whammo. The power
window regulator (or whatever it is that breaks) took a crap and the
window fell down into the door. My 2 y/o daughter didn't so much like the
10 mile ride home in 40 degree weather with the window wide open. ;-)

Sigh.

Craig

"Craig Faison" > wrote in message
...
> From the "you've got to be kidding me" department...
>
> Clutch came in on Friday and it wasn't the right part. Found one 65 miles
> away on Saturday morning, so I went to get it. Install went smooth and
> quick with no problems. 2.5 hours for reassembly and cleanup. It drives
> fine.
>
> Now, here's the "funny" part. I fixed the clutch Saturday afternoon. Took
> the car for a test drive and parked it. This morning (Sunday) I took it to
> the store. I put the passenger side window down and whammo. The power
> window regulator (or whatever it is that breaks) took a crap and the
> window fell down into the door. My 2 y/o daughter didn't so much like the
> 10 mile ride home in 40 degree weather with the window wide open. ;-)
>
> Sigh.
>
> Craig

Wow, bad luck does come in bunches.

I'd probably trust dealer diagnosis on this one...