Rear Main Seal

Jccatch

Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2018
Location
New York
TDI
05 Jetta TDI
Can a rear main seal leak cause a clutch to slip and make its shake during take off. 05 Jetta TDI I think it’s a very small rear seal leak. Doesn’t leak on floor but you can see oil residue between engine and transmission and I have been having this problem with 1st gear take off with car shaking. So was wondering if this would be the cause of all my problems
 

tactdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2010
Location
North Carolina
TDI
2005.5 Jetta
Yes, the leak can/will soak the clutch plate, and cause slipping. Not sure about the shake, that could be from a faulty DMF. When my RMS leaked, the clutch worked fine for take-offs and driving around town. When accelerating in a high gear on the highway, it would slip.
 

tactdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2010
Location
North Carolina
TDI
2005.5 Jetta
You can search other threads in the Forum about DMF failures.

The DMF is a two piece flywheel, with springs between the two pieces.
DMFs rattle (sounds like marbles in a can) when the springs get loose and the two halves start moving, which could lead to a shake during take-off.

You can convert the DMF to a solid flywheel and a different clutch and pressure plate. This setup has the springs in the clutch disk vs in the flywheel.
 

kcunniff

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2013
Location
Southwest Florida
TDI
2005 Golf GLS BEW (5spd)
For your consideration, a DMF allows things to be smooth at idle. A SMF will give you vibration, even if you use a heavier flywheel. The DMF is also a bit more forgiving, thus maybe increasing driveability, because it transfers power more smoothly from our torquey TDIs. Many prefer the SMF, but the powertrain was engineered with a DMF.
 
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