RobinPhillips
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2001
- TDI
- 2000 Jetta (drove it off the dealer's lot new in Nov 2000)
After 19 years and 590,000km (~365k miles) I finally have my first expensive wear item on my 2000 Jetta! For the last 2 years its been making a rattling noise when moving very slowly in gear but without a load (eg when creeping along in almost stationary traffic). Then whilst on vacation a couple of weeks ago I noticed the engine was vibrating more than usual at low rpm. This vibration gradually got worse over a few 1000km (I was doing my now near-annual skiing trip to Scandinavia (see here for the route if you're interested)) and on the final day for the run back home (the whole north-south length of Germany) it suddenly got dramatically worse to the point where I was worried I wasn't going to make it. The vibration was strong at low rpm but pretty much went away at highway cruising speeds.
Thanks to all the other posts on the "my car is vibrating" subject it is fairly clear this is the DMF failing. I'm just posting the above summary in case it helps someone else diagnose a similar issue. Now to my question:
I like the way the clutch behaves, I've been driving it for 19 years after all! So what clutch do I need to order to get the same thing again. The car engine is completely unmodified and I don't really care about the cost (within reason that isn't a factor - I win every day the car keeps driving compared to buying a new one, so I don't skimp on maintenance) but it isn't clear to me what the correct part number is and whether there is any difference at all between buying the VW part or the LUK 17-050 kit. It seems that 038105264E was the original VW kit number but this has since been superseded by 038105264J (according to idparts.com). I see 038105264J online for about $950 or €1050 (about the same price after accounting for sales tax differences between Europe & US). The LUK kit seems to be about half that price.
I gather from other posts that there were two different types of clutch in the early cars and that they switched sometime in 2000 (my car was built in July 2000 according to the label on the driver side door frame). As I understand it there was a diameter change on the flywheel between the two types. Does anyone know how to tell which one is in there and whether this is relevant for choosing a replacement. The sticker in the book says transmission code EBJ incase that helps?
So finally, my questions are: If I get the 038105264J is this really the same as I have in there now and is there any difference at all between buying from VW and the LUK 17-050?
I'm really interested to see what the clutch itself looks like after all this time - if it wasn't for the effort needed to extract the gearbox to get at it, I'd be tempted to leave it in there just to see how long it will last - but that of course makes no sense if the DMF needs replacing.
Thanks to all the other posts on the "my car is vibrating" subject it is fairly clear this is the DMF failing. I'm just posting the above summary in case it helps someone else diagnose a similar issue. Now to my question:
I like the way the clutch behaves, I've been driving it for 19 years after all! So what clutch do I need to order to get the same thing again. The car engine is completely unmodified and I don't really care about the cost (within reason that isn't a factor - I win every day the car keeps driving compared to buying a new one, so I don't skimp on maintenance) but it isn't clear to me what the correct part number is and whether there is any difference at all between buying the VW part or the LUK 17-050 kit. It seems that 038105264E was the original VW kit number but this has since been superseded by 038105264J (according to idparts.com). I see 038105264J online for about $950 or €1050 (about the same price after accounting for sales tax differences between Europe & US). The LUK kit seems to be about half that price.
I gather from other posts that there were two different types of clutch in the early cars and that they switched sometime in 2000 (my car was built in July 2000 according to the label on the driver side door frame). As I understand it there was a diameter change on the flywheel between the two types. Does anyone know how to tell which one is in there and whether this is relevant for choosing a replacement. The sticker in the book says transmission code EBJ incase that helps?
So finally, my questions are: If I get the 038105264J is this really the same as I have in there now and is there any difference at all between buying from VW and the LUK 17-050?
I'm really interested to see what the clutch itself looks like after all this time - if it wasn't for the effort needed to extract the gearbox to get at it, I'd be tempted to leave it in there just to see how long it will last - but that of course makes no sense if the DMF needs replacing.