Hello Fellow Skoda drivers,

This is my first post to your wonderful forum, I wish it could be a happier one, but there you go.

Bought an approved used Skoda from my local dealer-SILBURY SKODA IN CRAMLINGTON, NORTHUMBERLAND, a lovely 55 plate 1.9tdi estate, one owner, 33000 miles.Balance of the manufacturers 3 year warranty and all that , no worries me thinks....

Have since covered another 7k in the car, and without any warning symptoms or indication signals ( i.e. slipping, dragging, noise, smell etc,) the clutch pedal hits the floor and hey presto I'm stuck in the rush hour on a busy dual carraigeway in the dark .... great.

No probs me thinks, I'm covered by the warranty.

Phones the recovery , skoda assist were very efficient in recovering the car and getting it back to the dealer for repair. So far , I'm quite relieved and impressed. Can't be the clutch itself I thought , must be a hydraulic loss I think.

Wrong!!, gets a call from the dealer for the permission to remove the gearbox, obviously I said yes , as the car wouldn't fix itself (?) so I waited to see what was discovered.

Another phone call a couple of hours later reveals that the clutch is totally fried,and the DMF is also damaged- estimated cost £ 761 !!!! And , the clutch isn't covered by the warranty after the first 6500 miles!!!!

Looking into this problem on this and other forums, it seems like I'm not alone with this type of problem.

A phone call to skoda GB also did nothing to help me with this warranty claim.

Spoke again to the service manager and the general manager of SILBURY SKODA , who although polite, did bugger all in the way of trying to se if I could claim under warranty. I believe that itis the DMF that is causing so many problems with these cars, and is in fact riding the clutch from the inside against the hydraulic check valve in the braking system itself.

Once I started having a technical discussion with the dealer, and told him I was in fact a diesel engineer for a well known marine engineering company and knew about such things , the conversation changed somewhat and the ******** about the flywheel damage suddenly ceased to exist, the car only needs a new clutch assy now all of a sudden.

Now I feel that Skoda are masking an obvious fault with either the quality of their clutch components, the quality and assembly of their DMF,or the engine assembly on build up and are trying to bill customers for the damage caused when one of the components lets go. As I said, I was aware of no warning signs that the clutch was on the way out, the car drove perfectly well until the moment the pedal hit the deck.

Anyway, I've complained vigorously to Skoda GB and the dealer, and have stressed that I was not told that the clutch was not covered by the warranty. I've also asked Skoda to look beyond the problem , i.e. FMEA the affected area and the fit and function of all of the clutch line components and ancillaries, to see what is causing such premature failures.

So, I've just forked out £500 for labour and a new clutch the wek before xmas which isn't very good at all you must agree, no goodwill of any sort from Skoda GB, Skoda factory CZ and the dealership.

In fact , when I collected the car , they had managed to immobilise the radio /cd player and cannot unlock it, so wait for it , they've ordered me a replacement , you've guessed it - UNDER WARRANTY!!!!

This really pee'd me off, the cost of a replacement radio ( Which was perfectly fine by the way) is probably gonna be same as the clutch, and the'll replace that no quibble!!?

Theres got to be something wrong with things when this is the case, I've lost confidence in the car now, and certainly will NOT be using SILBURY SKODA< CRAMLINGTON again.

Also, I'll be advising as many prospective Skoda buyers to check and be aware that the clutches on these cars are not covered after 6500 miles when new, and that the balance of the manufacturers warranty bull**** that you get when buying used really isn't worth the paper its written on. BE WARNED!!

Anyone with similar experiences out there, or am I in the minority.

Cheers Folks, have a good festive season and all that,

Wimpster.

Steve, sorry to hear of your problems.

Firstly, welcome to the Briskoda site, lots of useful info and helpful people here.

There certainly does seem to more than a few people with DMF problems (and not just Skodas, some VWs seem to have issues too). Most of the failed DMFs I've read about had vibrations for some time before they failed, so maybe yours had a different fault. If you got all the parts they replaced from the dealer you could possibly get an independent analysis of what caused the failure, and if it was a manufacturing defect rather than a "wear" item start a dispute with the dealer and or SUK, but it is probably not really worth all the time and aggravation to go through that sort of a process.

One other thought - did the fine print in any of the warranty documenation you got when you purchased the vehicle specifically exclude the clutch components as a wear item ? If not, then you might be able to push the line that it IS in fact covered, despite what they are telling you verbally.

I would like to thank Chathams in Edinburgh for the same, emailed about the price of replacing DMF for a single flywheel clutch kit on a the Friday answer arrived 15 Min's later, £320 booked in for the Monday they did an oil change at the same time at no extra

One of my previous posts,

I had the same problem and got nowhere, the £320 was the fully fitted dealer price and if you ask them to fit this you should have no more problems, but if you allow them to fit another DMF you will

I've had DMF's and the clutches it fried replaced under warrenty as the dying DMF killed the clutch.

Speak to the dealer and get them to speak to skoda as there are well known DMF issues. If you're in warenty it should , in my opinion, be covered.

I have a vrs purchased from silbury skoda not long ago and i have a problem that when i pull away from a standstill and let the clutch out to biting point the engine noise seems to become louder and a vibration/knocking can be felt through the pedals, once moving their is no noise vibration or nothing and all is well. Silbury have had it out on a test drive and say they cant find anything wrong. I'ver just picked my car up yesterday after they fitted a new steering rack to remove the creaking noise from the old one. This is very annoying and the car is bugging me everytime i have to pull away, i hope this isn't a sign of the problems mentioned. Anyone can give me any info on this problem would be much appreciated. I've drove another vrs and that was fine when pulling away so i know its not a charecteristic of the car

......when i pull away from a standstill and let the clutch out to biting point the engine noise seems to become louder and a vibration/knocking can be felt through the pedals, once moving their is no noise vibration or nothing and all is well.

That sounds very similar to what people describe as one of the early symptoms of impending DMF failure (which seems to be more common on the 1.9 TDIs than the other Octy motors). Unless you are have low engine revs (ie less than 1,400rpm) when you let the clutch out (in which case try increasing your engine revs to over 1,500).

Let us know how you get on (it adds to the collective knowledge, which helps everyone in the long run).

My dealer told me that if the clutch fails after 15k they would not replace it under warranty, however if the DMF failed they would replace it and put a new clutch in as well all under warranty.

Dear Skodistii,

Thanks for all the replies, seems like I am indeed not alone with my problem clutch.As I said earlier, there were no tell tale symptoms at all, apart from a slight delay when engaging the clutch on pull away, seemed to give a delay followed by a "kick" through the transmission. It did this for a couple of days prior to the pedal just hitting the floor. No noise, slipping,drag or burning smells. If your skod is doing the same I suggest you get it looked at before any long term damage is done to the DMF.

At the moment I'm vigorously persuing my case with SUK , I'll let the forum know how I get on in due course. Thanks and a happy 2009

Wimpster.