Help: Clutch gone bad?

Before I begin, admittedly, I'm not much of a car guy, I don't know that much about engines and such, but I do love to drive.

The other day, I dropped my girlfriend off for a quick errand, waited for her and after about 10 minutes, started the engine back up and I couldn't get it into gear.

Read a bit and thought it may be an issue with a bad slave cylinder; brought it into the dealer this morning and they said it's a bad clutch. It didn't seem to me like I was having any slipping, but I am in fact having problems shifting into any gear when idle. FYI car is at 50k, I don't drive crazy, a bit spirited sometimes, but that's it.

A couple questions now:

1) If a clutch goes bad, could I expect a hard failure like this, so suddenly? (I would have expected a couple signs along the way, like changes in pedal feel, or intermittent problems getting into/out of gear.)

2) If the clutch is in fact toast, would going with a better, aftermarket option affect my extended powertrain warranty?

3) They said they may need to replace the flywheel also for another $800 on top of the $1600 for the clutch. Is this generally expected, or are they trying to rake me in for more $$$?

Thanks for the help guys. Cheers!

1600 for the clutch and another 800 for a new flywheel? yeah, don't do that.

Let me put it this way... I went stage 1 and my clutch began to slip... I got a stage 3 southbend daily clutch for 1,500 + labor to install (bout 6 hours). The clutch includes a single mass flywheel, clutch, throw-out bearing, and pressure plate. I also had my rear-main seal done and an oil change... all for under what this dealership is quoting you for the clutch and flywheel. and the clutch is now good for 485 crank torque.

I'm not sure if clutches are known to go out the way your did. Mine just started to slip after stage 1 tune and I just got a new clutch after that.

If you're on level ground and you're trying to get the car in gear, with the clutch pedal depressed, does the car move? Try this with 1st and reverse. If you can't get into the gate, you may only need a shift linkage re-alignment. But if you get it into the gate, the car will move a bit when you try to get it into the gate without the clutch disengaged.

If you do need a new clutch, I can 100% endorse the HS Tuning RSR kit (which does not include the pressure plate). It's basically a TT-RS clutch, and as such feels like an OEM clutch. It will void some parts of your warranty having to do with the transmission and engine. It all depends on what the failure is. Crank walk? Not covered, since this has to do with the pressure plate (Note that this is NOT a common issue with the TSI). Timing chain skipped a tooth? Absolutely will be covered. This has nothing to do with the clutch.

GreyGti1990 said:

I'm not sure if clutches are known to go out the way your did. Mine just started to slip after stage 1 tune and I just got a new clutch after that.

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These clutches' pressure plate springs are known to crack and/or fall out of place with the PP housing. So it could indeed be a clutch failure not related to power.

XGC75 said:

These clutches' pressure plate springs are known to crack and/or fall out of place with the PP housing. So it could indeed be a clutch failure not related to power.

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Ah ok, geeze these stock clutches...

XGC75 said:

If you're on level ground and you're trying to get the car in gear, with the clutch pedal depressed, does the car move? Try this with 1st and reverse. If you can't get into the gate, you may only need a shift linkage re-alignment. But if you get it into the gate, the car will move a bit when you try to get it into the gate without the clutch disengaged.

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When on level ground, and I get it into gear, it doesn't seem like the cars moving while clutch is still depressed. I may have to try again and be more attentive. Raining right now, so I'll try later.

I should also probably mention that I just had my water pump replaced at this dealer a little over a week ago. Would any poor workmanship on the intake manifold area cause problems with the tranny/clutch?

Nope. Also, keep in mind the car movement will be pretty slow. Like barely 1mph slow. You might keep the door open while you do it to watch the ground move underneath you.

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Friend of mine who is something of a mechanic said if coolant leaked onto the tranny, it may cause problems?

Sorry for double post, but I just scheduled an appointment with another dealer nearby for a 2nd assessment.

Should I let them know that this is a 2nd assessment, or just let them go through their routine and see what they say?

If I start to get the feeling I'm getting BS'ed, would opening a case with VWoA hurt in anyway? Just getting a little worried/pissed that everything was fine until I brought it into this shop for a repair. Also, should probably mention that the tech working on it left two torx bolts off and I spotted it on the lip under the hood and flagged them on it. Just not a lot of confidence right now.

stock manual clutches are weakk on the mk6.

XGC75 said:

These clutches' pressure plate springs are known to crack and/or fall out of place with the PP housing. So it could indeed be a clutch failure not related to power.

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If this is what happened, would that fall under uncovered "wear and tear" or a defective, premature failure that could be covered under warranty?

They will blame wear and tear. If you're lucky they will cover partial cost, push for the powertrain warranty.

I've seen it covered by warranty before. 2/3 times though they claim wear and tear, which is covered until 12k miles.

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Alright, guess I'm kinda SOL then for the most part. Just wanted to know for sure before I bite the bullet. There goes my first paycheck on my new job after months of unemployment. *Cringe*

Thanks for all the feedback folks.

Same thing happened to mine, it was the pressure plate spring.. it was covered under warranty luckily ..

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