Clutch failed due to emissions test - Need help!

Looking for some advice on this matter. I own a 2013 Golf TDI (Manual) with only 30K miles on it. We just got the car from a VW dealership at the beginning of this year. My GF took the car into the emissions place (a place where we took our 2002 TDI Golf for like 6 years) and tried to have the emissions done. They were mid-way though the test and they said the whole car (Clutch) started to smoke so they shut down the test. They then came back they didn't want to finish the test and of course gave us a quote on how much a repair would be on the clutch ($1630).

Does this sound correct at all? I have seen a couple other posts about where a clutch could go out around 30K miles but doesn't seem right to me at all. I did a lot of the work on the old 2002 but I don't think this is something I want to do or even can do on my own.

Does an emissions test put that MUCH of a load on the car that it would burn out the clutch like that? We are just looking for answers or thoughts on the situation to see what we can do. At this point, the clutch will probably need to be replaced but the whole thing doesn't seem right.

I live in the Denver area (Aurora) and we took it to Chase Automotive. Looking for maybe someone in the Denver area for someone to take a look at it and give us a second opinion.

I passed on the warranty at the dealership but now it seems that was a mistake. But I was thinking I am able to do most of the work on the car and it's only got 28K on it... what could really go wrong?

Any suggestions would be great!

Maybe this is no help, but I believe you may want to talk to a lawyer. Based on my knowledge of CO testing from a friend from there who has an older tdi, the mechanic’s dynamometer-like test might have messed it up.


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Ps: I recently bought a 2014 golf tdi with around the mileage you had. The clutch is fine. I also have a 2003 Polo 1.4 tdi overseas and the clutch has been going strong for almost 60k mi now since 2015 (it’s driven by my father-in-law almost daily).


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Ouch. Sounds like they had it in the wrong gear or too much load on the dyno. If it makes you feel better, I don't think the warranty would have covered a clutch.

Wow, I never thought a dyno load could be so significant as to smoke a clutch. I've had manual trannies in SoCal for decades and never had an emissions test damage a clutch.

VW clutches/manual transmissions are really solid, I've put on over 160k miles on two different vehicles (Scirocco and Passat) and never changed the clutch plates.

Something was definitely not set right. Hope the emissions place is willing to work with you.

Rough deal, sounds like operator error on their end more than anything, if there was visible smoke from the clutch it was heavily abused. We've done many hundreds of dyno pulls on one of our manual test cars and it's under MUCH more stress than your car ever should be on a dyno. Typically run in 5th wide open from around 1500 with nearly 100lb-ft more than stock, still on the original clutch somehow (with ~100k miles and a terrible amount of abuse).

A clutch likes to be either fully engaged or fully disengaged and if you linger between the 2 it can get burned up rather quickly. It sure sound like the tester might have not understood this and slipped the clutch. On a non modified TDI, there is no way a Dyno could cause a health clutch to slip if the clutch was operated properly.

Is it possible you or your G/F are really bad at driving a stick and slip the clutch a lot? Is it possible that the previous owner damaged the clutch? The clutch could have been almost done when you bought the car. It would be useful to observe how the tester operates a clutch.

Driving style has a lot to do with how long a clutch lasts. A kid posted here that he bought a brand new car and had completely fried the clutch driving his new car home, something like 20 miles. I guess he thought that if you just slip the clutch, you don't have to shift.

Ol'Rattler said:

A clutch likes to be either fully engaged or fully disengaged and if you linger between the 2 it can get burned up rather quickly. It sure sound like the tester might have not understood this and slipped the clutch. On a non modified TDI, there is no way a Dyno could cause a health clutch to slip if the clutch was operated properly.
Is it possible you or your G/F are really bad at driving a stick and slip the clutch a lot? Is it possible that the previous owner damaged the clutch? The clutch could have been almost done when you bought the car. It would be useful to observe how the tester operates a clutch.
Driving style has a lot to do with how long a clutch lasts. A kid posted here that he bought a brand new car and had completely fried the clutch driving his new car home, something like 20 miles. I guess he thought that if you just slip the clutch, you don't have to shift.

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+1

I worked a trade for a truck by replacing a clutch on a Ford Focus. Before starting work I noticed the odo said the Focus only had 30k. So yes, someone can fry a clutch in 30k miles. Could've been the previous owner.

Although many other things could have played a role in the clutch's demise. If the dyno brakes were on or it was programmed load for the 4 ton diesel dually that was just tested and the tester mistook it as the car having trouble rolling the drums, that could've fried it. Also, if they are riding the clutch (resting their left foot on the pedal while testing) that will destroy a clutch in a matter of minutes as well.

Are you sure about the health of the clutch before taking it in? Did it have any slip when you drove it home or did it engage solid without issue? I had a car that when put under load the rpms would climb but the speedo would not, clutch fully engaged. But that was a POS Chevy Beretta with half a million miles on it and I knew the clutch was wore.

Best of luck in whatever you decide. Not sure $1600 is a good price for clutch replacement. I actually paid a shop to change that clutch on the Focus only $600 and it came with a warranty. May want to "shop" around before forking out that kind of cash.

That's got to be operator error. I'd get them to replace the clutch for free. If they refuse, have it replaced at another shop and take them to court for payment. This is why I don't like to let anyone drive my manual transmission cars. There are more people out there who don't know how to drive manuals these days than there are people who do know.

I'd probably have the clutch and flywheel replaced, partly because you don't know if the flywheel was damaged, and also because the flywheel will probably show evidence of abuse and you'll need it to prove the shop was at fault. Clutch kit with flywheel for that car is about $1,000, labor is probably $800 or so.

First off, wanted to say thanks for all the responses, they were all great and all had good info.

We took it to another place that works on VW's (Actually got our 2002 golf TDI clutch done there) and he drove it around. He said it didn't feel like it was slipping at all and felt decent for what it had been through. He said just to drive it as usual and let that glaze wear off and it should be back to pretty much normal by then.

I am in agreement with most of you that it was user error somehow. It is a stick and seems like these days nobody knows how to drive them! I would way we are both pretty good at driving sticks after around 25 years of driving them. We had 333K on our last stick shift Golf with no issues on the clutch (After it was replaced right when we got it). I think we put around 160K on that clutch.

As for the condition of the clutch before we brought it in, it's hard to say. I mean I did not notice any issue with it at all but that doesn't mean too much. It could have been abused for sure and I guess we might see when we take it in again to do the emissions again at another place.

I know a couple of you guys suggested putting some pressure on the guys but I think it's going to be really hard to prove anything at this point. Sure I would love a free clutch out of all this... but it's our word against theirs... and I wasn't ever there at the time it happened (GF took the car in).

Thanks for all the responses again and anyone else is welcome to chime in as well.

I don't know how much stock I'd take in the advice to let the glaze wear off. My understanding is it will just worsen over time, progressively slipping more and more until failure.

As turbobrick pointed out, an extended warranty would have classified this as abuse and/or wear and tear. Either way, it wouldn't have been covered so nothing lost there...small consolation, though.

When there are a few hands in the pot, the considerate path forward is for everyone to share some of the cost. Could be you buying parts and them supplying labor, or splitting labor and parts at cost, not necessarily beating on them for a free clutch replacement parts and labor. Mainly depends on how much they value you as a customer before they'd be willing to eat any costs or how much responsibility each party thinks they or everyone else has given the unknown condition of the clutch...or how convincing an attorney can be in a letter.

The lawyer advice is certainly laughable. So you make a lawyer a little richer and come away with nothing. The burden of proof would be impossible to prove.

My inclination would be to go back to the shop and observe while the tech runs the test or just go to a shop were the tech knows how to drive a stick.

When reading the first post, my first thought was "Maybe the smoke is not the clutch."

Did they have fans set up to cool the car while it's running on the dyno? Maybe without air-flow, something else heated up, like the exhaust manifold, turbo, catalytic converter. Maybe there was some oil on one of those parts and it got hot enough to cook it off and make some smoke.

The fact that you took it to another shop, and they can't make the clutch slip kind of supports the idea that it was something else.

Get a flashlight and look around for any signs of oil that might be leaking onto things that get hot. During normal driving, with lots of air-flow, that sort of thing could easily go unnoticed.

I managed to make the clutch in my Mk IV smoke when it was still fairly new. It stank for a week, but it’s been holding up ok now for more than 200,000 km after that incident. A couple of times it has slipped badly for several days but always recovered. Thanks to Kerma I can make it slip if I try hard in 5th. I think you will be ok.

At least now you can drive it away from the shop with the dyno. I like the advice about observing how the shop did the test, if the tech who did it is still there. At this point, if it ain't broke, no need to fix it.

Thankfully we no longer have these types of tests here, but when we did, the number of fried clutches that those minimum wage operators caused was staggering. Some facilities, only one person "knew" how to drive a manual transmission car, and they were often not very good. My sister waited in line once for half an hour, only to have them tell her nobody was there to drive her car, she'd have to come back later.

flashmayo said:

....if it ain't broke, no need to fix it.

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incorrect. if it ain't broke, fix it until it is!