MK6 Jetta Clutch
 

I have a 2012 Jetta with the 2.5 and a 5 speed stick. About 115k miles on the original clutch. Just getting started teaching my second kid how to drive and drive a manual! With the first sessions of figuring out launching the car in first, we definitely did some clutch work the last couple nights! On my wife's commute home today, she shifted from 4-5 on the interstate and with a crunching sound lost the clutch. Lost as in it did not engage at all and the car is in 'neutral'.

My bet is a throwout bearing. Maybe things got a big crispy from all that practicing with the new driver. (It was't smelly or overly bad, but I am sure warmer in there than usual). I never lost a clutch like this, it always would start to slip and degrade slowly, so I am a bit puzzled.

What does the brain trust think on next steps? My inclination is to remove the transmission and assess the situation. Then order parts?

Thanks!

George

Just over a year ago, I experienced much as you described with my 2015 GTI, but symptoms popped up slowly. For example, reverse became increasingly difficult to engage until I could no longer. This happened over a two or three week period. I ordered a new TOB, clutch disc, flywheel, and main seal. It was worth it to me to replace everything. One thing to note is when my clutch on that car is healthy and working properly, I can hear the TOB make a tap noise when I put it into neutral. That went away when my clutch went south.

Check your axles. A CV joint break or disconnect has that symptom.

Most likely the clutch. My son drives a 2015 Jetta 1.8T. He lost the clutch around 40K. We took it to the dealer because I didn't want to deal with it but then I went back in the dealer shop and looked at it. That has to be the simplest transmission to pull. We should have done it ourselves. Good luck.

Throw out bearing. Clutch fork. Pressure plate.

Oh, nice suggestion - that would be great. I jacked it up and played with the axles and CV joints. Look to be intact and no noises. But I will make sure I will disconnect them first, when starting the job and do a much closer inspection. Thank you!

Thanks for all the input. Preparing to dig in on the weekend.

Now, how do I avoid buying a engine bar to hold up the engine? It is under $100 but really want to avoid adding to my pile of large tools! Can I use my transmission jack from below?

Check the CV joints first - remove outer joints from hub end first, put lever in neutral and see if you can turn them and if they operate normally. If they're normal, it's upstream of them. If not, there's your problem. If it's not the axles, a broken pressure plate seems most likely for a clutch stuck in the disengaged state.

If it was cv you'll be able to shift into gears...
Not sure about an exploded diff inside the trans....

You can use a jack with wood on the oil pan.

If you are not doing the job on a hoist, then you can support the engine from below with a floor jack or jackstand (or two) as long as the weight is spread out. You could always buy an engine bar and then sell it on FBMP or Craigslist for most of what you paid for it.


Email me if you want some of the manual pages.

Cheers

I would bite the bullet and get the engine bar. It comes in handy. I have used mine to change out the engine mounts on both my GTI and my Cayenne S.

I started today and have a couple hours into it, mostly done getting everything off.

Axles need to come out??? For you guys that have experience with this job ... coming from the 911, I have always hung the axles out of the way and off you go. All the people online and the Haynes manual remove the axle shafts completely. No shortcuts?

There are other big asks, such as removal of the electric fans and disconnecting the exhaust (completely, not just the exhaust mounts). I guess getting it out is easy, getting it back in can be a pain in the arse if you even remotely hit anything.

I also came to the conclusion I'll need an engine bar. Nothing under $120 used on CL, so I'll go to HF tomorrow. I think the engine bar in combination with my motorcycle lift (from the 911 engine pulls) should do a good job without having to manhandle anything. I do have a cherry picker engine hoist, but that will have the legs in the way and may sag over time.

Wish me luck! :)

I removed the inner axles only and the cups. I also had to disconnect the tie rod ball joint to the driver side wheel hub to gain clearance for dropping the transmission because the dangling axle gets in the way. The tranny will have to come out laterally about 3 inches to clear the clutch mechanism and then down it comes. I used my ATV jack to ease it down.

I did buy an engine bar and removed the axles. I did not remove the cups and paid the price for that, dicking with it 10 minutes longer than I needed until I took the passenger's side axle cup out.

When the trans came out, I saw this. Clearly I have a clutch problem!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659334049.jpg

Turns out the rivets are clear sheared off. They are not worn down or touched anything. Have you guys seen anything like this before?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659334094.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659334133.jpg

I bought a replacement sent at AutoZone which looks makedly different, with bigger rivets. Overall not a bad job, but I can't say I like FWD cars. The grease in the cups made a mess. I am not good keeping clean. Haha.

Thanks for all the help so far, I'll keep you posted. I'll probably continue next weekend if I can't find a couple evenings to finish it off.

Interesting that the disc was the weak link. I would make sure the fork is g2g too.


I take autozone clutch is a luk?

Thanks AZ928! Funny you asked - the replacement I received in the box is an AMS and looking at the pictures on the AZ site, it is supposed to be a LUK in that kit! Further inspection reveals that the ID, OD and flange thickness are all incorrect on this AMS disc.

I ordered another clutch kit and returning this one. I bet someone switched out the contents on a return. You have to be on your toes on this stuff, that's for sure. Imagine I would have put that disc in there! It is just close enough where it may have been able to go in.

I'll keep you guys posted on this adventure.

Oh boy, I would not even consider putting in an off brand or aftermarket clutch from Autozone in a German car. Especially when you can probably get the correct Sachs kit for the same price if you know where to look. Even if there is a small savings on the off brand part, it’s not worth it due to the labor involved and the importance of a well functioning and long lasting clutch. YMMV but not by much.

Ok, I just checked and it turns out that the LUK is the OEM clutch. I found the complete kit for $265 but the web address is blocked on this site for obvious reasons.

Denis - the AutoZone kit should be a LUK which is OEM indeed because that's what came out of there. Not everything at AutoZone is junk and they have some awesome warranties - no receipt required. I have had cars where I had free brake pads for life, for example. Their higher tier pads are quite good. AutoZone doesn't manufacture anything, these guys are all selling the same stuff. That all said, yes, there is stupid stuff that can happen like this clutch that looks to be a return in the wrong box. I bet someone bought the wrong clutch at a place they couldn't exchange it, then bought the correct one at AZ and returned the wrong one. Nice!

$277 at AutoZone

Nice job catching the switched clutch disc! Looks like you have made good progress.

Got a good looking clutch yesterday.

There is an infamous vacuum pump on the 2.5 that leaks oil. During my ownership, I did the quick fix replacing the lid gasket, but still leaking. So I need to put a new vacuum pump which I ordered. It is right there for access with the transmission out.

Tonight I spent about an hour degreasing the transmission which was a ball of grease from years of slow oil leaking that never hit the ground. When rotating it, I leaked oil out of the trans. So now I get to replace that too.

At the rate I am going, I'll have a project car on jack stands for a few years! :D

I'll keep you posted.

Think that the oil in our VW manual transmissions is a "lifetime oil" but I'm sure that you can buy some at the dealer and top it off.

I'm sure he drained the oil before dropping the transmission.

No, he didn't.

Why would he?

I ran the original tranny oil in my 2011 TDI for 200k. It came out a little dark and smelled burnt but it was still oily. I put in Redline MTL and ran it for 30k and didn't like the shifting so I went back to the OEM from the dealer and noticed an improvement.

There isn't a service interval that I could find so I decided on 100k

Sorry Speeder. You are correct. I just read aigel's last post. I assumed he drained the oil given the situation; oil makes the transmission weigh that much more, and it likely had never been changed before. For me it is common sense to drain and change to pair with the fresh clutch assembly.

Lifetime tranny oil will last until transmission fails.


I would rather change it prior to that.

I did the trans at 100k on my tdi before the stupid offer buyback. That's even with some diesel nights at the dragstrip.

Indeed, did not drain the oil. As I said, I spilled some oil out the a-hole (axle hole), so I bought a factory liter bottle of fluid and will top it off. I'll try to put as much of the new stuff in there as possible. :)

It is back together. I had my local pelican buddy come by to help me guide the trans back in place. I did spring for a better throw out bearing than the one in the kit and also replaced the slave cylinder, so all the bits are new now.

When first starting it I had some weird noises and it hesitated, so I was very concerned, even though operating the clutch at rest worked fine. Noises cleared up quickly and I think it may have been the new vacuum pump (admittedly a $50 amazon special, rather than the $300 brand name products, haha).

I had to wait for new axle gaskets and the oil to start driving it. Once on the road I had a shudder at very low rpm, basically when you attempt to launch at idle. I power bled the clutch and got some air out, but it didn't improve. I drove it to work (plenty stop and go, about 70 miles round trip) and it gradually improved all the way to smooth. I did lightly sand the flywheel to check for flatness and think things needed to break in.

I found out from the Haynes manual that the huge axle to hub bolts are stretch bolts and need replacement. They are not in stock at AutoZone "special order". I guess nobody really replaces them. I did order a set and will put those in once they arrive. Maybe overkill, but holding the hub to the axle seems important.

Thanks for all the input and advice. I learned a lot on how to do this on a FWD car and it is re-assurance that FWD cars suck to work on! Haha.

I have bought new stretch bolts and have reused. Usually the dealer keeps them in stock and somewhat reasonable. I believe the flywheel bolts are 12.9. So wayyyyy better than the grade 5 (8.8) I've seen on domestic flywheels/flexplates.


If your flywheel looks as glazed as your pressure plate in the first page. A break in will be really needed. Big ole slippery burnout is the preferred method to this task. ;)

Thanks AZ 928 - I was talking axle bolts, the ones holding the axles in the hub. Any opinion on those? They are 7 bucks a pop, so not going to save on that.

My stick shift learner will get enough burn out action on the clutch here in the next couple weeks. Haha. Kid is getting pretty good though already. I was hesitant to try that burnout, but I did read about it online elsewhere.

7 bucks a pop is high. I was thinking close to 3ish for dealer. I tell my local dealer I'm a vortex member and they give me a nice discount (which i didn't even know about until i really got to know the guys working there. Came in every week trying to figure out what hardware i needed for my first slush to manual swap on the alh back before people did write ups on it)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1660109952.jpg


I reuse them on my mk4's i play with. I'm very careful to inspect them as any imperfection to the triple square bit will lead to them stripping. Which i think is why vw just says replace them. Deutsche leute...

I just replaced a outer CV boot on my TDI. The bolt came with the boot kit. The torque was a bit confusing. I have probably the same Haynes as you and it doesn't cover the diesel engine, but I think the axels torques are the same.

I had the bolt with the serrations and the torque was 52 lbft then turn another 90 deg. I couldn't get that far so I just got my 24" breaker bar and jumped on it a couple times. I have no idea if I properly torqued it. I had to use the breaker bar, and jumped on it, to get the old bolt off. The book called for another torque with a different bolt. 140 lbft with the bolt that didn't have the serrations on the bearing surface.

I'm planning on a 3 week drive to Vermont to see family so maybe I should take the wheel cap off and mark the bolt head to the wheel with a sharpie and keep an eye on it.

The other side. It has a single bolt, M12 or something really big. Takes a 24mm 12 point.

That's the one I am talking about. I have the "ribbed" one too. That's exactly the torque spec. I torqued them to 52 and finished them off with the impact which reached just shy of 1/4 turn.

The non-ribbed bolt, you get to do 148 ft-lb and then an additional 1/2 turn! Yikes! Haha.

Good idea to mark the bolt - I'll have to get one of those paint pens - it will be more visible than a sharpie. I did keep off the various covers so I can check on all bolts over the next couple weeks. On the 911 the axle to differential bolts were notorious for coming loose, doesn't seem to be as much an issue on these VWs.

I always wanted a new beetle ragtop. I should go see what's out there cheap with a blown clutch, now that I had practice and own an engine bar!

The parts in German cars are all racist. They don't get along with parts from Brazil, China, etc. Perhaps the AutoZone disks are OEM. I dunno. I also think this is the time to replace all the wear parts. I once replaced all the clutch parts in a 911SC. Disk, PP, flywheel, release bearing, fork, guide tube and, as importantly as anything, cable. You wouldn't believe how great that car shifted. Tyson Schmidt was quite impressed.

Don't kid yourself - look at the parts origin in newer German cars. All over the world. Drive trains assembled in Bulgaria and then the car is made in Mexico. The usual German suppliers such as LUK have China plants too. Heck, even if you get a car assembled in Germany, say an MB in Stuttgart, you bet half the people on the line are immigrants from Turkey, Syria, former Yugoslavia etc. etc.

You saw the original clutch plate and how it failed? Not inspiring.

I did replace all the parts except for the shift fork which is just a stamped piece of metal. The angles and forces involved are well done in this setup, I have to say. And just like you described, this thing is a lot smoother / lighter than it was before. I got a big thumbs up from all the other drivers!

This is a daily driver that probably won't make it another 5 years in my possession. Have to balance effort, cost etc. Coming in under $600, I think.

A long time ago I was at a drug store and they had a bargin bin. Mostly junk for a dollar but I found yellow and orange nail polish and grabbed them. They've been in my tool box since and I keep needing them to mark the flywheel on my airheads and the pully on the 911.