Mavota

I have a subtle rattle somewhere in the area of the passenger door. I find it most noticeable when doing about 25-30mph on a relatively smooth road. I sometimes think it is more noticeable when I have a passenger, but that may just be me being more self-conscious about it. It is not at all consistent, and when I have taken a mechanic out in the car, they haven't been able to hear a thing. I don't have the expertise to start taking bodywork apart, so I just put up with it.

I meant to post an update about this ages ago. In the end, they installed a brand new engine and turbo. The total cost was about £10k. The warranty company agreed to pay the full £5k despite the new clutch (I suspect the dealership suppressed that information for me). The dealership paid £2k. Volkswagen contributed another £2k. So that left me with £1k to pay. I’ve still got the car, and it has been going well since. I would normally replace a car after about 3 years, but I love driving my golf, and I can’t see anything on the market which would give me as much pleasure. So my plan is to keep it until it blows up again! One thing I have wondered about is what effect having a 2023 engine in a 2017 car has on the value – good, bad, indifferent?

Ok, one thing I’d like you guys’ thoughts on. How long after the crank thrust washer fails does it take for the circulating oil to bugger up the engine? Long story short: When my car broke down last month I turned it off immediately. I believe that was the moment the crank thrust washer broke (I was feathering the clutch and then bam, something went wrong). Nobody drove the car again until after it had been to an approved VW dealership. They said there was nothing obviously wrong with the car, and released it back to me as safe to drive. I’m thinking the engine block would not have been harmed if VW had not told me it was fine to drive…?

Sadly, yes. 😢

Greg – Yea, on the other thread Growmac recommended I get the Rear Main Seal replaced while I had the car in. Too late unfortunately. Is the Rear Main Seal the same thing as, or part of, the Crank Thrust Washer? Andrew – Thanks for the info and links. I noticed in one of the threads that VW revised the thrust bearing in December 2017 – my car is January 2017. Do you have any idea how I might go about getting independent engineering advice and inspection? One of the threads is about “Crank Walk” and a potential class action. Is crank walk related to the crank thrust washer? From the stats in that thread it looks like cars with upgraded clutches are far more likely to have the issue. Probably not great news for me. Lesson learnt for me: I don’t know enough about cars to get non-standard parts fitted. Next time I have an issue with a car that can’t be fixed with OEM parts, I should sell the car and get a new one.

Hi All, Last month I posted about my car break down and a potential flywheel issue: Well, the mechanics have finally got the engine opened up and it turns out the issue was my crank thrust washer (I’d never heard of it till today). It has split in two, with one half falling into the sump. Fragments of metal have come off into the oil and circulated round the engine. So the whole engine is F*CKED. I had a non-standard Sachs SRE clutch and pressure plate fitted last August, so VW think the warranty company will refuse to cover anything. Even if they do, the max on a used car warranty is apparently £5k. The cost to fix is expected to be £10k. Regards from a rather upset Mavota

When the car wouldn’t start a couple of weeks ago I paid £50 to get it lifted and taken to my mechanic. A few days later I realised it was under warranty (oops), so VW got it taken to the nearest dealership. After about a week they looked at it, got it started, but decided it might be a clutch issue given how stiff it was (they didn’t know it was an upgraded clutch at that time). I picked the car up last Thursday and nearly turned around straight after leaving the carpark because of the nasty noise it was making. On Monday I took it to my mechanic who drove it and hoked around for a while and said it was the flywheel. My mechanic wouldn’t be able to look at the car till April. Two of the three VW dealerships also wouldn’t be able to look at it till end of March or April. The remaining dealership had a slot next week. … So at this stage I just want the damn thing fixed so I can get my car back. From what yous are saying it sounds like VW could have a point about the upgraded clutch and potential extra stresses on the flywheel. I’ll have a chat with the dealer, but at this stage I’m semi-resigned to paying for the fixes myself. Though I’m not sure what driving style should have to do with warranty. Is there something in the small-print about driving sedately? @Growmac, noted about the Rear Main Seal. The mechanic’s assistant also said it sounded like a bearing was beginning to go, so I’ll get that looked at too. If these things are fixed what are the chances that the car will be trouble-free for a while, or are these the signs that it is going to start falling apart on me? I am due a new car, but I can’t find something I like. There aren’t many manual hot hatches around anymore it seems…

Thanks for the reply Andrew. The car is early 2017, and I bought it in June 2020, with a 3-year warranty. I should have mentioned that it is manual (I’m not sure whether that was obvious from my original post). I don’t have the paperwork with me, but I guess it had about 20k miles on it and now has about 40k. With hindsight I now know the clutch wasn’t right from the start, but it only gradually developed to a point where I was sure there was a problem. When I took the car back in 2022 I don’t think VW ever officially acknowledged there was a problem – at least not in writing. If you drove it like you would if you had a passenger it was fine. But if you accelerated hard (like I mean as hard as it is possible to go) and went up through the gears quickly it was very noticeable (to me). I do tend to push my cars quite hard. I like to think I’m not a maniac, but if I’m coming off a roundabout into a 70mph limit I’m going to give it some beans. I did take a mechanic out for a spin, and he told me to drive how I like to drive, and once he’d recovered from the trauma he told me I definitely needed an upgraded clutch. The guy in the VW dealership more or less told me the same thing, but it took a bit of work to get it out of him. When I got the new clutch I was horrified for the first few days (very stiff with tiny instant biting point), but then I got used to it, and for the past 5-6 months it has been epic. Loved it. The VW dealership which is doing the service next week is a different branch of the same company I originally bought the car off. It’s the same people who I went to last year. I might go somewhere else, but unless I want to be without a car for the next six weeks I have no other option. Nobody even has courtesy cars available. Luckily my work is lending me a van. As for now, do I wait till they’ve had a look at the car next week and then try to argue my case depending on what they find? My mechanic who fitted the clutch says there’s no chance it would have caused the flywheel to fail, but he would say that wouldn’t he?

Hi. Last year my clutch started slipping slightly. VW checked it out twice and said the car was fine “under normal driving conditions” and therefore they would not fix it. I asked what’s the point in having a Golf R if you don’t drive it hard sometimes? They said they could only offer me an OEM clutch. The guy at the dealership told me (off the record) that if it was him he’d go away and get an upgraded clutch, so that’s what I did. That was August 2022. A couple of weeks ago the car made a horrible noise as I was pulling very slowly out of my space in the morning. I turned it off, back on, still noise, off again, then couldn’t get it back on. Long story short, the car now drives but still makes a nasty noise – it sounds like a helicopter in 1st gear and reverse. I got the guy who fitted the clutch to have a look this morning and he thinks it is the flywheel, though the noise is very unusual, so there might be something else going on too. The car is under warranty with VW up until June this year. So I made an appointment with them and told them about the upgraded clutch. Initially the guy said that as long as the issue with the flywheel was not caused by the clutch, it would still be covered. Then he rang back to say he’d spoken to the VW warranty people and they said there was a 99% chance they’d reject any claim if it had an upgraded clutch installed. So, where do I stand? I’m guessing if I get the flywheel replaced I’ll end up with a bill of £1000+. It is especially frustrating because I feel the whole thing is caused by VW’s inability to provide a clutch capable of dealing with the engine’s power. Heh. Regards, Mavota p.s. FYI, I love driving, but I know very little about what's under the bonnet. I didn't even know what a flywheel was 3 weeks ago.

Thanks both. I’m very much a novice with this kind of thing, so I don’t think I would have noticed the one I linked to wasn’t a paddle clutch. I know it may be impossible to explain in words, but I wonder if you might elaborate about the “grabby” feel of a paddle clutch. I’m not aware of ever haven driven a car with one, so I don’t have any reference point. When it works, I do quite like the feel of the OEM clutch. But at the moment, the clutch often slips after changing gear (as I now know), so I have to let off for a second while it catches, and then put the foot down again. Talking of tuning, my colleague also thought I might benefit from a stage 1 tune. I’m not sure what the benefit would be. The main issue is the clutch, and once that is fixed, I think I will be happy with the car.

Hello People. Long story short = I need a new clutch – what should I get? A while ago, I asked about some revving issues I was having. I was advised that my issue was clutch-related, and that I shouldn’t get an OEM clutch replacement. See here: I went back to the VW dealer. Twice. Their conclusion was that the car is fine “under normal driving conditions”, i.e. if I don’t push it. I asked the dealer what the point of having a Golf R is if you don’t push it every so often! He shrugged as if to agree but said there wasn’t anything he could do. Given it doesn’t happen all the time, I was still wondering if I was imagining things. My boss has done a bit of rally driving, so I let him take it out for a spin, and he also didn’t seem convinced there was anything wrong… Another colleague who does a fair bit of car tinkering and drives an R32 asked me to take him out in it – he wanted me to drive so that I could recreate it. On the first push the revs did a subtle blip, but my colleague immediately picked up on it, “oh!” said he. The conclusion is that I’m not going mad, and you guys were right all along. My colleague suggested that for my “driving style” (apparently maniacal?), I should go for a 5 Paddle clutch, and he suggested this: https://progressiveparts.com/product/rts-performance-twin-friction-clutch-upgrade-kit-mk7-golf-r-gti-s3-tts-mk3-leon-cupra-mk3-octavia-vrs-rtstf-6006?utm_term=&utm_campaign=PP+-+Smart+Shopping+-+RTS+Performance&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=6631320648&hsa_cam=11460916760&hsa_grp=111527931749&hsa_ad=475183122152&hsa_src=u&hsa_tgt=pla-813435107738&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=Cj0KCQiAxc6PBhCEARIsAH8Hff1bn5FE4DHGetjSUqdZQsND_wfLivUpAH4hn1Wd36S4_MLEV8ThkmkaAtTWEALw_wcB There is a local workshop who should be able to order in the new clutch and fit it for me. Would you all agree that the above would be suitable, or would you suggest anything different? Thanks, Mavota

Ok, thanks. I had to do some googling to understand that. I guess I can just go back to the dealers, see what they say, then go from there. If I do end up getting a fancier clutch fitted, will that void the warranty?

Oh dear, that doesn’t sound good. Is it likely the dealer will replace the clutch under warranty? (I can’t remember exactly but I think it came with a 2 or 3-year warranty.) If I do need to pay for a replacement clutch how much is that likely to cost? Should I consider an upgraded clutch?

Hi All, I’m new here, and I just wanted to preface my post by saying that I don’t know much about the mechanics of cars – I just like driving them. So if I say something stupid, please bear with me! Anywho … I bought myself a Golf R (early 2017) manual a few months ago. I previously had a Focus ST which loved high revs, but with the Golf there seems to be a rev limiter which kicks in at 6500rpm. That is a tiny bit earlier than I would like it because the car still feels like it is flying at that stage. I can live with the rev limit thing, but I am having an issue when I change up gear quickly. I’m not sure exactly what is happening, but it seems when I push to about 6450rpm and then change gear before the revs drop below 6000rpm, then the revs get stuck in the 6000s and even go beyond the 6500rpm limiter. It feels as though I haven’t even changed gear, and for a second or two the little gear change thing on the dashboard seems to get confused. It happens most often going from 3rd to 4th, but I think one time I had it stuck all the way from 2nd up to 5th. That time the revs got really high (I didn’t get a look at how high), and the torque seemed low. The revs don’t fix themselves till I do a slightly slower gear change. Is this normal for a Golf R? Is there something wrong with the car, or the way I’m driving it? Regards, Mavota