Upto £1,500 to change the clutch on a Golf? Surely not?

[Acidrop]

Fastdruid said:

You mean the Fiat Coupé Turbo which needed the engine out[1] to change the cam belt? I think they made up for the ease of bulb swapping!

That used to be in the old days. You can fit a new cambelt to the Coupe in less than an hour with the engine in situ if you know how.

[MG CHRIS]

generationx said:

Leptons said:

This post in general shows a complete lack of understanding.

And how is that? I have never changed a flywheel when changing a clutch. MAybe the VW flywheel is a completely different concept, so rather than just dismissing me you could provide some information.
Written by a transmission designer by the way.

Well if your a transmission designer you would have heard of a dmf dual mass flywheel which isn't a solid mounted plate unlike older flywheels. Almost all diesels after 2004 runs one and many petrols run them as well.

[Tango13]

OldGermanHeaps said:

I miss the half hour clutch changes on fwd vauxhalls, one of the things they got really right.

Half an hour for a Vauxhall clutch? I take it that includes stopping at half time for tea and biscuits?

A family friend used to work at a Vauxhall dealers and their Friday afternoon entertainment was to see how quickly they could do a clutch.

They would have one bloke in the car just to put his foot on the clutch and one just to pass tools to the bloke actually doing the work, I think the best they ever managed was just 20 mins!!

[Higgs boson]

Tango13 said:

OldGermanHeaps said:

I miss the half hour clutch changes on fwd vauxhalls, one of the things they got really right.

Half an hour for a Vauxhall clutch? I take it that includes stopping at half time for tea and biscuits?

A family friend used to work at a Vauxhall dealers and their Friday afternoon entertainment was to see how quickly they could do a clutch.

They would have one bloke in the car just to put his foot on the clutch and one just to pass tools to the bloke actually doing the work, I think the best they ever managed was just 20 mins!!

'changed one on a Mk 2 Astra by myself - used a big yard brush wedged into the drivers' seat to hold the clutch in.
I don't recall having to use a slide-hammer, though. Just a few clips positioned round the edge to permit withdrawal (ooh er!). Happy, uncomplicated days.

'hope the OP gets sorted at reasonable dough.

[lostkiwi]

Higgs boson said:

Tango13 said:

OldGermanHeaps said:

I miss the half hour clutch changes on fwd vauxhalls, one of the things they got really right.

Half an hour for a Vauxhall clutch? I take it that includes stopping at half time for tea and biscuits?

A family friend used to work at a Vauxhall dealers and their Friday afternoon entertainment was to see how quickly they could do a clutch.

They would have one bloke in the car just to put his foot on the clutch and one just to pass tools to the bloke actually doing the work, I think the best they ever managed was just 20 mins!!

'changed one on a Mk 2 Astra by myself - used a big yard brush wedged into the drivers' seat to hold the clutch in.
I don't recall having to use a slide-hammer, though. Just a few clips positioned round the edge to permit withdrawal (ooh er!). Happy, uncomplicated days.

'hope the OP gets sorted at reasonable dough.

I remember watching the VW rally team change a gearbox in a MK2 rally golf in 20 minutes from rolling in to rolling out. Bear in mind the whole assembly was hot and they did it in a field in the middle of nowhere. Changing the clutch as well would probably have added only 5 minutes tops.

We did our RWD Starlet gearbox in 20 minutes. On one event we did it three times in a day.....(then ran out of spare gearboxes...)

[generationx]

MG CHRIS said:

Well if you´re a transmission designer you would have heard of a dmf dual mass flywheel which isn't a solid mounted plate unlike older flywheels. Almost all diesels after 2004 runs one and many petrols run them as well.

Well duh.
But why change it because your clutch is worn? I´m in the competition rather than road car environment, we don´t use dual-mass flywheels on the type of cars I deal with. So information here would be very interesting.
When a VW dealer changed the clutch and m/c on our 2007 Golf GTD they didn´t touch the DMF. The car now works exactly as when it was new (even though it now has 100,000 miles behind it) with no noticable loss or deterioration of clutch performance.

[ch427]

You only need to replace the dmf if its worn outside of the limits, personally id do it anyway as its such a big job.

[TooMany2cvs]

generationx said:

But why change it because your clutch is worn?

Because if it hasn't died yet, it probably won't be far off - and you're doing 99.9% of the same work to replace it now as you would when it does go...

[Motorrad]

Spangles said:

Stuff in a box labelled 'Luk/Sachs' is available on Ebay. I've seen more than enough fake car parts to avoid anything without a trusted supply chain.

Agreed. Fakes abound on ebay.

I've been sold fake Philips bulbs and dodgy Febi parts. If you realise what's happened you can get a refund easily enough but I wonder how many people are fooled?

I also find it scandalous that manufacturers are allowed to sell cars that you can't easily change safety related consumables like bulbs. Should be a star or two off their NCAP rating the snaky fkers.

[aka_kerrly]

TooMany2cvs said:

matchmaker said:

aka_kerrly said:

£300 for parts
http://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/products/sac...

£200-300 labour

^^ This. Dump the DMF.

Umm, that's not a SMF-retrofit kit. That's a replacement DMF.

Darkside offer both kits.

For G60 & Vr6 owners it's a tad annoying, in the past I could buy flywheels for £20 to get lightened, now people are trying £100+

[Mr2Mike]

Fastdruid said:

The Fiat Coupé Turbo is as far as I know the worst one. Like £4-500 from a specialist expensive against a normal car being ~200 or so.

It's not that bad a job, I changed mine on my driveway. It's tight, and I had to make up a tool to undo the timing cover bolts, but once that was off it was plain sailing.

I'd far rather do belt on the 20VT Coupe than have to do another ZS180. Come to that the belt on the MR2 Turbo was a bit of a pig as well.

[Mr2Mike]

TooMany2cvs said:

Because if it hasn't died yet, it probably won't be far off - and you're doing 99.9% of the same work to replace it now as you would when it does go...

Exactly, you'll be paying for the labour all over again. Most clutches last well over 100k miles these days, and DMFs are generally getting tired by that point.

Personally I wouldn't ever retrofit a conventional flywheel to a diesel engine. They are there to protect the drivetrain as well as reducing NVH.

[Leptons]

MG CHRIS said:

generationx said:

Leptons said:

This post in general shows a complete lack of understanding.

And how is that? I have never changed a flywheel when changing a clutch. MAybe the VW flywheel is a completely different concept, so rather than just dismissing me you could provide some information.
Written by a transmission designer by the way.

Well if your a transmission designer you would have heard of a dmf dual mass flywheel which isn't a solid mounted plate unlike older flywheels. Almost all diesels after 2004 runs one and many petrols run them as well.

Amazing.

[Ari]

Mr Tidy said:

If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen!

You say highish miles but don't specify how many - my 123d managed over 80,000 on the original clutch!

But from your description of the problem it doesn't sound like it slips so do you really need a new one or is the problem something else?

It is over 100,000 miles - original clutch.

[rallycross]

Ari said:

It is over 100,000 miles - original clutch.

My 335i clutch was fine at 195,000 miles and coped with 300 bhp and plenty of abuse, I only changed it due to an oil leak at 196,000 miles the clutch was fine but it made sense to change it with the g/box off.

[generationx]

Leptons said:

Amazing.

Yes - Amazing. Amazing selective quoting. Amazing ability not to read my subsequent respone.

Flywheel = engine component

Clutch = engine component

Gearbox = gearbox component

The line of car I deal with = not diesel. Or dual mass flywheel. Or road car.


Keyboard hero

[gazza285]

generationx said:

Leptons said:

Amazing.

Yes - Amazing. Amazing selective quoting. Amazing ability not to read my subsequent respone.

Flywheel = engine component

Clutch = engine component

Gearbox = gearbox component

The line of car I deal with = not diesel. Or dual mass flywheel. Or road car.


Keyboard hero

[rb5er]

sc0tt said:

You rang a dealer.

Try Mr. Clutch.

This is likely the cheapest way.

Dealers are massively overpriced.

[JonoG81]

bristolracer said:

Just paid £535 for clutch assembly,flywheel and slave cylinder/actuator thingy on a 2008 1.9tdi caddy van which I guess is the same spec as the OPs.
Independent garage.

Similar price to what i paid on a mk4 tdi golf not too long ago, think the final bill was just shy of £550