Clutch slippage and Upgrade

Hello, I have 82,000 miles on my stock clutch. How many miles are they good for?
It slips intermittently. Started last week when I replaced the brake fluid. I have bled the clutch slave 3 times now. Seemed to help a little. It does not always slip, but sometimes it does. Any help would be great. And what clutch would be better? Stage I or 2? Thanks

I have Upsolute, .205 injectors, and cold air induction.

My stock clutch running a Stage 3 Tune did not slip at 205k miles when I replaced it. You say your clutch slips occasionally, did you possibly get brake fluid down in the bell housing by accident?

Hi, No, I am very careful using a vacuum bleeder. Yesterday I drove for 40 miles to an appointment, no slipping. On the way home it was slipping again in 3rd, 4th, and a little in 5th gear. It happens when I press the issue. What did you replace your clutch with? Stage 1 or 2? Thanks..

Check my sig: South Bend Daily Driver 2 Clutch assembly.
Is it possible any other oil has gotten in there, do you have any seepage around the vacuum pump?

mileage doesn't matter to a clutch, driver does

I wouldn't get anything but stock replacement or ceramic solid hub. You can get aftermarket uprated kits that bolt on, but they're hideously expensive compared to 7.25 ceramic stuff, and usually significantly less durable.

ETA: oftentimes brand new stock clutches will hold well above their rated torque, until they get hot and the friction coefficient drops, then they slip and then they glaze
I put a lot of abuse (5v at QA, pp764s and a 10mm pump, burning crystal clean) to a stock relined disc, on the stock pp and dmf, started slipping as soon as it wore in to almost full face contact.

Rrusse11 said:

I'd suggest that a key question here is whether you're running a
single or dual mass flywheel. Original DMF?, my bet's on that slipping
rather than the clutch plate. Or you've got a leak in your clutch hydraulics.

Click to expand...

hyd leak will not cause slippage unless disc is getting wet
DMF can not slip, only rattle
please understand systems before offering diag on them

I haven't had a luk DMF apart, but the sachs one that his 03 has would have to beat through two 1/4" thick steel drive lugs, 1" wide to even think of "slipping".
that's going to take a very long time ignoring some absolutely horrible noises the whole time

I think he's mistaking dmf shudder with slippage. On my golf (w/ Sachs clutch) I had clutch slippage and no dmf shudder. The disc was fine, but the pressure plate wasn't clamping strongly enough to hold the ~350 ft-lb of torque.

Your clutch shouldn't be slipping on a stock car with 82K on it. What exactly is it doing? If you try to accelerate in a higher gear and the tach climbs but the speedometer doesn't, that's slipping.

I've recently replaced two OE clutches in my own and my son's Golf TDIs. Mine had 250K on it, my son's had 330K. Both were still working fine, but were pretty much at the end of their lives.

If you decide you need a clutch and plan to keep the car stock I'd go with a single mass flywheel and a Sachs quiet clutch (Part number K 70038 01), or a LUK DMF clutch and flywheel kit (PN 17-050) I prefer the LUK kit, but both work great.

Was going to go with the luk 17-050 but two gurus talked me into the smf and Sachs quiet clutch saying that it will hold 275 torque or at least my Malone stage two and DLC 520 nozzles with ease and it would outlast the luk dmf kit.

I think the LUK will outlast the smf, but I would get the smf quiet. When the clutch wears out on a smf you can resurface the fly wheel and just get the clutch and pressure plate cutting the cost down the second time. I will be making the switch to that one soon as my stock dmf is starting to slip in 5th around 2k rpm if I mat it. I would get which ever one you think will be best they both hold over 250ftlb and it is your car not any of ours.

Thanks IBW, The car is not stock as stated in my original post. And yes, the tach was climbing, but not the speedo. I resolved the issue by bleeding the clutch fluid for the 4th time and have test driven it 4 times with no slipping. The slave is horizontal so the air was sitting where it would not rise to the bleed valve. So I just jacked the drivers side of the car about 4 inches and saw more air come out under vacuum. Thanks for your reply. much appreciated..

Just installed the Sachs quiet clutch with SMF. It is quiet, no vibrations (the issue with my DMF Sachs with 160k miles), is butter smooth and easily holds my stage 2 Malone and nozzle upgrade.

Bleeding the slave cylinder will not fix your slipping issue. To slip requires reduced friction on the clutch assembly, which is accomplished by an increase of hydraulic pressure in the slave cylinder to move the springs on the pressure plate. This is achieved with a hydraulic fluid because it can NOT be compressed and therefore exerts the same pressure on the receiving end that was applied to it..given a 1:1 piston ratio. If you have air in your system it will compress, therefore not applying the same pressure a bled system will on the pressure plate. (spongy pedal, like having an air damper in the line) Therefore it is impossible for it to reduce the clamping load of the pressure plate on the friction disk through the hydraulic system. Now you have to look at the clamping pressure or the friction material.
With air in the hydraulic system you would notice a hanging clutch or one that does not totally disengage. You would have to almost push the pedal through the floor to get it to disengage...not to mention all the syncro crunching you would experience from lack of disengagement during shifts.
A worn clutch at 82k says there has been a lot of slippage in its life. For example, when some one sits at a light on a hill and uses the clutch to keep the car from rolling backward and or keeping the slack in the driveline tight at a light with the clutch pedal.
Also it is impossible for a DMF to slip.. it either works by transmission of torque or it fails... that simple. It can be overpowered and that's when you experience chatter....actually its excessive recoil...in which case it still transfers torque. Keep doing this and it will fail.

Thanks for the info and feedback All Stock. I am puzzled. I have been driving manual transmissions since 1978 and I know what slipping is. I never use the clutch pedal as a "foot rest". It will slip sometimes, not always. I can drive it and it will slip in 3rd, 4th and 5th gear. I can park it and drive again, and it does not slip. And yes, it is not the hydraulic system.. It only started a few weeks ago. It had slipped in really cold weather, only a couple times.