Hi, My 1.6tdi has done 143000 miles on the original clutch.

Should i change it out as a precaution?

Do these things have a shelf life, say like a cam belt or should i just wait until it starts slipping?

It shows no signs of wear and the bite point is about half way up the travel.

I don't want to be broken down somewhere.

I would leave it until it starts playing up or acting differently

7 hours ago, adg1 said:

Should i change it out as a precaution?

No, just do it when it fails. It will probably last a while longer yet

7 hours ago, adg1 said:

should i just wait until it starts slipping?

I would do this

You would only really do it as a precaution if you had the gearbox off for some other reason.

ok cheers all... i'll hang on.

I use the car for european hols and didn't want it packing up then.

Clutches rarely fail without some warning beforehand. Often once they show the first sign of slipping you might get another 10K out of it if you are careful

You will get warnings of the clutch failing. You can eke the life out by driving carefully.If you are towing a caravan then your priorities might be different . I ran a Passat Diesel and an Octavia diesel to similar mileages with no clutch problems.