New ‘14 Jetta M6, rear main seal?

[Mirrorman]

(useless exposition)
So I joined like 3 years ago when I got my first 2014 tdi six speed, for a song compared to now.
A homeless lady in Nashville drove her car/home into her 6 months ago and clipped the unibody totaling it… been a bit bummed since.

Now I’ve paid an arm and half a leg for a value edition, and wanted an opinion or two.

Currently at local dealer, warranty is covering flywheel, clutch, pilot bearing, etc., it had control arms and brakes replaced prior to my purchase.

Im of the general opinion if it ain’t broke, so on so forth, but the rear main seal is right there, should I have them do it or leave it be, at 55k miles? I feel like leave it, but I haven’t seen much information on here either way.

I know oilhammer and others have said in the earlier engines to leave them be.

dealer said the car is sound otherwise, was a dealer car so its seen some abuse but not much miles. It will see 60-70k+ miles a year with me probably. If I can avoid getting hit.

thanks for any input y’all. - Matt

 

[JELLOWSUBMARINE]

Missing info must be; while in there, the dealership found a leaking rear main and want to charge you extra as customer pay on top of warranty work? If so, how much?

 

[oilhammer]

Never seen a single leaking rear main seal (which is not just a seal) on a CJAA engine ever. Also never seen one need a flywheel and clutch at only 55k miles either. So.... who knows what is happening with your car.

 

[Mirrorman]

Never seen a single leaking rear main seal (which is not just a seal) on a CJAA engine ever. Also never seen one need a flywheel and clutch at only 55k miles either. So.... who knows what is happening with your car.

rear main hasn’t been seen leaking, they’re about to do the clutch job now. It wasn’t wanting to go into first all too easily, felt like it was hitting the gate, had to push all the way left and up otherwise wouldn’t go in, so dealer got approval to do whole clutch pack and flywheel and readjust... also had a little belt noise they wanted to do tensioner and serpentine but charge 375 for it so I was gonna do that myself.

But thanks for giving me some apprehension about the car lol…. I can only presume with dealer use for like 5 years they might have been hard on it in lower gears, I dunno, wasn’t a lot of miles put on it so maybe lots of city driving.

I was just thinking cautiously about the rms but yea I see it’s quite an assembly so if it ain’t leaking leave it, no argument there.

 

[Mirrorman]

Never seen a single leaking rear main seal (which is not just a seal) on a CJAA engine ever. Also never seen one need a flywheel and clutch at only 55k miles either. So.... who knows what is happening with your car.

I’m kind of feeling it just needed the shift linkage adjusted or replaced, and the tensioner and or belt at worst and they’re milking the warranty… which I’m not against as long as I have a decent car out of it. They’re getting over 4K for the clutch flywheel pack and labor.

 

[Mirrorman]

Missing info must be; while in there, the dealership found a leaking rear main and want to charge you extra as customer pay on top of warranty work? If so, how much?

see above, they didn’t wanna gig me for that, the serpentine yes. I was just overthinking the nearby parts.

 

[oilhammer]

"Milking the warranty" just means you have people wrenching on things without need. Would you have your dentist give all your teeth root canals just because if someone else was footing the bill? I wouldn't.

 

[Mirrorman]

Well

"Milking the warranty" just means you have people wrenching on things without need. Would you have your dentist give all your teeth root canals just because if someone else was footing the bill? I wouldn't.

I wont argue that, as someone with a father and wife with lots of unnecessary root canals.

and it fits with if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… but I also don’t hate the idea of a wear item being replaced for free, even if it’s before it’s expiration...
this dealer had previously done good, fair work on my last ‘14, but also with a different tech, so. Yea. I dunno. part of me also says carvana screwed me out of a few grand why not return the favor. End of day as long as car is solid and I’m not being milked for money...

A very fair point on your part though, oilhammer, and one I’ll bear in mind ever dealing with them again.
This work notwithstanding, how bad is a serpentine tensioner on these? belt seems as straightforward as any, I’ve seen a guy loosen his alternator to get to the tensioner bolt on a golf.

 

[oilhammer]

Never seen a CJAA need an accessory belt tensioner, so I cannot really say.

 

[Mirrorman]

Never seen a CJAA need an accessory belt tensioner, so I cannot really say.

I just popped a new one in today, tricky but easy enough once I got on the bolt, didn’t have to remove anything to get to it. was definitely causing squeal on start up, spring felt weak when releasing tension on belt. Belt looks good. Alternator pulley feels fine.