Octy TDI is at the dealers again, after several months of trying to convince them there's a problem.

Original symptom was a vibration under load at about 2krpm, and fuel consumption seemed to increase (struggled to get above 50mpg even when treating it very nicely on long cross country runs - in the past have had 64mpg). Eventually got Skoda UK involved and area technical manager, who finally diagnosed problem with dual mass flywheel.

More recently I've been getting what appears to be clutch slip, (and even worse economy!) usually in 3rd, 4th, and occasionally in 5th & 6th from about 2k rpm. Never happens in 1st or 2nd. Flywheel replacement was booked for today, but got a call to say I should keep courtesy car overnight, due to problem with slave cylinder.

I've done 25k in 18 months from new, mostly long trips (motorway and A roads), with the usual weekly town trips. My concern is that whatever has been happening has caused premature wear to the clutch, which as far as I know they don't intend to replace.

Does anyone have any advice on if I should push for a new clutch, on top of the flywheel replacement/slave cylinder fix?

Definitely would, even if you pay for the new clutch and they supply the labour foc.

Still have 18 months of warranty left, no mods, serviced by them, and have been telling them that there was a problem for the last 10k miles or so (that they couldn't find!). It just feels wrong to be paying for something that should last, and may have been damaged by a fault covered by warranty.

Clutch should last at least 25k shouldn't it?? My last one was still going strong at 76k (admittedly on a pug 106 diesel ).

Might given them a ring in the morning and find out exactly what the problem with the slave cylinder is. Could failing DM flywheel give the same effect as slipping clutch as described in my original post?

i'd push for getting it all free and under warranty,it's not something that should go after 25K,and look closely at the small print on Skoda's warranty the more you know about that the more ammo you have to throw back at them if they try it on.

if your not happy don't accept your car back until you are happy.

IIRC, there is a known problem with the slave cylinder and should be changed upnder warranty.

A few members have had this done already.

Strange, mine has developed the same vibration under load at 2k RPM. Really noticeable in 6th. Will be interested in finding out what it is.

Either that or I feel a single mass flywheel coming on

it is.

Either that or I feel a single mass flywheel coming on

Will that really improve a SDi that much

I think you will find that a dual mass flywheel comes complete with a new clutch.

IIRC, there is a known problem with the slave cylinder and should be changed upnder warranty.

It's the clutch master cylinder which has been modified and is being changed under warranty, Adrian.

Quizzed dealer this am, some bits hadn't arrived, so I'm stuck in an Octavia MPI for another day. Horrible, except I'm probably getting better fuel economy out of it than the TDI

Current state of play is; new DM flywheel, slave cylinder, clutch plate. Apparently whatever had been going on had worn the clutch prematurely. Theory was that flywheel problem had affected slave cylinder, causing release mechanism to not operate correctly, causing prob with clutch.

Can't comment on Ross's statement about new flywheel coming complete with new clutch. I'm no mechanic!

Should get it back tomorrow. I'll keep you posted on what they did and what performance afterwards is like.............just need to get remote key fob sorted now.....and no, its not the battery.

Got car back. Items listed as replaced were;

Flywheel

Slave Cylinder

Clutch Plate.

Picked car up at 5:30pm Thursday, drove 5 miles home.

Left for work at 7:15 Friday am, drove 65 miles to site in the middle of nowhere.

Set off again at 10am to go back to the office

Few miles later (total distance covered since collection = 75 miles), accelerating in 3rd on straight bit of country lane lost drive from N/S (I think), lots of noise and wobbling about (like I'd lost the tyre), dip clutch and pull over (very sharpish). Grease splatter all over engine bay. I'm not a mechanic, but mangled looking bits don't fill me with confidence.

Took 2.5 hrs to get recovered. Told them not to send a van, because it looked horrible. (Was asked if it was drivable by call centre operator, so I said I wasn't even prepared to try.) Patrolman said driveshaft looked pretty much jammed, so we just loaded it up.

Eventually got recovered to dealer (they did take me to dealer which had carried out the work, not the closest, which was good of them).

Looks like CV joint had come adrift. I have my suspicions that it wasn't put back together properly, or at all. All 6(?) bolts were protruding by about 30mm or so. Will now take until at least Tuesday to fix. :confused:

On the bright side, I'm still alive, and I'm counting my blessings that I wasn't in the outside lane of the motorway when it happened (Had spent at least 55 miles of journey on the motorway!!!).

I've also got a new octavia 2.0 140bhp to use until then. Its pretty good. Drives like its meant to, does 55mpg even when driving "normally" without even having to try, pulls like a train etc etc. Everything mine doesn't.

To be honest I'm dreading getting mine back now. Am now weighing up my options for tackling Skoda. :argue:

I would say its almost certain they didn't put it back together correctly.

Lee

Octy was due back today, but apparently they haven't got the torque settings for wheel end of driveshaft or something..... (only on 130BHP TDI.)

Queried them about poor fuel economy, considering that I can easily get 60mpg out of the 140BHP new octavia I'm using, on my normal commute (first done today, 64.5mpg). In my heap I can only manage 52mpg if I take it really easy and with climate control on econ. Was fed a story about the new 2.0 engine being completely new and improved, with much better economy, hence the difference. Just checked on skoda.co.uk and that appears not to be the case.

130bhp(estate)

urban 39.2

Extra U 61.4

Combined 51.4

140BHP (new hatchback)

urban 37.2

Extra U 56.5 !!

Combined 47.9

Getting more confused all the time.

Has anybody else got a 130BHP Elegance estate with any real world economy figures? Failing that, Fabia vRS figures, there must be lots of you, and some who take it easy occassionally

I've got a feeling that there's an underlying problem, but no way to prove anything.

Sounds like someone didnt tighten a drive shaft flange on the gearbox up to me, very poor show.

I'm no techie, but that could quite possibly be the cause. Are there approx 6 bolts on the flange? All the ones I could see were protruding (ie thread visible).

Do you have any thoughts on how serious the consequences could have been if the failure had happened at speed? Had done at least 50 miles at motorway speeds.....In one way I'm feeling pretty lucky. On the other hand I'm fuming.

You wouldnt be in any danger, just lost drive as you know, the driveshaft cant go anywhere just would bash about and create further damage.

Id make sure they check over the shaft properly.