Is this good?

Hi, took the bottom skid plate off today in prep to change out the DMF...

http://pics.tdiclub.com/showphoto.php?photo=87756&title=dmfsprings&cat=500

The 2006 Jetta TDI has had a very slight wobble in park for the past few months, no rattle, no hard shifts. Then last week out on the highway at 120km/h in a straight stretch at constant speed, there was a slight clunk, a whiring noise, and then the sound of a metallic "pebble" or two hitting the highway.

When I got home and for the past week, the car would make a very high frequency rattling noise at low speeds around 1200 rpm (when under slight deceleration). The park wobble had doubled as well, but no rattles in park. Ordered a new DMF ASAP and it's just arrived. The old had 136 000km.

Hope to have engine and tranny split by tomorrow. Housing, at first glance looks okay. Should be "interesting", will post the images if they are worth it.

Just a heads up that sometimes the warning indications to the DMF failure are pretty subtle, ie. just a slight wobble in park.

Hi, split it last night, here's some pic's.















The shiny bits I think are from the flywheel housing, the "thick stuff" is likely the heavy grease they pack into the DMF, and the chunky bits are the springs (there were a lot of them stuck in the grease).

Cleaned up the both sides, put the new DMF in (thanks Bora folks for the quick delivery!), and closed it up this afternoon. So far so good, touch wood, running very smooth, maybe even smoother than new...it's been a while.

I got lucky, in that there was only minor damage to the bell housing and was still able to make it home, but was unlucky in that there was very little warning.

VW really should have recalled these DMF's, but from there point of view it did last past the warrantee; never had any other vehicle do this at any age.

Was thinking a Touareg TDI once the kids get a bit bigger and demand more space, but not so sure now. Wonder what the Jeep Grand Cherokee diesels will be like...

WOW, how many miles on it?

About 85 000 miles (136 000 km's), not all that many, 90% highway going to and from work. Not chipped.

The really weird part was the lack of any indicators like in other posts wrt DMF failures, no marble sound or rattles, just a slight wobble in park and I guess in retro spec slightly rough shifting in the low gears (only notice now because of how incredibly smooth the shifts are now with the new DMF).

Shame on you VOA for putting such garbage in an otherwise great car. I changed to a SMF at 50K miles on my 5-speed manual because I was SO tired of the piss poor engagement and how weak the engineering on any DMF of any kind truly is.

I'm with you completely! I knew to expect a bit more maintenance based on earlier VW's we owned, but really "the flywheel"? Come on... like what's next, "the camshaft"? Oh wait...

Been a great car up to this.