Hello everyone,

I wonder if you can help me with a problem which is afflicting my otherwise excellent Octavia. The car is a 2003 estate with the 110 bhp TDi engine and 5 speed manual box. For some time now it has been making a clattering / chattering noise when warm which disappears when the clutch pedal is depressed. The frequency of the noise doen't seem to alter much with increasing engine speed.

I gave it to the local gearbox repair specialist who took it apart and replaced the dual mass flywheel which he diagnosed as worn - and gave me a bill for £760. Didn't make a blind bit of difference. Since then he has taken the box apart twice more and replaced some bearings but the noise is still there.

Anyone got any ideas? :confused:

Thanks, Ivor

It's not the gearbox? I mean, given the work done...

I have the same noise in my 110 bhp Octavia I......and I suspect the pilot shaft bearing in the centre of teh flywheel....but have not ripped the car apart yet to make repairs.

Had a heck of a time - but succeeded in getting my gearbox out / repairs made and back in over the weekend. The Haynes manual (unless I am mistaken) does not tell you that the drive flange on the drivers side needs to be removed to get the gearbox off the engine. The flange is held on by an allen headed screw in the centre of the flange.

Also I removed the gear selector mechanism (secured by two 13mm hex bolts) and plugged the hold with a big cloth to provide more space when re-installing the gearbox.

- Anyway back to the rattle problem. ON my car the fault was the Dual Mass Flywheel. The metal mating surface moves with respect to the outer housing of the flywheel. This metal disc rotates on a small ball-bearing assembly at the centre of the flywheel, and on my car the bearings withing the race had come loose amd move to one side forcing the metal disc off-centre and at a slight angle. When the clutch pedal was released to engage the clutch it would only touch at one side - initially - and cause the car to shudder a lot. When the clutch was fully engaged the shuddering stopped but the rattle started. If pressure was applied to the clutch pedal the rattle stopped - because this action forced the release bearing to push the pressure plate hard against the movable part of the DMF preventing it from moving and stopping the rattle.

Hope this helps:thumbdwn: