No Drive - Clutch ?

[Guest Dansik]

Hello again, more trouble with my 1.9TDI. New last April, now has 84,000 miles. My wife parked it yesterday for a few minutes, got back in and it had no drive. There was no warning of any kind that something was going wrong.

 

As it is now I can select any gear with the engine running and no foot on the clutch pedal. The pedal feels as normal so the clutch must still be in there I suppose but it aint working.

 

I put it on axle stands, selected top gear and turned the wheel to feel the gearbox resistance, then tried it in first and it was much stiffer. So I am pretty shure the geabox is working ok.

 

I thought clutches would slip or be noisey when they start going but this one makes no unusual noises at all.

 

Any ideas welcome but I think this is too much for me and it needs to go somewhere !

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Peter :D

[Guest nimrod]

Never had a hydraulic clutch go on me. well apart from total destruction of them!

I'm told that when they do go the symptoms are total loss of drive! on both of my explosive failures :D I could select any gear and red line the engine! but get no drive!

there was no noise or warning just no just no drive in both my failures!

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Time to call on the warranty.......

[HJT]

Not with 84,000 on the clock....... <_<

 

Howard

[johnb80]

Why not at 84000 ?

[HJT]

Warranty is only valid until 3 years or 60,000 miles.

 

Howard

[Guest JonathanK]

Had a similar problem with my 02 115SE a few weeks ago just before I took it over.

 

Previous driver approached a roundabout, stopped, went to pull away - nothing.

 

Turned out that the splines on the drive shaft had stripped. And this on a car that's never been above 80, lived most of it's 70k miles on the motoway and been driven by a guy who looked after it like a baby.

 

Having done 70k with was outside the warranty. We asked Seat for a contribution and even though it had been serviced inside guidelines by Seat dealers and it was clearly a manufacturing fault, they said get lost.

 

Cost to repair? Around

[Richmond]

My experience of clutch failure is that it is gradual, although fairly quick; it slips more and more until it won't transmit the drive at all. On one occasion I had a few days warning, on another only a few miles (neither was a Gal). This problem doesn't sound like a clutch.

 

If Dansik can turn the engine over by manually turning a driven wheel, is it likely to be worn drive shaft splines?

[Guest SA Intruder]

1) are you sure one of the gear selector cables hasn't come off - quite common (see other threads). I think this is the problem...

 

2) if not stick it in gear with engine running and see if one of the driveshafts are spinning.

 

3) If not, either the gearbox has died or the clutch centre plate has disintegrated or the clutch is stuck disengaged (unlikely)

 

Some 03/53 clutches were sourced from a secondary supplier when Sachs and LUK had "supply" issues. These self destructed taking the 2 piece flywheel with it. Again, there are threads on this.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

FWIW: From what I can gather, first year's warranty is unlimited mileage but then a 60,000 mile limit kicks in for years 2 and 3 :rolleyes:

This shouldn't prevent consideration being given to a goodwill payment towards unexpected early failure.

[879JTT]

My clutch decided to pack up at 22000 miles and 2 1/2 years old. I tried to have it done under warranty but as always a clause. All consumable parts are only covered for the first year. So anyway I had to fork out for a new clutch and flywheel, costing

[iainkirk]

more trouble with my 1.9TDI. New last April, now has 84,000 miles.

Now that really IS high mileage!!!!!!

 

Mine will have complete a mere 40,000 miles in 12 months...

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Personally I wouldn't call a clutch a "consumable". The last 2 cars that I've taken through the 100,000 mile barrier were still on their original clutches, and I once worked with someone who recogned that if you used the clutch correctly, it should last the life of the vehicle (mind you that was in the days of the Austin Maxi, when maybe vehicles were not expected to go on for 250,000 miles or more...)

[Guest emjay]

just in case I'm doing it wrong ............ whats the correct way to use a clutch?

[Guest Davtona]

Presumably in a sensible manner, mine is 189000 miles and still original - 'worn but serviceable' to use a cliche. Mind you it's a different plate etc on a 2.8.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Emjay - it's either in or out, no "hokey-cokey" so don't let it slip, don't use it to hold the car on a slope etc.

[Tigger]

I have had the cable come off twice but it still would drive in 3rd and 4th. The cable needs to be forced back in as it is a ball and socket joint. and you have to take the centre consol out bit of a pig but my local man helped out. Nothing seams to phase him.

 

That was on a mk1. not the mk2 were it is all fly by wire so I'm told.

[Guest JonathanK]

My just departed 110 TDi had 149500 up on a '99 T and the clutch was fine even though it was original. It's the way you drive 'em mixed with the type of mileage. Lots of mway, less use, longer lasting.

 

By the way, anyone who saw my slight panic in another post about not selling the above will note that it did go and I could have sold it 2 or 3 times over.

 

I eventually and reluctantly dropped to

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Ride and build quality issues: The SE spec Alhambra has the "sports suspension" set-up as standard; check your tyre pressures though as these can make quite a difference. Build quality seems to depend on luck of the draw, depends on the mood and enthusiasm of the assembly line workers on the day your car was being made.