Broken Pressure Plate Retaining Spring

2012 Passat TDI with 97.5K (60.5 mi). Purchased used in October 2015 with 72K (44.7 mi).
I was having an intermittent ticking sound when I released the clutch. Sometimes it would last the whole drive to/from work, other times I could only get it to happen with the clutch 90% out, other times I couldn't reproduce it at all. Brought it to a local dealership for a recall (unrelated), so I had them check it out.
Here is what the technician recorded on the work order as the cause of failure.
“VERIFIED COMPLAINT. NOISE PINPOINT TEST REVEALED TICKING NOISE COMING FROM TRANSMISSION HOUSING ASSEMBLY. REMOVED TRANSMISSION TO FURTHER INSPECT. FOUND BROKEN PRESSURE PLATE RETAINING SPRING AND SHEARING THE INSIDE HOUSING OF THE TRANSMISSION CASING. WILL REQUIRE TRANSMISSION REPLACEMENT, CLUTCH / PRESSURE PLATE ASSEMBLY AND FLYWHEEL REPLACEMENT”
The kicker? VW claims that it's not covered under the 5 year /100km powertrain warranty, because it's a "non-lubricating" part. (They said it would have been covered under the 4 year / 80km warranty). To make things worse, the 3rd party warranty I purchased says they won't cover it either, for the same reason.
Does this make sense? Does this sound reasonable?
Thanks!
Chris

The failure makes perfect sense. A few have failed in this way including mine. The fact that they won't cover it is completely unreasonable in my opinion. They wouldn't cover mine at 50k miles. There is a trend happening with these failures and VW is more than happy to charge you big $ to fix it. I reused my transmission case if it helps. No issues at 100k. mine was deeply gouged. You may be able to save a lot of money if you can determine yours is usable as is. Here is a link with pictures
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=451651

Wow unbelievable. This happened to me right around 62000 miles. Exact same circumstance and same tell tale signs. ticking noise that would stop if clutch was pressed in. they tore it down and I had same failure you described with pics to prove it. fortunately for me they replaced the transmission on their dime I only had to pay labor. They also fixed my Adblue heater at the same time and they covered that as well. I hate seeing these stories.

Have you called VWOA and opened a case #. If not do that and hopefully someone will make it right for you. That's the route I took and it worked out for me.

Mine failed as well, after going back and forth with VWoA they covered half.

Subscribed.

Sorry for the delayed followup.

I called VW Canada Customer Care to let them about the issue and that I wasn't happy that it wasn't covered. They took all my information and said they'd get back to me. I called them several times over the next 2 weeks. Their reply was always that "We're looking into it and someone will contact you in the next 23-48 hours". After getting nowhere for 2 weeks, I sent a well crafted e-mail to the President of VW Canada and copied the head of VW Public Relations. I received a call from VW Canada the next day saying that they'd cover all the parts and labour, and my rental vehicle (4 weeks), and the 4 hours labour to diagnose the problem.

It pays to take detailed notes of who you contacted, when, and what they said, and to be persistent!


Chris

Chris,

That sounds like good but long awaited outcome.

Any chance you have a pic of the actual part problem. I think I know what it is but the pic would show the rest of the story.

Gary

Hi Mike,
Sorry for the late reply.
Unfortunately they didn't provide me with any pictures.
Chris

Same here, mines sitting in the driveway till buyback day

Worst case if it fails on you before buyback and is stuck engaged you can drive it back by starting it in gear with clutch in (car will start rolling with starter) the engine will catch and you can shift with no clutch using rpms and letting off throttle. If you have to completely stop at any point you'll have to shut it off and restart it. You can get to the dealer for buyback though lol

I'm coming up to 80K and i'm wondering if the Pressure Plate Retaining Spring is a replaceable part if caught early.

Is there a difference between the old part and the new part?

unixb0y said:

I'm coming up to 80K and i'm wondering if the Pressure Plate Retaining Spring is a replaceable part if caught early.
Is there a difference between the old part and the new part?

Click to expand...

Im 98 percent sure the new ones are the same but I haven't seen one in person. The NMS uses a special CSC release bearing with a plastic washer glued onto it for use with the pressure plate with bent down Springs.(these have the extra secondary spring that fails) I haven't seen a superceded release bearing for these cars without the spacer on it so my guess is the pressure plate will be same as stock. I upgraded to a performance clutch and others I have communicated with did a SMF conversion which I don't recommend from personal experience.

But yes you could upgrade your clutch to eliminate this problem. The performance clutches available use the release bearing that fits a jetta and a "normal" pressure plate. There's another thread somewhere with pictures of the situation

Mine just started doing the same thing. Parked until buyback...hopefully soon!

galligs said:

Mine just started doing the same thing. Parked until buyback...hopefully soon!

Click to expand...

How many miles?

43k on it...still parked and waiting. Sent in my notarized offer - hopefully I can schedule the buyback soon. It sucks to make payments on a car that is now sitting in my driveway covered in leaves. Done with VW for good after this!