Clutch Judder 2012MY Outback Diesel

Clutch Judder 2012MY Outback Diesel

Author
Discussion

manasulu

Original Poster:

11 posts

141 months

Friday 14th November 2014
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I have a 2012MY Subaru Outback Diesel
It has started to develop clutch judder (only in the mornings when cold)this has deteriorated over the last week to the point where it is alarming when heading out into traffic first thing in the a.m. 5km down the road, and one cycle up the box and down the box and all appears normal
The vehicle has 50,000miles, but has never towed and is most of the miles have accumulated on motorways.
When initially reported to the dealer the 'driving style explanation was offered' I quietly pointed out that I have driven 1.5million km over the last 30years in a wide variety of vehicles and have never had cause to replace a clutch in any of them, so I'm not buying the driving style argument.
Reading the forums this problem seems pretty common on earlier cars.
Does anyone else have experience with a 2012 or later car ?
Is the fix clutch replacement, or clutch and flywheel replacement or something else

jonesof63

947 posts

136 months

Saturday 15th November 2014
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My Sister had the very same issue with her 2011 (61 reg) Forester @ 37k miles, no clutch slip or gear selection issues whatsoever just the severe judder from cold. The flywheel was given a clean bill of health which surprised me, a new clutch cured the problem. Is your local dealer 'established' or one of the more recently appointed dealers ?

ohtari

805 posts

143 months

Saturday 15th November 2014
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This normally applies to the imprezas, but the usual method of dealing with clutch judder on subarus is to give it a hard launch (4k ish and dump the clutch)

I don't know if this is applicable (or even safe) on the diesels however

manasulu

Original Poster:

11 posts

141 months

Thursday 27th November 2014
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Just want to close the loop.........

I left the car with the Subaru main dealer. They road tested it first thing in the a.m. after a cold night.
They have approved a warranty replacement and have ordered a three part clutch kit.
While disappointing to see that Subaru still haven't completely eradicated clutch issues that seem to have been around for a while, both the dealer and Subaru deserve credit for immediately agreeing to the warranty claim without any hassle, particularly given the mileage of the vehicle

loskie

5,143 posts

119 months

Thursday 27th November 2014
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Good result as clutches are more often than not excluded from warranty repairs especially at the mileage you mention. Is this in the UK?

manasulu

Original Poster:

11 posts

141 months

Thursday 27th November 2014
quotequote all
Loskie, I agree, I had anticipated that this might have been a struggle, particularly when the dreaded 'driving style comment greeted my initial report of the issue. The dealer is in Ireland, and has to be credited with doing the right thing without any dissent. Mitigating factor may have been the condition of the vehicle in other respects (full dealer service history), no tow bar fitted and the driving has been almost exclusively motorway driving. The brakes appear as new, and I fully expect that the clutch will not show much in the way of wear. The problem has gone from barely perceptible, to a real concern in a couple of thousand km. Anyone considering purchasing a relatively high mileage 12MY Outback would be well advised to examine the clutch action very closely prior to purchase