Fabia clutch failure after only 10400 miles

[Trouble1]

My wife owns a Fabia 1.2 TSI that  was bought new in May 2011 and has suffered clutch failure after only 10426 miles of usage.The dealer can find no evidence of mechanical failure and therefore, they, and Skoda UK Customer Services , attribute the clutch burn out to our driving style, and will not make any contribution to the £700 it has cost to replace. My wife and I have almost 100 years of motoring experience between us and have never had to have a clutch replaced in that time.My wife's previous car , a Honda Civic , covered 28,000 miles in the 10 years of her ownership  without problem.

 

I myself own a Skoda Superb Estate , bought in 2012 because we were so pleased with the Fabia. This incident has however shaken our confidence in the Fabia , and indeed the Brand.

 

 

[softscoop]

Does your wife ride the clutch a lot?

 

It sounds like low mileage for a clutch to wear out but driving style has a very big factor in how long a clutch will last.

[sharkrider]

never heard of a clutch failure yet.. (pematurely) they are often used as driving school cars.... swmbo has a poor driving style in her citigo re the cluth, doesnt use the handbrake, and holds it on hills with the bite point! lol... thats made 17k and not failed, and still drives as new....

 

if your wife drives properly re clutch, it simply MUST be a defect. dont know how you would go convincing them though. try to find out how long skoda think their clutches should last? I did 117,000 miles in a remapped grande punto deisel that was running massive torque, and used it as a driving scholl car, and the original clutch was still "new car perfect" after 117,000 miles, so I would suggest a clutch "should" last 100k.... never had to replace on on a driving school car before 100k, i even had a citroen that lasted 110k before the clutch went! lol...

[TomR88]

Sounds like usual Skoda trying to wriggle out of a claim. I would demand the clutch is inspected at their expense and if a fault is found go from there.

[bluecar1]

I did 236,000 miles in 7 years in a Octavia mk1 on the original clutch, and 167,000 miles in a roomster on original clutch, so should last a lot longer than 10k

 

problem with release bearing sticking?

 

were there any signs of clutch slipping before failure?

 

was it a case of clutch slipping was the mode of failure or sudden total failure?

[xman]

We have two cars with the 1.2tsi engine, an octavia and a fabia. Both have acharacteristic of an unusually high bite point on the clutch. It was even noted by the techs on the 1st service. With this, there is an impression that the thrust bearing is never released, being that I cant feel any free movement, on most cars around 25mm.

I've quizzed both drivers and they are both adamant they don't ride the clutch and use the foot rest at the side. They are also both mainly long distance drivers so clutch use is low.

The cars have done 60k and 20k respectively, and there is no sign of clutch slip yet.

Maybe this characteristic is by design or theyre built like that. It just feels a bit wrong.

[mrgf]

I am a driving instructor and I suffered clutch failure at a fairly modest mileage. I do believe the clutch to be a weak point as I was using an 02 Yaris for two years, which had clutch failure at around 75,000 miles. My Fabia was after around 25- 30,000. Although I know and expect it to wear quicker then normal, this was very quick indeed. the second one has lasted longer, having now covered 80,000 total miles but I had to pay for the clutch. (£600 was the standard price, £500 after my discount). I have however, had the turbo replaced, immediately followed by a complete engine. Both these were under warranty, due to early failure. i think there was an underlying fault with the car from the manufacturing stage!

 

I would think about using a clutch replacement specialist, as they can be replaced for around £300 with  TWO YEAR WARRANTY SO THIS IS A MASSIVE SAVING FROM DEALER PRICES. Its the way I will go next time round, for sure!

[sharkrider]

^^^ sounds like you got a bad un!

[Wakey]

I did 236,000 miles in 7 years in a Octavia mk1 on the original clutch, and 167,000 miles in a roomster on original clutch, so should last a lot longer than 10k

 

problem with release bearing sticking?

 

were there any signs of clutch slipping before failure?

 

was it a case of clutch slipping was the mode of failure or sudden total failure?

 

Bloody hell where do you live? Neptune?

[bluecar1]

Bloody hell where do you live? Neptune?

nope, just used to be a field engineer driving all over uk and Scotland

 

two cars before I put 100,000 and 180,000 on

 

now only do 6,000 a year and the train takes the strain

[jme808]

I worked for motability years ago - we had a gent go through a clutch in an astra in under 2k, because he couldn't feel where the bite point was and his hearing was poor so couldn't hear the engine.  As far as we could tell the clutch was never fully engaged.

 

The car STANK of burnt clutch, even a few days after we took the car in - we agreed to go on a test drive with him to monitor his driving style.  Would Skoda UK or the dealer go for that do you think?

Edited 26 February, 2015 by jme808

[xman]

I think the warranty exclusions are very clearly printed in the documentation. iirc 6 months/6500 miles on a list of defined wear and tear items. These include, but are not limited to brake linings and disc pads, clutch release bearings, clutch pressure plates and centre plates, tyres, wiper blades, seat and backrest covers, floor coverings, spark plugs, batteries for key fobs and alarms, light bulbs and shock absorbers.

[The Plumber]

Only time I've had anything noticeably different with a 1.2 TSI clutch was in the Alps; got a bit smelly on some of the longer and steeper 'hill climbs' and like others have mentioned the bite point seems to be all or nothing.

 

Hope you get it sorted.

 

 

TP

[GeneralPurpose]

If the clutch disc lining material has worn away or shows signs of burning out, then usually it is a driver issue. But you need to know for sure what element/s of the clutch have failed. I would ask for a report from your garage in writing. Normally when a clutch failure is assessed at low mileage the parts go off to a warranty claims dept or very detailed photos are used with measurements shown etc. The whole clutch unit is normally assessed, everything from the release bearing, the clutch disc, the cover assembly. Everything should be assessed. Make sure that has happened. A clutch disc can wear out prematurely if the cover assembly has the wrong tolerances or is malfunctioning in some other way. It may not be fully releasing for example and therefore not fully pushing the clutch disc against the flywheel causing some slippage that you as a driver may not have been fully aware of. The main problem of course is that small defects can be hard to spot. Incidentally, the flywheel should always be inspected too. Undersize flywheels (thickness of the working surface) will also cause a clutch to fail early. Ford suffered from this on some Fiestas sometime ago and had to replace many clutches at high mileage under warranty. It was me as a young tech that flagged up the problem to the factory, they had no idea why the clutches were failing at the time. The fact that your garage has said they could not find a mechanical fault shows they have probably done a good job as the assessment level. They too will be concerned it failed so early. But be clear. The clutch is a consumable and it nearly always turns out to be a driver error causing the problem. It's difficult to prove otherwise even if you think there is a mechanical problem. Good luck.

[Trouble1]

Thanks everyone for their comments. Very impressed how quickly people responded. As a response to some of the comments , I should say that  dont sit with our foot on the clutch, nor are we,  despite being in our late sixties, hard of hearing. Having said that, the 1.2 TSI engine is very quiet so you dont particularly hear the bite point , it is more a matter of feel. Also the clutch pedal spring is quite strong so the release between gears tends to be a fairly quick.

 

 

[cfc1900]

Thanks everyone for their comments. Very impressed how quickly people responded. As a response to some of the comments , I should say that  dont sit with our foot on the clutch, nor are we,  despite being in our late sixties, hard of hearing. Having said that, the 1.2 TSI engine is very quiet so you dont particularly hear the bite point , it is more a matter of feel. Also the clutch pedal spring is quite strong so the release between gears tends to be a fairly quick.

I would add that if you look at gear ratios the reverse gear ratio is higher than first, unlike in cars of older times. This means that you sometimes have to slip the clutch more than is good for it if you are reversing up a hill.  I have smelt clutch burning a couple of times when maneuvring up a steep hill with a fully laden Fabia 1.2 TSI, which although powerful, has nowhere near the torque of the diesels I am used to.  I just hope I haven't damaging the dmf.  Crossing fingers....

Edited 15 February, 2016 by cfc1900

[fabiamk2SE]

I would add that if you look at gear ratios the reverse gear ratio is higher than first, unlike in cars of older times. This means that you sometimes have to slip the clutch more than is good for it if you are reversing up a hill.  I have smelt clutch burning a couple of times when maneuvring up a steep hill with a fully laden Fabia 1.2 TSI, which although powerful, has nowhere near the torque of the diesels I am used to.  I just hope I haven't damaging the dmf.  Crossing fingers....

 

There's quite a few motors like that now tbh mate. 

 

My 1.9PD T5 Transporter is like that. Fully loaded you have to slip the clutch uphill in reverse, or you're doing nearly 10mph with the clutch out. Which isn't ideal for manoeuvring haha 

[mrgf]

My second one is now near to needing replacing, at about 96,000m.  I said before and have had nods to that effect, that the Skoda/VW clutch is a bit of a weak spot on these cars. Does anyone know who the manufacture of these clutches is? I am thinking of looking at a different brand rather then what Skoda fit but don't want to fit a cheap rubbish one nor do I really want to fit the brand Skoda fit as I think they wear too soon. Euro car parts stock a budget Transmech (Approx £100) or a pricier Valeo one, which is about £40 more. I have heard of Luk too but not sure where to start. Don't want to throw money away on costlier ones if they are actually just the same!

[vxh26]

Clutch failure after 10,426 miles with experienced drivers seems absolutely incredible.

 

You refer to "the £700 it has cost to replace" which unfortunately suggests that it will be very difficult to get any sort of independent evaluation carried out.

 

I would certainly advise you to get hold of the removed components if you are to have any chance at all of proving that Skoda rather than you are to blame.

 

NOT a good tale, I hope you get somewhere with Skoda.

[Ootohere]

Do you think the removed clutch is available for inspection after 12 months?

[Tech1e]

Parts will almost certainly be exchange with a surcharge if you want to keep them.

Tricky job proving either way for both retailer and customer. Sounds like the retailer has done the right thing by seaking authority first and checking with customer services. I'm surprised given the low miles they didn't offer something. I take it the car has a full dealer history? Obviously out of the warranty period anyhow which is why the claim was denied I would have thought.

[fabiamk2SE]

Parts will almost certainly be exchange with a surcharge if you want to keep them.

.

Why?

Its his clutch off his car, is it not?

[Tech1e]

Clutches like water pumps are exchange items as they are remanufactured. So they require the old one back to return to Skoda to be remade.

[fabiamk2SE]

Clutches like water pumps are exchange items as they are remanufactured. So they require the old one back to return to Skoda to be remade.

Ah okay. Sounds odd. suppose itd have to be written in some small print somewhere .

[Tech1e]

It's quite normal practice in the motor trade. Starter motors, alternators basically anything that is offered on an exchange basis.