3 Dual Mass Flywheel failures

ATR

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Location
Baltimore
TDI
2011 Golf TDI 6MT
I dunno, it's pretty hard to miss from my experience. I never had DMF shudder at stage 2 but the day I went 3.5 I had it happen on the way home from the shop. I can definitely feel the car shaking and if I'm watching the tach I can see it doesn't climb smoothly while it's happening. It was bad enough that I thought "that can't be good for the car, don't make it happen again" and I've been driving around the issue since.

That said I agree with the other posters about the DSG tune. It's worth it even at stock power levels, if you've got any kind of increased power it's definitely something you should do.
Yeah, good point. I've personally not felt the shudder so I'm not really sure what exactly it feels like.
 

Mrkrinkle

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Location
Tacoma Washington
TDI
2010 JSW DSG
I believe I have found the culprit to the issue. The pilot bearing hadn't been replaced any of the times the flywheel had been changed. I have a buddy who works at the APR headquarters in Alabama as a tech. He explained to me they had this same issue with a gas 2.0L car and a couple failed flywheels. Car ran great with the tune for around 20K miles and then the factory DMF failed. Shop replaced it with a LUK, failed again causing catastrophic failure to the transmission. It was diagnosed to be the pilot bearing as the issue causing the failures.

Hopefully this means I'm not footing the $9,000 bill now.
 

ATR

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Location
Baltimore
TDI
2011 Golf TDI 6MT
I believe I have found the culprit to the issue. The pilot bearing hadn't been replaced any of the times the flywheel had been changed. I have a buddy who works at the APR headquarters in Alabama as a tech. He explained to me they had this same issue with a gas 2.0L car and a couple failed flywheels. Car ran great with the tune for around 20K miles and then the factory DMF failed. Shop replaced it with a LUK, failed again causing catastrophic failure to the transmission. It was diagnosed to be the pilot bearing as the issue causing the failures.

Hopefully this means I'm not footing the $9,000 bill now.
See if you can get the details in writing to present to the shop.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
I just spoke with one of our gurus about this. The told me that not all DSG cars have pilot bearings. And he's only seen one in poor condition, and it was from a previous botched DSG flywheel replacement. He also said they are very difficult to remove.
 

GCBUG00

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2013
Location
Hartsville SC
TDI
2000 Beetle
OK, pilot bearing. Is there damage to the shaft that it supports or guides? It looks like it might be a needle bearing. If its trashed, surface on shaft should be messed up.

I have Z E R O DSG experience. But the damage in your DMF pic's is looking like engine to trans misalignment flexed that plate to failure, cracking. Same damage scenario each time? The splines in the hub, the profile, is is washed out? throwing a burr on the tooth flanks? both dowel sleeves in place? trans dowel holes OK, not shaved and sloppy? Did I say I have Z E R O DSG experience, still true.

Does true complete engine rotation exist in this pilot like a conventional manual trans during release or is the only rotation a back and forth motion as the DMF is allowing a few degrees of movement?
 
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Mrkrinkle

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Location
Tacoma Washington
TDI
2010 JSW DSG
Update time..

So upon much debate and coming to terms with possibly the ****tiest situation ever with a vehicle, I gave VW the go ahead to fix the car.. Considering the car is valued at around 7K and my loan buyout is at $6500 I figured the best path was to fix the car.. Why? Just having VW put the broken car back together would have been $2000 plus the loaner car at around $400.. Then I buy the loan off and deal with having to part the car out, we're at $9K, pretty much on par with just having it fixed. I pick it up either Monday or Tuesday, hand them $8500 and hopefully have a well running JSW back. I have consulted a lawyer recommended by a friend and they have told me I'm pretty much set on a win if I choose to sue. I have the original invoice which lists no pilot bearing on it and have VW claiming that was the culprit and willing to put it in writing. Wish me luck..
 

calimustang

Veteran Member
Joined
May 17, 2010
Location
Central FL
TDI
2011 JSW DSG (buyback, RIP), 2014 JSW TDI, 2015 Passat TDI, 2013 Jetta TDI.
Wow! good luck dude... I'm hearing impaired and I don't hear well but after hearing your video, WOW! I can hear it! :( I will be praying for you.
 

RAHRAH

Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2018
Location
Hellnr AR
TDI
2013 JETTA Premium TDI DSG
Sorry to revive such an old thread but it is still interesting. Was this caused by letting the DMF go unrepaired for too long and cause the bearing to fail?
 
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