Sad day, even more money.

J

JDC

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A sad day occurred to me today when I realised my van needs yet more work and money spending on it. Full dealer history, belt and EGR done, just obviously not enough. My van has now decided it wants more of my hard earned spent on it. I now get a DMF rattle on tick over and the clutch has started to slip. I'm sure its a female in disguise and just wants my money. So I'm after a good indy or decent garage to do the deed, take my money. Any suggestions around the north West or stick with the dealer, Liverpool VWC?

This also coincides with the ESP and traction light being on. I've since moved my tow bar from the negative side of the battery as I was hoping this would be the problem, but it still hasn't gone off.
 
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JDC said:
A sad day occurred to me today when I realised my van needs yet more work and money spending on it. Full dealer history, belt and EGR done, just obviously not enough. My van has now decided it wants more of my hard earned spent on it. I now get a DMF rattle on tick over and the clutch has started to slip. I'm sure its a female in disguise and just wants my money. So I'm after a good indy or decent garage to do the deed, take my money. Any suggestions around the north West or stick with the dealer, Liverpool VWC?

This also coincides with the ESP and traction light being on. I've since moved my tow bar from the negative side of the battery as I was hoping this would be the problem, but it still hasn't gone off.
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How many miles has the van done on that clutch / DMF?
I'm afraid even meticulous servicing won't improve the life of a clutch or DMF.
 
58k. 8 years old. I know it's inevitable but still annoying. Another 4 figure bill.!!! At least I should be good for another 8 yrs once it's done.
 
I would expect more as well, probably near 80k. It's on a 16 plate so I suppose age has killed it.
It is a VW!!!:)
 
Dam van. Check brake fluid light has come on today according to my son. It was full when under the bonnet on Sunday. I'm thinking low battery could cause all these gremlins popping up.
 
All repaired and back on the road within 5 days. I dropped the van off Sunday night outside VWC Liverpool. My lad went in and spoke to them on the Monday and we where given the 19th March as a start date. I got a phone call Wednesday to tell me the clutch needed replacing then got another on Thursday afternoon to say it's ready for collection. Even came back clean, minus the winter grime. Over the moon with the service recieved and the time scale. I was thinking of going to an indy but picked there for a bit of price of mind and wasnt sure an indy would have done it in a week.
 
JDC said:
All repaired and back on the road within 5 days. I dropped the van off Sunday night outside VWC Liverpool. My lad went in and spoke to them on the Monday and we where given the 19th March as a start date. I got a phone call Wednesday to tell me the clutch needed replacing then got another on Thursday afternoon to say it's ready for collection. Even came back clean, minus the winter grime. Over the moon with the service recieved and the time scale. I was thinking of going to an indy but picked there for a bit of price of mind and wasnt sure an indy would have done it in a week.
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My local Indy had the DMF done within two days.
The original had only lasted 34k miles!
Shocking quality.
 
I thought a week was good considering it was a breakdown and I just left it with them rather than a pre planned booking!! I agree with mileage situation as it's nearly 60k but the van is 9 years old on a 16 plate. I've had a fair few older cars before and can honestly say I've only had 1 clutch change and that was because the engine blew on me.
 
Ahh .. in that case a week doesn't sound too bad at all :thumbsup: .
Had our clutch and dmf changed at 108k and 10 years old ...but did rattle from cold for a while before that .
 
JDC said:
I thought a week was good considering it was a breakdown and I just left it with them rather than a pre planned booking!! I agree with mileage situation as it's nearly 60k but the van is 9 years old on a 16 plate. I've had a fair few older cars before and can honestly say I've only had 1 clutch change and that was because the engine blew on me.
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Ah, hadn’t realised it was a breakdown- that explains it.
And as JumpShip said it’s good the van is all sorted now.
While the vans DMF has been a let down for some of us I have been well impressed with my Golf’s DSG gearbox and clutches - the car is the same age as the van (10 years), gets driven a lot harder and has three times the mileage yet is still on the original clutch pack and still smooth as anything. Maybe my next van should be a DSG, much prefer it when in traffic anyway.
 
JDC said:
I would expect more as well, probably near 80k. It's on a 16 plate so I suppose age has killed it.
It is a VW!!!:)
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Indeed. People forget that age can be even more injurious than mileage.

It's a bummer, but that's why older vehicles cost less. We take the gamble on that basis.

As an aside, have you had the van from brand new, or has a hoof-footed previous owner had a good go at thumping about in it before you bought it?

Way back one of my then neighbours had a Nissan and the clutch went just after he bought it at 9000 miles. He, quite predictably, was bellyaching that Nissan are out of order and a clutch should last longer than that, but deeper inspection showed it was an ex Motability car bought at auction by the selling dealer, so the likelihood was a blue rinser had been slipping the clutch all over the place.

Indeed, the old clutch was blue in places which suggested it had been overheated more than once. Moral of the story - if someone else has abused, or let's say just not been terribly careful, with a vehicle prior to a new owner acquiring it then statements about how long they expect x, y or z component to last are a bit moot.
 
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No we're the second owner I think. Got loads of receipts for it for previous works inc brand new sport line wheels, well looked after. All work was previously carried out by main dealers so I've just kept that up with new cambelt and EGR. The service manager took a keen interest it yesterday and said they've had a look over it and said its mint considering the age.
 
There you go my friend. They may have loved and cherished it and serviced it within an inch of its life, but the Occam's Razor informs us that the previous driver perhaps wasn't the most adept and took a disproportionate amount out of the clutch.

If it had mechanically failed or broken up then I could quite easily believe in faulty materials or workmanship from the factory, but a slipping clutch indicates simple wear (DMFs are only designed to last the life or the clutch so tend to wear commensurately) which points strongly to the way it's been driven previously.

Comments about your normally expected lifespan from a clutch are only really pertinent if it's you that's been driving it for its whole life.

The good news is, as you say, it's done now and you yourself have a history of being kind to clutches so you can hopefully forget about that one for another decade or more.
 
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