Stock Clutch Confusion/Fear

[bsuto1]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the GTI world as of last Saturday. Long story, but the short of it is that I bought a 2015 GTI 6MT used from a Subaru dealership. Everything looked and felt great on the car, except on the way home I noticed a burning smell and thought it could possibly be the clutch, except the engagement and function felt fine. The next day, I was about an hour into a drive and it suddenly became harder to shift through the gears, and then the clutch pedal stuck to the floor to the point I had to lift it manually with my foot, and was engaging all the way at the floor as well, unable to get into any gear. It got towed home, and was relatively driveable the next day, although there was a sound I thought to be TOB when letting out the clutch, and otherwise didn't feel great.

After arguing with the dealer I bought it from for a bit, I agreed to have it towed back there to have them take a look at it. Of course, the next day I got the call that "everything is fine nothing is wrong". They drove it 30 miles and claimed they made no changes or repairs, didn't even try bleeding it, supposedly it just felt normal. Interesting.

The real confusion came when I picked it up. In a car that has a notoriously light clutch, I went to put my foot down and immediately noticed that it was extremely stiff and took about 8x the amount of force to get the pedal down compared to the day before when it was dropped off. Magically? And it also functions "fine" now and is surprisingly consistent, but is extremely stiff.

Here are my 2 questions: 1. Can we confirm that this can't happen overnight? The function of the clutch being fine and the feel being extremely heavy, without anything being touched? I already checked to see if someone took the assist spring out or something like that but nothing. But what could they have possibly done to make that change happen? I can't believe it's "nothing".
And 2. Should I fear the worst? I know the original symptom that got it towed might point to a crank walk issue, but I really don't want to believe that a car I bought last week needs a new engine, especially considering it's a '15 and is just outside of the window for warranty (signed the evil As Is disclaimer). Hope that's not the case, but I know I might not get the most comforting responses. Maybe just a TOB like I originally suspected?

Thanks in advance.

 

[EpicTech]

That sucks. Personally, I wouldn't trust a Subaru dealer to work on a VAG car. It's obvious something is up with your clutch, maybe a leaking bleeder block, bad TOB, clutch disc itself.. who knows? For a little reference, I taught a good friend stick shift in my car, he got a little scared once on a hill at a light and gave a little too much throttle before easing the clutch out. The car jerked and he freaked and basically clutch kicked it to keep from stalling or rolling back into the cars behind us. We smelled clutch bad and he said the pedal felt weird. I confirmed that and was a bit nervous that he cooked my clutch, but after several days of normal driving, the issue went away and has been fine. Your issue is more extreme of course, with the pedal going to the floor and what not. If I were you, I would find a good VAG only Independent shop. I am of course assuming you checked the fluid resorvoir and it is at the appropriate level. If it is, proceed forward with locating a shop. Expect bleeder block, TOB, clutch disc, something along those lines.

 

[sterkrazzy]

I had an issue with my car where the pedal feel would get lighter, not heavier, so the opposite problem you're having. It would happen mid drive or sometimes even at startup. It was very obvious the resistance on the pedal had changed whenever it happened. The pressure plate ended up having some bent forks so it was weakened. That then caused the flywheel to sit loose and it eventually slapped my bell housing a couple times. I'm lucky it didn't blow it open.

Could be something like the pressure plate, or the TOB, or some combination of things that have gone bad.

 

[bsuto1]

That sucks. Personally, I wouldn't trust a Subaru dealer to work on a VAG car. It's obvious something is up with your clutch, maybe a leaking bleeder block, bad TOB, clutch disc itself.. who knows? For a little reference, I taught a good friend stick shift in my car, he got a little scared once on a hill at a light and gave a little too much throttle before easing the clutch out. The car jerked and he freaked and basically clutch kicked it to keep from stalling or rolling back into the cars behind us. We smelled clutch bad and he said the pedal felt weird. I confirmed that and was a bit nervous that he cooked my clutch, but after several days of normal driving, the issue went away and has been fine. Your issue is more extreme of course, with the pedal going to the floor and what not. If I were you, I would find a good VAG only Independent shop. I am of course assuming you checked the fluid resorvoir and it is at the appropriate level. If it is, proceed forward with locating a shop. Expect bleeder block, TOB, clutch disc, something along those lines.

Yep, that's what I'm thinking. Fluid was topped off when I checked, just bled it and there was no air in the line, although the fluid was pretty old in there. I think my only option is deal with being heavy for now and wait until something happens, then I guess prepare for new everything, disc pressure plate, tob, maybe flywheel too? We'll see what happens. For now I'll be blowing out my left knee...

 

[EpicTech]

I would fix it, if money is tight you can get parts on a payment plan. I would worry about with whatever is bad now screwing something else up if you wait.

EDIT: get the issue properly diagnosed first, so you at least know what you are looking at.

 

[bsuto1]

Very true. I'm leaning towards getting a pro opinion, and more than likely just doing a new clutch next weekend. If nothing else just for my peace of mind, since whatever the problem is I'm sure has done no favors to other clutch components in the process. In case anyone else is having a similar issue I'll update the thread with what is found.

The biggest thing now is trying to stay sane wondering how a clutch could change completely overnight like it did, with the service techs at the dealer saying they didn't touch it. Might never figure that one out...

 

[GTIfan99]

Return that car if you can.

This can be a symptom of crank walk. Any EPC or CELs?

 

[bsuto1]

Return that car if you can.

This can be a symptom of crank walk. Any EPC or CELs?

That's one of my fears big fears, although the other symptoms don't necessarily point to it. Honestly wish I could return but of course the dealer won't entertain it. No EPC or CEL (yet), and otherwise seems to run well. Tried the hard right turn test, and check for movement looking at the pulley and couldn't see anything. Fingers crossed it's only clutch related

 

[GTIfan99]

That's one of my fears big fears, although the other symptoms don't necessarily point to it. Honestly wish I could return but of course the dealer won't entertain it. No EPC or CEL (yet), and otherwise seems to run well. Tried the hard right turn test, and check for movement looking at the pulley and couldn't see anything. Fingers crossed it's only clutch related

I'm crossing fingers for you, brother. Hopefully TO bearing, slave cylinder or clutch.

 

[miikez.]

Maybe they resurfaced the flywheel?

My sachs clutch started recently slipping and the other night I barely made it home. During that drive home I had a lot of the same symptoms you had. It’s been parked in my garage since and I ended up just ordering a new clutch kit that will be going in next week. To me it sounds like you’re going to need a new clutch soon and I wouldn’t risk driving on it until you get it properly diagnosed.

 

[bsuto1]

For anyone interested, I replaced the clutch, flywheel and throwout bearing this past weekend. Here's what I found:

All of the friction material on the PP side had completely gone and the rivets were wearing a deep groove into the pressure plate. When I took the starter off I noticed it right away: a bunch of black, furry, metallic shavings (remains of the clutch) that took hours to clean out of everywhere in the bell housing. Definitely where the smell was coming from, and of course the clutch being shot describes my symptoms. I just can't believe it was sort-of driving until recently, only started slipping under power right before I replaced it (with the heavy pedal). Never seen anything like this, and definitely still beyond annoyed with the dealer but at least there's a new OEM clutch in there and feels great now.