Volkswagen Clutch Meets Fiery Death

[icenine0]

Okay, I recently purchased a Volkwagen 2001Golf with about 78k miles on it. Fairly roomy compact for a tall guy and gets 40-50 MPG. Anyway, it's a manual, which I've never used, and I'm fairly certain I've already destroyed the clutch trying to learn how to drive the damn thing.

Observe the following:

Day 1> Herky jerk around high-school driving range. Clutch cooks and smells like 30:00 bag of popcorn.

Day 2> Foolishly assume I can drive manual "ok". Attempt to take car for a brief drive around the neighborhood. Get stuck going up driveway, stall out of First about 8 times. China Syndrome likely as flywheel meltdown result.

Day 3> Go driving with my buddy. Doing much better --- not stalling out at all. Suddenly, clutch begins to slip heavily and smells like burnage. Very little traction in first gear. Clutch diagnosis: t3h dead.

If there's a positive to all this, it's that I can finish learning on the toasted clutch and take Extra Special Care(TM) of my new one.

<P ID="signature">The more often you fail, the sweeter the taste of success!</p>

[World_Demise]

Unless you were really slipping the clutch, and I'm talking almost constantly, it should not have gone out that quickly unless it was already bad. If you have any warranty on it, take it and get it looked at.

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[shawn]

Sounds like the clutch was gone or misadjusted totally. Since the car had so many miles it could be worn if the original driver drove a lot in the city and rode the clutch *drove with foot on clutch so it slips a lot during normal driving*. If the clutch is real bad you may end up having to replace the entire assembly. You may want to check out the local salvage yard since some cars that have been in accidents have tons of body damage and almost new engine parts including the clutch. If you don't have a lot of experience with clutches then I recommend finding a friend to help you find, remove, and reinstall into your car one from a salvage yard. You could possibly barter labor with them for the job since you may have some skills they could use also. Good luck. <img src=smilies/magbiggrin.gif>

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[icenine0]

Hmmm... well, things aren't as bad as I thought. It's cooled down now, and seems to be driving a lot better (i.e. okay/almost normal). It still slips occassionally, though, and the "Check Engine" light turns on, so I'm going to take it down to the dealership.

Oh, BTW, as far as I know, most warranties don't cover the clutch. They figure it's like your break pads; it's gonna go some time, and when it does, they're not gonna pay for it. <img src=smilies/upeyes.gif>

> Unless you were really slipping the clutch, and I'm talking
> almost constantly, it should not have gone out that quickly
> unless it was already bad. If you have any warranty on it,
> take it and get it looked at.

<P ID="signature">The more often you fail, the sweeter the taste of success!</p>

[icenine0]

Thanks. I might actually take that advice if I knew a single damn thing about car repair. <img src=smilies/laff.gif>

As it is, I'll probably take it down to the dealership or Joe's VW FixItUp.

<P ID="signature">The more often you fail, the sweeter the taste of success!</P>

[Lobster Cowboy]

> Thanks. I might actually take that advice if I knew a
> single damn thing about car repair.

you're saying you can make a sweet DDR mat MacGyver-style from hardware store parts, but can't fix a VW? for shame ;)

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