Dual Mass Flywheel spline failure

My '06 Jetta w/DSG 02E had an unusual DMF failure at 162k mi. No warning, just no forward motion. It happened as it downshifted when I accelerated at about half throttle. The inner splines are completely gone! Metal shavings in the bell housing ares of the transaxle, pilot bearing was fine, the mating splines from the dual clutch assembly are fine.


What are the chances that the same compnay that heat treated the drive spines on the DMF, are the same guys that heat treat the BRM camshafts?

LOL - both are known issues. Not sure exactly what causes the flywheel, but the camshafts are typically caused by not using a 5w40 oil (they incorrectly spec’d a 5w30). And not replacing the oil at 5k intervals. Again incorrectly spec’d at dealers.

Just curious, How often did you replace DSG fluid?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Satsonic said:

LOL - both are known issues. Not sure exactly what causes the flywheel... Just curious, How often did you replace DSG fluid?

Click to expand...

The DMF splines are in the dry section of the trans.

Satsonic said:

LOL - both are known issues. Not sure exactly what causes the flywheel, but the camshafts are typically caused by not using a 5w40 oil (they incorrectly spec’d a 5w30). And not replacing the oil at 5k intervals. Again incorrectly spec’d at dealers.

Click to expand...

Quality Synthetic Diesel Oil can go for at least 10,000 miles OCI on a good TDI.


as for the root cause of the camshaft failure, there are various theories, like the downsizing of the cam lobes to make room for the injector lobes..of course, the use of 5~30W is a factor. this has been covered in many threads over and over.

I'm now sorry I included camshaft in my post... that one has been beat to death (just like my lobes and lifter buckets). It was kind of a cheap shot on the high failure rate in the BRM.

I was more commenting on my recent DMF spline failure. It looked like an OEM unit that the transmission shop removed. I wouldn't have suspected the splines to fail