My car has stood in the open for 15 days near the south coast. Today driving it has been a pig. In first I have had clutch judder and on changing up to second and accelerating on a few occasions it felt as if the clutch let go and then grabbed again.

I drove it about 7 miles ,parked for about an hour and the problem seems to have gone.

Was it damp? Did residual heat dry it out while parked? Been driving a damn long time and never had a clutch replaced and this is a big puzzle.

Any ideas please.:confused:

I can't remember the last time I went two weeks without driving the car but I have noticed something similar with the brakes on my previous car if I hadn't driven it for a few days. Maybe there was some surface rust on the plate the the clutch plate engages with or the mechanism siezed up slightly.

I'm sure somone here will be able to give you a better answer.

Does anyone have any idea on this?

Could it be the start of something nasty?

Please:)

No i don,t think its anything at all TBH.Your car was laid up for that length of time so just like brake discs it had a layer of rust forming maybe and you have worked it off through driving.I doubt it will come back if used regularly:thumbup:

Hmm, I have to admit I am having the same problem, but my car only has to be left overnight for me to experience the "judder".

My car is less than a year old with just under 6,000 miles, although I've only had it for a month or two now. It only ever does it once when setting off for the first time in the morning and it varies in severity depending on how cold/wet it was during the night and the gradient of the hill I might or might not be parked on.

I've been doing a bit of a search on here and it seems like it may be a common VAG problem. Some claim its a build up of condensation or moisture in the clutch mechanism somewhere which is causing it to slip. After a couple of starts the dampness disappears and all is as it should be...

Once to watch me thinks and certainly something I will be asking about at its first service :(.

My 2.0TFSi vRS does this.. what variant do you have?

I have taken it in under warranty and left it with them overnight and they couldn't find the problem.. funny that I can every morning.. particularly if it has rained overnight.

I think I'll take it back in and persist.

Mines a 2.0 TDi PD 140 Scout.

I'll be watching closely to see if it becomes more regular now the nights are drawing in and its starting to get colder...

Thank you for your replies.

I am pleased to see I'm not alone and that no-one has said they think it is the start of something big.

In fifty years driving I've never had clutch judder. The momentary release and re-grab of the clutch is not nice at all and is very worrying and I'm damn sure it could be lethal to the DMF :(

Many thanks

My previous Octavia did this and my current Octy also has the odd shudder first thing. It clears after a few miles...

I have the same problem on my 2008 140 diesel. It doesn't seem related to the cold or damp, as we've a pretty dry and warm few weeks and it has still been doing it. Does anyone think it could be that the clutch fluid needs bleeding? I've been experimenting by pressing the clutch pedal about 50 times before I start the car in the mornings and it does seem to make it feel better, but it could all be in the mind.

I'm 'phoning my dealer tomorrow to see if they will do anything about it. I don't hold much hope, but I'l post me news.

That is very interesting. I've been sitting thinking about this and literally minutes ago decided to post my latest brilliant idea!!! I was going to say I planned to pump the clutch pedal before moving off.

Great minds think alike.

Thanks for that.:thumbup:

I've booked the car into the dealer in about 10 days time. It would be nice if it is a simple matter of bleeding the clutch, but I can't really understand why it should cause it to judder. I would expect that if there was air in the fluid the clutch would not release properly, i.e. the air in the fluid would compress rather than releasing the clutch, resulting in difficulty engaging gears. I wonder if pumping it is somehow simply aligning the clutch.

It would be great to hear if anyone finds the pre-start clutch pumping exercise has any benefit. Surely we shouldn't have to do this on a £17000 car though!

Please keep us posted on what the dealer finds!

I'm sure your experiencing the same quirk as me so I'd be very interested to hear what they have to say before I take mine in...

Mine (55 plate) has been doing this since last winter - once I reverse off the drive I have two small up-hill junctions to negotiate and at the first junction I have to give it a few more revs than I'd expect. At the second it's improving and after that it's fine.

I put it down to 'character'

I am experiencing the same problem. Lots of vibration particularily when first moving off. As posted it improves after driving for a while, although I notice that the time taken to get better seems to be getting longer and longer. Also get a fair bit of vibration through the clutch pedal when I push on it.

Definately did not do this when new

Due for a service in a few week so will raise issue then.

Could this be a dual mass flywheel issue? I reckon that once the dual mass flywheel has "freed off" the problem goes away. To free it off the engine needs to rev beyond a certain point,, a point which a sympathetic driver will probably not reach initially on a cold engine. I am probably VERY wrong but wild theory nevertheless!!

Since my post on 20 Sept I've done nearly 4000 miles without a single judder or snatch.

Since the 20 th I have pumped my clutch pedal to the floor about 15--20 times before starting the engine.

These two things may be connected.

Or not.

But I'm pleased whatever.

Mine is going to the dealers on Tuesday/Wednesday. I was debating whether to mention the pre-start clutch method, in case they think I'm mad! As yours seems to respond the same way as mine I think I will mention it. Fingers crossed it will just be a quick clutch bleeding job.

Is no news really good news? As I was expecting, the dealer could not find anything wrong with the car!

I bet it will be jerky when I use it tomorrow morning.

Any updates to this?

My 2.0 TDi from 2008 does this in the mornings as well.....

Regards,

Niels

I had a similar problem with a Landcruiser I used to own. It often sat for a week or more without being driven (but in a dry garage). When I first took off up the hill next to our house it would shudder like a bast@rd, but after that it was perfectly well behaved. It did that for the whole 10 years and 80,000km I owned it without any noticeable change.

I haven't noticed any signs of clutch judder in my Octy, but we've only done 8,000Km in it.

I still get the juddering when moving away from cold. Reading the forums I'm still worried about about the possibility of a faulty Dual Mass Flywheel. I've noticed that when I press the cluch pedal, during the first inch or so of travel I can feel a vibration through the pedal. Is this normal on a diesel? I guess it is feels like something moving at about 2 or 3 times a second. It could be engine vibration, but it doesn't seem related to engine speed.