A friend mentioned this morning that his Yeti had started making a "clanking" noise. It was subsequently taken into the local main dealer and diagnosed with a faulty dual mass flywheel. The clutch also requires replacement and the total cost (parts & labour) amounts to £1600

The car is a 59 plate 2.0 CR TDi 4x4 SE and has covered just 35K miles. It is out of warranty by several months.

I'm somewhat shocked that the car requires such expense, after covering such a relatively low mileage. I'm aware that clutches can wear relatively quickly, but surely not the flywheel as well?

This has certainly made me think if I would wish to own such a car "out of warranty", given its apparent ability to land the owner with such a large bill.

Is this a common occurrence?

It might be down to the driving style of the owner, some people are heavy on clutches, riding them on a hill or at the traffic lights instead of using the handbrake etc, too many revs when manoeuvring and so on. It could just be unlucky.

Personally I have had no problem with the Yeti, or the Audi and Passat before that and they all have DMF's and all high mileage.

Baring in mind even a new Yeti (which holds it's value well) can lose several thousands of pounds in depreciation every year while under warranty it's not always such a clear argument for buying new to get cover.

In one year and 20k miles mine has lost about £4,000. That pays for a lot of repairs.

As said by James, the driving style of the owners and the conditions the car is used in can be quite important.

I realise operator error would always be suspected in such cases, but nevertheless was somewhat taken aback by the sheer magnitude of the cost.

DMF's have been known to fail or cause issues on VAG cars. Our previous 55 plate Octy II 2.0TDI PD used to judder in first when cold; a known DMF issue.

If the car has a full history I'd be looking to see if SUK would be up for a goodwill gesture.

TP

Yes, it does sound enormous. It's most likely labour, as modern cars are so tightly packed into the engine bay that relatively simple jobs like this turn into a major operation.

I can change the clutch on my SJ out in the road without a jack - four bolts for block to bellhousing, couple of gearbox mounts, and one end of the propshaft removed and slide the box rearwards on a crossmember

Dual mass flywheels supposedly do not like it when you gently lift the clutch to move off without throttle input (as you might when creeping in traffic jams). I understand that this has led to many premature failures. I don't know why they don't like it but I have heard of many such reports referring to this. Makes it a bit unfit for purpose I would say. A friend of mine has just had his DMF explode on his 12 month old Scirocco TDI. He was a 'creeper'. If anyone can lend some more credibility to this theory.......

Edited 20 March, 201313 yr by shrub

DMF's have been known to fail or cause issues on VAG cars. Our previous 55 plate Octy II 2.0TDI PD used to judder in first when cold; a known DMF issue.

If the car has a full history I'd be looking to see if SUK would be up for a goodwill gesture.

TP

I believe the owner plans to raise a case with Skoda customer services. To my knowledge they have owned at least 5 Skoda's (Octavia MK I & II, Superb and Yeti) and this is the first time they've suffered such a mechanical issue.

I'll update the thread accordingly.

I had to replace the DMF on my 2.0 Tdi DSG Octavia at around 90,000 miles. I had warranty with Warranty Direct and I had to contribute £300 from memory. The warranty direct contribution was about £1000.

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I had to replace the DMF on my 2.0 Tdi DSG Octavia at around 90,000 miles. I had warranty with Warranty Direct and I had to contribute £300 from memory. The warranty direct contribution was about £1000.

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I was under the impression that no warranty company covers Dmf??

This was and still is a big problem with 2nd Generation Rav 4.

Tony

I was under the impression that no warranty company covers Dmf??

No warranty company will cover diagnostics.

It wasn't excluded on my policy or they wouldn't have paid out. :lol:

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No warranty company will cover diagnostics.

It wasn't excluded on my policy or they wouldn't have paid out. :lol:

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Think it they haven't revised the policy it's worth for me getting one you never know can you on pm me details pls

Think it they haven't revised the policy it's worth for me getting one you never know can you on pm me details pls

Just google warranty direct.

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I believe the owner plans to raise a case with Skoda customer services. To my knowledge they have owned at least 5 Skoda's (Octavia MK I & II, Superb and Yeti) and this is the first time they've suffered such a mechanical issue.

I'll update the thread accordingly.

** UPDATE **

The owner of the car received a call this morning, informing him that Skoda intended to make a sizeable contribution to the total bill. I understand they are now facing a bill around £700, rather than the £1600 originally quoted.

It isn't clear if Skoda are contributing to the cost of the parts and/or labour. A good outcome nonetheless.

Seems fair to all.

Judging by the size of the contribution from Skoda, I'd imagine they're paying for the parts (DMF and clutch), rather than the labour??