Premature Clutch Wear

[Ghost39]

Hi,

New to this forum and just after any advice from anyone with similar experience.

Bought a 2018 Octavia VRS 245 from Skoda dealer several miles from my home, 14k on clock.

In the first month the battery kept going flat if the doors were open while cleaning etc or radio on without the engine on, had to jump it and booked it in to dealer much closer to home, not where I bought it from, as they said it would be under warranty and no need to go all the way back to where I bought it.

A couple of days before it went in the clutch pedal started sticking so told them when I dropped it off and they said they’d look at.

Battery replaced under warranty and clutch pedal had been lubricated.

A week later clutch pedal sticking again and was quite dangerous driving onto a roundabout without any drive!

Took it back to local dealer and was told £400 to strip it down and if it’s the clutch it’s £1k in total as it’s a consumable item and not covered under warranty. I have done less than 2000 miles in the 8 weeks I’ve had it. 
It’s currently in the dealers being stripped.

Anyone anything similar?

[shyVRS245]

My old Vrs245 did 29,000 miles with a manual gearbox and never had a problem with the clutch despite stage 2 and 336bhp plus 517nm of torque. It was a 2017 model and I owned it from new and it even did 2 track days. On a separate note back in 2015 my Superb Mk2 had a clutch fail at 11,000 miles and my local dealer got it replaced under warranty saving me more than £1,000. It was less than 12 months old and I explained I had never had a clutch fail in 32 years of driving and it must be a faulty component that caused the failure. Hope this helps with your claim.

[J.R.]

Consumable it may be but when a clutch lining wears it does not make the pedal stick and the vehicle lose all drive, they are trying it on.

 

However once they have taken you for £400 and having stripped down and immobilised your vehicle even if they pretend to try and get some goodwill gesture they will trot out the old standard line (no doubt on a shortcut key) that the clutch was 75% worn and make you a derisory offer of 25% towards the parts but not labour and thats if you have a good dealer and catch him on a good day.

 

I would get them to commit their response to writing, concentrate on finding out how to get the problem to manifest and then get an independant motor engineers report.

 

Oops, just read again, its being stripped, they have already got you by the balls.

[SurreyJohn]

A sticking pedal and the clutch lining are in different parts of the vehicle 

 

If the pedal has been sticking, it could be causing clutch to drag and wear, therefore wear might be a direct consequence of the faulty pedal.

 

Send email to dealer repairing the car to keep any worn parts, so they can show you. (You own the parts anyway), if they dispose of anything then virtually impossible to argue as evidence is all destroyed 

 

 

[Ecomatt]

If you have owned the car for only 8 weeks then you are covered under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. The expectation is that a car should be fit for purpose for at least 6 months. I would phone the dealer where you purchased from, explain what has gone on and how they are going to rectify it. Also quote the Consumer Rights Act if you get no where as it is law and they cannot dodge their liability to repair it. Dont let the garage you have taken it to do any work on the car else you will invalidate any claim you can make against the dealer you purchased it off. 

[numptie-boy]

Ridiculous that you should have any fault with the clutch at that low mileage. I replaced the clutch assembly recently on my 2015 2.0tdi due to a low bite point. The car has done 86k and the clutch that came out had minimal wear. The entire cost inc. labour was £380 and didn't take near the 5.5 hours stated. So don't let them swing you with all that nonsense.

 

As said above, get back to the supplying dealer and if they refuse to put it right, threaten with trading standards etc. You can always insist on returning the vehicle for a full refund I believe.

 

Good luck.

[varaderoguy]

I had a replacement clutch on my MY18 VRS at 31k miles. Its a known issue (look at any VW Golf forum). The clutches are not strong. The selling dealer paid half towards a new clutch on ours, so we only had to pay 400 odd quid. I would recommend DSG gearboxes for VRS/GTI's. 

 

Possible replacement of dual mass flywheel if that has been abused with drag starts. 

 

After market clutch kits probably recommend. Speak to a good local VW specialist who will be able to help and probably save yourself 200 quid. Depends on whether you want decent quality or whether replacement is done on price.

[James@RRG_Skoda_Rochdale]

The clutch pedal sticking would be an indication of a hydraulic system fault and not the clutch itself.

[James@RRG_Skoda_Rochdale]

There's a little, white plastic restrictor in the bleed assembly in front of the gearbox which is a known problem causer and folk often remove it. The result is a more responsive clutch pedal with a faster return speed. The manual golf, leon and S3 drivers have been doing it for a while.

[Ghost39]

Just picked up the car, clutch was replaced under warranty as a small oil leak found.

Great service from them as to be honest they could quite easily have taken me for a grand! 
Before I knew the result I spoke with the dealer I bought it from and the Manager told me to contact him before paying if they did try and charge me, so fills me with a bit of confidence that they’re not all out to rip us off.

Thanks all for your advice, I will be writing  to Skoda UK to complain about the defect on an “Approved” used Skoda, just in case there is an underlying issue that may reoccur in another 15k miles.

[DC04R]

Great result. you have to be fair to some dealers as on the flip side of the coin they might assume you'd remapped the car or messed with it, so many folk do so no it's fair to presume sometimes.

 

you just don't know if previous owner has put some dodgy map or similar on it!

 

Glad it got sorted anyway and sounds like a good dealer to stick with, to me.