Clutch and Dual Mass Flywheel--labor

My wife’s 2006 Jetta TDI which we bought it in November 2005 (does that make it 2005.5??) recently started making a huge but intermittent racket which our dealer says is the failure of the DMF. Says we ought to get a new clutch while they have everything apart. I bought a warranty and that will pay for the DMF. But they want some $700 for the new clutch including labor. I suspect that they probably had to cut their charges for the warranty company and are trying to pad the clutch part of the job. I know a little knowledge can be dangerous but it seems to me that once you take out the transmission and the flywheel, aren’t you looking right at the clutch and related parts (e.g., pressure plate)? OK a clutch may set me back some $$ (they say 400-some). But $250 labor when everything is already in pieces? Assuming their rate is $125/hr that's 2 hours labor. Seems like a lot of hours for stuff that is already dissembled. If their rate is less, it would be 3-plus hours! Sheesh! A knowledgeable mechanic ought to know if I am right or wrong.Or if I ought to bother replacing what they say is good clutch while they have it all apart?(How woudl they know it's good if they didn't disassemble it that far???)
Of course there is the problem of why the DMF failed—a popular topic here. Here we have only 72k on the car. In all my (considerable) years and our considerable stick-shift cars, I have never replaced a clutch let alone a flywheel. E.g., on her 1985 Jetta (gas), 3 consecutive Audi turbos (1992 2002q, 1994 S-4 [20 valve] and 2000 A-6, most of which logged well over 110k without a clutch or flywheel issue. And other cars, too. Is this German engineering at its finest? Or at its nadir? Is there a better flywheel (i.e. single mass) available in the VW system?
Car is in the shop so I don’t have much time. I am reachable directly at mcguirejwatnescapedotnet. Thanks!

Just got a SACHS SMF kit. I just wrote a post on it. Here my dealer works at $85/hr. My kit I got from dealer for $425cdn and it's the same SACHS complete kit (G60/VR6) that is sold on a well known parts dealer mentionned on this web site. No more warranty for me I have almost 110,000miles on my car. I stood there the whole time beside the mechanic. Clutch, pressure plate and bearing, yes can be done in 2-3 hours with an experienced mechanic. Since I'm very very particular with my cars and have always been, since all was apart and I want to keep the car for another 200-300,00miles, I had the rear main bearing seal replaced wich is another $125cdn. It was sweating more than I would expect. According to VW, the procedures to replace the seal using the special tool, is to remove the oil pan, install the seal, clean old ''silicone gasket'', put new silicone and re-install pan. Sounds scary but it was very straight forward and quick. Another hour+. As I said my dealer is GREAT, I stood there and I even read all procedures from VW's computer with the mechanic.

Total 4 hours !!

Now just love the feeling and will most probably be 200,000miles without talking about the clutch.

Good luck

Luc
Montreal, Canada

Maybe I missed it, but are you a manual trans or DSG trans? If manual don't bother with the factory DMF go SMF like the above memeber states. But if you have the DSG trans your stuck going DMF again. On a positive note there have been a couple revisions of the DMF and the newest as far as I know has had know failures as of yet. If it where my car and I had 70,000+ on the clock I'd go ahead and change the clutch as well if you plan on keeping the car, just my .02$. Good luck.

5-sp manual. No idea what DSG means. I'll try to go for a single-mass flywheel. But am I right or wrong that replacing the clutch shoulllllllllllld not add more than a couple minutes' labor to my flywheeel job?

mcguirejw said:

5-sp manual. No idea what DSG means. I'll try to go for a single-mass flywheel. But am I right or wrong that replacing the clutch shoulllllllllllld not add more than a couple minutes' labor to my flywheeel job?

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Clutch plate and disk HAS TO COME OFF to replace FLYWHEEL.There is no extra LABOR.
So you need to pay only for parts.So tell them I will pay parts only and that is it.

Thanks!

jetta said:

Clutch plate and disk HAS TO COME OFF to replace FLYWHEEL.There is no extra LABOR.

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Oh, come on!!! The mechanic needs to walk over to the parts department and carry the pressure plate and clutch disk to his workstation!!!!! (Then he has to carry the old used pressure plate and clutch disk to the disposal area in the shop...)

Yuri

YMMMMMMMMMMZ-
SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHeesssh. I forgot about that.

ymz said:

Oh, come on!!! The mechanic needs to walk over to the parts department and carry the pressure plate and clutch disk to his workstation!!!!! (Then he has to carry the old used pressure plate and clutch disk to the disposal area in the shop...)

Yuri

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That is why he wants 2 extra Hr.I forgot abut that!!!!!!!To much walking.