My Yeti got stuck in first gear and ended being towed to a garage. We have been advised that there is a problem with the clutch and the flywheel and until stripped down we’re not sure whether the gearbox is damaged as well? Does £1500 seem like a reasonable charge for replacing the clutch and flywheel? Any suggestions, advice or, worse case scenario, cheapest way of getting it off our hands? Thanks in advance. Keith

It sounds a very implausible diagnosis for the vehicle being stuck in first gear.

Assuming this is a manual gearbox, I agree with JR - faulty clutch/flywheel causing a selection problem with engine running - reasonable; Were you still unable to select neutral with engine stopped? 

Were there any clutch noises or vibration before?

 

It could be a Sachs pressure plate breaking up & chewing up the gearbox casing but any damage would be well away from the selector rails.

Did you have a clutch pedal? Any resistance when you put your foot down? I'd be reluctant to fork out for a clutch and flywheel for £1500 if you dont know if any damage to the gearbox...could pay that bill, then they say its £££ for the gearbox?

I had a dmf fail [twice] on a previous VW Touran. Prior to the replacement it sounded like a bag of spanners. In 2013 I was quoted £1200 for a main dealer dmf replacement, so the £1500 sounds correct.

 

Colin

Strange that captainbibbles has answered none of the questions.

On 11/03/2021 at 19:08, J.R. said:

Were there any clutch noises or vibration before?

 

It could be a Sachs pressure plate breaking up & chewing up the gearbox casing but any damage would be well away from the selector rails.

Hallo,

 

Captain Bibbles is my hubby. He’s not really a car person. He was just trying to help me out, while I was dealing with other problems related to not having the car. Yes, there was juddering especially when ‘feathering’ the clutch eg setting off up very steep hills. Also, there was grinding especially when trying to select 2nd gear. 

 

 

 

12 hours ago, Urrell said:

Strange that captainbibbles has answered none of the questions.

 

Hallo,

 

Captain Bibbles is my hubby. He’s not really a car person. He was just trying to help me out, while I was dealing with other problems related to not having the car. Sorry. The main driver in the family is now on the job. 

On 11/03/2021 at 19:04, Warrior193 said:

Assuming this is a manual gearbox, I agree with JR - faulty clutch/flywheel causing a selection problem with engine running - reasonable; Were you still unable to select neutral with engine stopped? 

Hallo,

 

Captain Bibbles is my hubby. He’s not really a car person. He was just trying to help me out, while I was dealing with other problems related to not having the car. It’s all a bit of a blur, but I believe I was able to get neutral with engine off. Also, managed to get 2nd with some excessive clutch pumping. 

On 12/03/2021 at 14:14, trickstargee said:

Did you have a clutch pedal? Any resistance when you put your foot down? I'd be reluctant to fork out for a clutch and flywheel for £1500 if you dont know if any damage to the gearbox...could pay that bill, then they say its £££ for the gearbox?

Hallo,

 

Captain Bibbles is my hubby. He’s not really a car person. He was just trying to help me out, while I was dealing with other problems related to not having the car. Sorry for the delay. There was no resistance when putting foot down on clutch. I am going to ask the garage to quote for the worst case scenario too, before I make any decisions. 

 

Hallo,

 

Has anybody out there had the clutch and flywheel (and also possibly gear box) replaced on a Yeti? If so, did you subsequently get a good bit more use and mileage from it? I think my Yeti’s engine at 86,000 miles should have a good bit of life left in it. Am I right? It’s a 2013 SE TDI. The 2ltr diesel with 2 wheel drive. 

Sorry. Think my last posting should have been a new topic. Newbie user. Doh!

Don't worry, we all have to start somewhere.  You can safely post just one thread about one car; readers get a picture of the whole 'problem' if it's useful.  And a single post to answer several replies is quite OK (and a lot quicker!), because we're all reading the same posts. 

 

I leave you to the experts... 

I would expect a new  clutch to be seen as routine maintenance, the wear and tear being linked to the type of life the car has had - mine came from London and has a dodgy clutch due to the amount of slow running, speed humps, congestion etc and dead arb links and bushes.

 

There's no reason why a well maintained 2l TDI shouldn't manage mileage you would expect from a Starship

Edited 14 March, 20215 yr by b1ackb1rd

Im not a mechanic or familiar too much with this particular engine, so just my disclaimer.

 

If you pump the clutch pedal do you get any resistance?

 

I know on certain vw group cars the clutch pedal can fail if you are lucky (in the sense of cheap repair).

 

Or it could well be the slave cylinder - not sure if its external on this engine? If so its cheaper to repair than if its internal, as that would mean gearbox off to fix and so extra labour time.

 

I understand its at a garage now, if you absolutely have to move it, dont forget to switch start stop OFF as you might burn starter motor out.

 

Experience similar on a passat - and burnt the starter motor out - but completely different engine.

 

Sure some techs/others with more experience may comment.

Hi Trickstargee

 

Think I’ve answered most of your questions in previous post, except that there was no resistance on the clutch pedal. I could easily push it right in to the carpet!

 

 

It sounds exactly like a failure of the clutch master cylinder, I recently had to replace mine, if there is no fluid loss( which would have triggered the brake warning light) then dont allow them to give you bull that the slave cylinder has gone & they need to remove the gerabox, replace the clutch, DMF etc that they all do before then charging the customer even more for replacing the master cylinder.

 

There is no pedal failure although many may be fed that line, its the master cylinder that fails, if I were a betting man I would say that your Yeti is diesel and one of the higher powered variants, 140 or 170hp and does a lot of urban driving.

Is £1500 reasonable?

 

Not if it is the master cylinder that now you have properly explained the problem I am convinced that it is, there is the possibility that it could be a fractured Sach clutch pressure plate but the pedal would not have returned and the clutch operated after pumping if it were that.

 

VAG cylinder & seal kit retail price £145.60

 

Add one hours labour plus brake fluid.

 

After fitting the VAG cylinder I bought an OEM one as a spare for €21.48 (£18.46) including tracked delivery.

 

Sounds like they have already decided that you are on the hook for a clutch, slave cylinder, DMF and maybe even a gearbox.

I could have got master and slave mixed up in my post above. Had similar issue with passat except no juddering or grinding noise - luckily it was the cheaper of the two options to fix.

 

I guess as the car is already at a garage you are reluctant to move again for a second opinion - (potential costs involved re moving of cars/recovery).

28 minutes ago, J.R. said:

It sounds exactly like a failure of the clutch master cylinder, I recently had to replace mine, if there is no fluid loss( which would have triggered the brake warning light) then dont allow them to give you bull that the slave cylinder has gone & they need to remove the gerabox, replace the clutch, DMF etc that they all do before then charging the customer even more for replacing the master cylinder.

 

There is no pedal failure although many may be fed that line, its the master cylinder that fails, if I were a betting man I would say that your Yeti is diesel and one of the higher powered variants, 140 or 170hp and does a lot of urban driving.

Good guess. It’s the 2ltr Turbo diesel. Until March last year, I was doing a good mix of urban and long distance driving which it seemed ideally suited for. With Covid the work I was doing that involves distance disappeared. So in the last year, it’s been much more urban driving, which may not have helped. 

The plastic master cylinder is right beside the DPF which is at 650°c + during regens, it also exceeds that under heavy acceleration with the higher powered TDi engines.

 

Mine seemed fine but was in fact a ticking time bomb, when I had it remapped to (allegedly) 184hp the clutch played up exactly as you describe on the drive home after only a couple of acceleration runs, I got home & bled the clutch & the fluid was black & full of sediment, within 2 days & after multiple bleeding sessions it had failed completely & I had to limp home without stopping, I can drive without a clutch but didn't want to start a diesel with DMF in gear, I doubt it would even allow me to.

 

An autopsy showed the displacement seal had completely disintegrated.

 

Even with the new cylinder I would have problems if I gave it the beans constantly, the odd overtake is OK but not sustained racing, the clutch often has free play at the top of the stroke that it shouldn't but will return to normal with actioning, its why I have the spare cylinder.