10-reg VW Sharan - Clutch Question

_Kaiser_

Friend of mine works in a job where she has to bring clients occasionally to different places. For this she uses her company's new 10-reg VW Sharan MPV with about 3000km on the clock.

Last week, she got into it and within a few minutes noticed what she described as a smell of manure coming through the cabin, but once she turned on the aircon this disappeared. With no other adverse effects or warning lights she continued driving (roughly 40km trip)

On her way back though she got about 50 yards from the car park and the car started pouring smoke from the engine bay and into the cabin.
AA Rescue were duly called and he diagnosed it as the clutch being burned out. He then took it for a test drive and pronounced it safe for her to drive back, which she did - again without further incident, except that the same manure-like smell had started by the time she pulled up back at the office.

The local VW garage are saying the clutch is indeed burned out and will cost €1500 to replace. She's now being blamed for the damage but the diagnosis seems somewhat suspect as VW maintain that the car can't be driven in this state (yet she was able to drive back without a problem?). They also seem to think that the clutch was burned out within the previous 48 hour period.

So, as I've driven automatics (as does she incidentially so she doesn't "ride the clutch" as she doesn't have one!) for years, I thought I'd ask here...

- Can a clutch fail like this and without warning which is what VW are saying has happened?
- Are there any faults with these gearbox/clutch systems on this car?
- Any other ideas as to what might have happened?

Cheers!

Drummerboy08

Presume the car is a 2.0TDi VAG engine?

Clutch issues are particularly hard to assign blame to. Because the car is so new, it could either be component failure OR a case of the driver not being used to the car. You say she has an automatic for a long time, so maybe she doesnt realise what she's doing with the manual?

I'd suggest getting an independent assessor in to look at the vehicle. Unfortunately this means your friend will have to authorise the stripping down of the car to get to the clutch. There will be a couple of hours labour involved, but if it is found that the clutch failed due to component error then the cost of this will be taken by VW Ireland. If it is found by the assessor that its caused by driver error, then your friend pays for it.

Its the easiest way to find out what happened.

tossy

Has your friend driven the van for the entire 3000k or just recently?

_Kaiser_

Cheers for the reply lads

She's been driving for the last 5 years and 3 of those were in a manual so she'd be used to the differences. She was also tested by an instructor when she started the job and has a full license for 4 of her 5 years of driving.

The car is shared between the staff -problem is tho that her boss was the last to drive it before her which doesn't help matters.

mickdw

Surely the company arent actually asking your friend to pay for the clutch?
vw will pay or else the company will pay.

anewme

Clutch burn out will always be blamed on driver error. If different people are driving it, how does she know one of them were not burning out the clutch? VW wont pay.

kyote00

I find it hard to believe you could burn out a clutch on a new car so easily without some component failure....

Assuming you are not 'riding' the clutch for the full 3k or hauling a sled behind then I would be asking Mr VW to get in touch with their customer service ethic and cop on...... we tolerate **** from Motor manufactorers that happens nowhere else...(well except banks, politics, hse ...)

crosstownk

Get a second opinion. Use an independent assessor.

_Kaiser_

Thanks for the additional replies guys...

Tossy: The car is shared between a number of staff, and she's been off sick for most of March/April, so she's only really driven it herself a handful of times.
The problem though is VW are saying the clutch was burned out within a 48 hour window, and she was last to drive it, so...

Mickdw: No she won't be paying for it either way, but she's only in the job less than a year and she's worried that she may be held accountable in other ways, especially as the only other person to drive the car within this 48 hour window was her boss.

Is it possible for a clutch to be burned out within a 40km trip - even assuming she had been "riding" the clutch for the journey? I would've thought (like kyote00) that an almost new car like this should be a bit more resilient than that?
I myself thought it was probably component failure, but the local VW garage are saying otherwise.

Is it even possible to narrow it down to a specific timeframe as they have (do the diags show that level of detail), or are they just chancing their arm to get out of paying for the repair costs?

An independent assessor does sound like the best way to go, but I'm not sure if her boss/the company would agree to that.

Drummerboy08

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Is it possible for a clutch to be burned out within a 40km trip - even assuming she had been "riding" the clutch for the journey? I would've thought (like kyote00) that an almost new car like this should be a bit more resilient than that?

It is possible to burn out a clutch in the space of 30 seconds, never mind a 40k drive! I could have been done trying to park the car, or starting on a hill.

I myself thought it was probably component failure, but the local VW garage are saying otherwise.

The only easy way of sorting this out is to get an independent assessor to view the car. Once he sees the actually clutch disc it will be black and white for him.

Is it even possible to narrow it down to a specific timeframe as they have (do the diags show that level of detail), or are they just chancing their arm to get out of paying for the repair costs?

The mechanics look at the scorch marks on the disc - they can tell by looking at these whether its been over a period of days or hours which the damage has been done. Whats worse, if there are scorch marks on the disc, I'd be leaning towards driver error myself.

An independent assessor does sound like the best way to go, but I'm not sure if her boss/the company would agree to that.

If her company doesnt agree to that, then they'll have no choice but to repair the car at their own cost. If they get the assessor in they might have a chance of pinning it on VW.