Last year in May I had my clutch and flywheel changed on my 2015 Skoda Octavia MK3 2.0tdi. 5 months later in October the flywheel started making the dreaded rattling noise again. Got the whole kit  changed again under warranty. Come December and I had the same problem but this time the supplier refused to give me a replacement under warranty saying that he would have to send the part back to manufacturer to see why this was happening. I am still waiting to hear back. In the meantime I had no choice but to buy another clutch and flywheel kit and get the repair done and get back on the road again. I must add that I am a taxi driver and I do a fair bit of mileage but I am not a rough driver. My mechanic suggested in December that the problem could be related to a faulty gearbox. Taking his advice. I replaced the gearbox with another second hand one and changed the flywheel again. Unfortunately for me, the dreaded rattling noise has returned again. This basically means that the gearbox was not at fault and then I just wasted my money on it. The rattling noise is going to get worse to a point where I will not be able to stand it anymore and be forced into another expensive fix. I am at my tethers end at the moment as to what I should do now as I clearly cannot carry on spending this kind of money on the vehicle every few months. 

Can anyone with a similar experience or the expertise Please shed some light on this issue. I would love to know what is causing this problem so frequently.

My car has covered 267k but drives beautifully apart from this one problem. High mileage but very well maintained by me.

I look forward to hearing from someone.

Many thanks in advance

Sounds like you have a fault that is causing the flywheel to malfunction. To now you have replaced a part without fixing the source fault.

Thinking about it from an engineering point of view, an unbalanced rotation could cause it to fail (assuming you mean the dual mass bit). This could be caused by a blocked injector. Or a failing injector that is passing too much fuel. Also if not enough revs are used pulling away, this can premature fail a DMF.

I also wonder if there is a fault with the actuation system on the clutch. Pedal or hydraulics. Not disengaging the clutch fully so dragging?

 

This is all guess work I'm afraid. I'm sure someone with more specific knowledge will be along soon.

 

Hope you work it out as it sounds a bit of a nightmare.

I agree with MarkyG82. Possibly a misfire - injector, low compression on 1 or 2 cylinders, excessive crankshaft endfloat or maybe worn engine mounts.

I wouldn’t discount the gearbox as you don’t know for sure that the second hand box hasn’t got the same issue as your old one, I’m guessing an input shaft problem.

Maybe the replacement flywheels all have the same manufacturing defect if they are all the same make/supplier.

Sorry not much help

Thank you for the feedback guys. Really appreciate your time. Since you've both (MarkyG82 and classic) have mentioned  possible injector issue (No idea how these are connected), I will get mechanic to look into this. All the kits were LUK so could well be a manufacturing fault. Difficult to get hold of Sachs kit. 

 

Would a solid flywheel be a better option? Not sure they're available for my vehicle.

17 hours ago, aliman22 said:

Thank you for the feedback guys. Really appreciate your time. Since you've both (MarkyG82 and classic) have mentioned  possible injector issue (No idea how these are connected), I will get mechanic to look into this. All the kits were LUK so could well be a manufacturing fault. Difficult to get hold of Sachs kit. 

 

Would a solid flywheel be a better option? Not sure they're available for my vehicle.

If any of the injectors are leaking or injecting more or less than the others it will cause an imbalance between power strokes of the different cylinders which could cause uneven loads through the flywheel. Really your mechanic needs to go right back to basics checking compressions and the injectors, and probably the engine mountings and crankshaft pulley and if there’s excessive endfloat on the crank. The problem is at such high mileage it will be worn here and there…..

Im not sure but I don’t think there is a single mass flywheel conversion for the 2.0 tdi.

Edited 10 February, 20233 yr by classic

Thank you so much for that very informative reply. I will relay everything over to my mechanic and getting to check everything thoroughly. Many thanks for your time again

4 minutes ago, aliman22 said:

Thank you so much for that very informative reply. I will relay everything over to my mechanic and getting to check everything thoroughly. Many thanks for your time again

Be gentle when you do relay the information, as it sucks sometimes being told how to do your job 🤝

 

p.s. I am ex taxi driver, so can speak truth there, best of luck with the car.

17 minutes ago, aliman22 said:

Thank you so much for that very informative reply. I will relay everything over to my mechanic and getting to check everything thoroughly. Many thanks for your time again

I hope you get it sorted, there has to be something wrong to knock out flywheels so quickly which is why I suspect the new flywheels or clutches themselves could be bad.

 

Edited 10 February, 20233 yr by classic

Do you know 100% that the rattling noise was indeed failure of the DMF flywheel each time?

 

Were the suspect units inspected and deemed to have failed?

 

In what way had they failed and how was it visible/measured?

 

I know that the latest generation of DMF's appear to be failed or faulty (by the measures of the past) as soon as you get them out of the box, I thought my new one was until I did some Googling and understood that the design had changed.

 

I understand that the noise goes away for a while after replacing the flywheel and I don't have a sugegstion as to what else it would be but am asking the question in case you or the mechanics have jumped to the wrong conclusion.

 

One possibility might be incorrect flywheel bolts and/or locating dowel(s) missing, I cant recall if my flywheel was dowelled but if the bolts used are not the correct fitted bolts movement will soon appear which will make a hell of a racket, it can sound like a broken crankshaft, I just can't see that a new DMF could fail so quickly unless they are made of cheese.

Edited 10 February, 20233 yr by J.R.

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

, I just can't see that a new DMF could fail so quickly unless they are made of cheese.

 

Or fitted incorrectly?