VW Bora diesel clutch dragging

[DIYspanner]

Its a 2000 reg Bora 1.9

Suddenly its hard to get the gears, with reverse its grinding as it goes in which suggests to me that the pressure plate is not being pulled away fully.

I looked on the pedal and the two clips that act on the push rod seem intact.

What is curious is that when I replaced the plastic clips two years ago, there was a gap between the clips with the pedal released, now there isn't which suggest the push rod is further through the bulkhead?

Is there any adjustment on these clutches?

 

[Mursal]

No, not that I know off, unfortunately. Hopefully you are loosing clutch fluid maybe at the slave cylinder (down at the gearbox)? If the clutch fails it usually slips, so unless the release bearing has failed inside. Any funny noises when you were using the clutch?

Be careful if you have to go in, there's quite a bit of kit to be replaced, to ensure you don't have to redo it.

Hopefully its external
Get someone to push the pedal and ensure the rod down on the bell housing working the clutch moves almost as soon as you start pushing the pedal and keeps moving with the pedal. If it does its probably inside, if not happy days

 

[DIYspanner]

Thanks for that Mursal.

Its actually my sister's car but I've handed it back to her to have a friend of her's look at it as my back ain't to clever so I'm not crawling about underneath.

Although the pedals doesn't seem right, I suspect a bit of friction plate may have broken off, stuck on the plate causing a bit of drag.

I'm still curious about the two plastic clips on the pedal.

 

[DIYspanner]

I've had confirmation that the clutch needs replacing.

Reverse crunches in and I have to pull / push to get 1 to 4 in.


My first quote has been for £600 + vat.

Apparently with the VW Bora diesel clutch, the flywheel has to be changes as well.


Anyone had a VW Bora diesel clutch replaced?

 

[Burnerman]

Alas another victim of the dual mass flywheel
The only thing you can do is to ring around for other quotes I'm afraid....my guess is that a couple of the 'fingers' on the pressure plate diaphragm spring have cracked or have become distorted.
John

 

[DIYspanner]

Thanks for that Burnerman.

Phoning around I've had a quote for £398

This, for anyone interested, is based on a conversion kit that replaces the dual mass flywheel.

The garage that quoted said that this is a popular option and is reliable.

By the way, the dual mass flywheel is a new one on me - interesting explanations about it on Youtube.

Bring back the Ford Cortina clutch I say!!!

 

[Belle427]

my personal opinion is do not remove the dual mass flywheel, if you have some spare time google it and read some of the horror stories for yourself

 

[Burnerman]

I agree - although I dread one failing for me, they do an amazing job of damping out torsional vibration in the crankshaft.
John

 

[DIYspanner]

I appreciate what you mean about removing the dual mass flywheel and the potential of gearbox failure.

The garage that fitted the new clutch claims to have been fitting these conversion clutch kits for over a year with any come back. Yes, I know, they would say that but in the present economic client who's going to risk getting a bad reputation in business by poorly advising a customer?


Just a point on diesel engines.

I always been lead to believe that diesel combustion was softer than petrol engine combustion in that the piston is "pushed down" the cylinder in the diesel engine where as in a petrol engine, the piston is "kicked down" from the combustion process.

 

[Burnerman]

Its quite an elderly car, and therefore has little value....I must say I'd be looking for the cheapest option too.
The components on diesel engines are much meatier to deal with the high compression ratio involved, and the way the fuel burns has also an effect on the engine construction......the way that diesels can rev was unheard of just a few years ago, producing huge torque too.
John

 

[Mursal]

No. diesels are more severe for several reasons. The main one, pressure causes the explosion on top of the piston. With petrol we give the mixture a spark to start combustion. This means all the moving parts in the diesel engine must be stronger, this leads to more weight/vibration. So you can rev a standard petrol engine to around 8000 RPM, a diesel only half that, around 4000 RPM.

That clutch seems reasonable, over here the pressure plate clutch disk and release bearing would be a least £120. Leaving labour and "new flywheel" very reasonable. For example, recently a dual mass for an Audi with the same engine as your Golf was £400.

Are they converting your own flywheel or fitting a replacement? Might be worth just asking them?

 

[Belle427]

its your car at the end of the day so if your happy go for it.

 

[DIYspanner]

The job is done with the clutch working nicely.

The new flywheel is the solid type so just have to see how it goes.

Until Thursday I hadn't heard of dual mass flywheels.

Thanks for the feedback folks.