Clutch Failing 2019 VW Passat

Dancork7

Hi

Does anyone have any experience with a clutch going in a relatively new car and whether this is normal wear and tear or a manufacturing issue? I can’t get my head around that a clutch could go in a 2019 VW Passat with less than 60,000km that I don’t ride the clutch!!

I’m based in Dublin City so I walk to work so it just gets driven at weekend around the city, maybe down to Wicklow for a hike and then down home to Cork maybe once every 6 weeks.

Drove back up from Cork after Christmas, no issues, no clutch slippage, no high revs or no burnt clutch smell. Was abroad for new years and got back Monday and hopped into the car to find the clutch went to the floor and had to be manually pulled back up. Got it towed to the garage who just rang having removed the entire gearbox to say the fly wheel system failed which caused a leak in one of the cylinders (they didn’t say master or slave).

It’s north of €2k to fix and garage is talking to VW on goodwill to be fair although doubt it will work as it’s a clutch so I expect VW will hide behind wear and tear.

My previous cars (all VW and all owned 4+years) I never had clutch issues so I don’t believe I drive it heavy on the clutch or ride the clutch or anything so just want to see if people think it’s just rotten luck or something I should be arguing with VW over?

Thanks a mill

Buffman

So it's your Dual Mass Flywheel (DMF) that failed and took out the clutch slave cylinder I'd guess. Unfortunately DMFs are seen as a 'wear and tear' item, so while I hope you do get some goodwill from VW, I doubt you will unless you can prove some sort of manufacturer defect.

As to how long DMFs can last, it's anyones guess as there are so many factors involved. This article explains them well.

https://haynes.com/en-us/tips-tutorials/what-dual-mass-flywheel-and-what-does-it-do

Off topic but next time you're changing I'd highly recommend test driving a DSG auto box if you do a lot of city driving.

ofcork

Very early to fail though my avensis has 219k km on original clutch etc.

Needles73

Yes it sounds odd. My passat as 320,000 km all on original clutch/flywheel.

standardg60

Sounds bizarre to me, how would a dmf suddenly fail and cause a leak in the slave cylinder?

Had this issue with my vw clutch pedal a few years ago, would sink and stick to the floor in the morning, pull it back up and a few pumps and it would be fine then. Discovered the fluid was a bit low in the reservoir (the clutch feed pipe is quite high up in it), topped it up and no issues since.

nophd08

I've had the hydraulic release bearing fail before on the vw, on 2 different cars, I replaced just the bearing with an independent garage for about €250. That was 30,000 miles ago.

Most garages just want to change the lot for warranty purposes.

2k fix on a low mileage 2019 seems madness. Have you seen the whole assembly out of the car?

Dancork7

Thanks everyone for the responses. Exactly as posted above Dual Mass Flywheel (DMF) failed and took out the clutch slave cylinder all while the car was sitting in my drive.

As I expected VW said no to any goodwill. Fact the garage applied for goodwill says to me they spotted something odd as if I was driving the you know what out of the clutch they would have spotted it and not applied to VW as my fault.

haven’t seen assembly yet getting a full documented diagnosis and have asked for pictures of the parts that failed to get some opinions but I need the car back so going to have to stump up for the bill.