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Replacing Clutch

3K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  1VWandCounting 
#1 ·
Okay so on Friday the 13 I was driving my VW to work up a hill and I started to smell really bad smell (assuming this was the clutch cable?) I am not very familiar so please forgive me if I say anything stupid.

So my clutch pedal looses all tension and at this point I have lost all power and I am going like 5 mph,

I pull over pop my hood and I see a small flame coming from the right side of my engine (1.8T)

I think for a second, I have full coverage but I could not let it burn, I love the car to damn much. I put it out and then continue to get it towed back to the house.

What could have caused it to catch on fire?? I am now under the impression that I need to replace my clutch.

I am looking at some stage 2 clutches on ECS tuning, I plan to eventually push 250-300 HP So I would like to have a stronger clutch.

Anyways.... Does anyone have any one recommend a good clutch kit?

So here is some of my background on DIY

Heatercore...Radiator... thermostat, Nothing major but I am very capable, just dont know a lot about this car stuff I am still very new but its definately a passion, especially my VW


I have been reading DIY clutch replacements for the past week I think I can tackle this with a little bit of help.

So anyone have any thoughts on this, Should I have the car overlooked before I start on the clutch, What clutch should I be looking at to eventually hold around 250-300 HP

Am I capable of doing this job with a little bit of help?



Thanks Everyone I know its a long post but its 3:30 am.
 
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#5 ·
1.8T 02J tranny's are easy to change the clutch on with a bit of patience and a couple brews. Just make sure you have all the proper tools, including triple square bits, and you'll be good to go.

Before you do this you're going to want to see what was on fire.. Maybe take a picture, or give us a real good discription of what it was. Things shouldn't just catch fire...

As far as your clutch... MKIV's use hydraulic clutches, that goes for every engine in the MKIV series. So there is no cable (and MKIII cable trannies are reverse of every other clutch out there, so they're sort of a different animal). Infact, your clutch probably has a good quantity of material still on it, what wears out in Dubs is the pressure plate. If you have a habbit of holding the clutch to the floor at stoplights/signs, try to get out of it. Every time you put pressure on that pedal, you're flexing the fingers of the pressure plate causing wear.

This doesn't excuse the fact that your clutch was probably slipping.

Be sure to get a new flywheel as well. Factory flywheels are dual mass and cannot be resurfaced. And the one you have on there now most certainly has hot spots which renders it useless.
 
#6 ·
If your clutch wasn't slipping before this happenend, you most likely had the slave cylinder rupture. This whould have allowed the fluid(Highly Flamable) to spray all over your clutch, flywheel, and pressure plate. In fact this is about the only way you can "Loose the pedal" and have the clutch slip too. the fluid being on the "friction surfaces" of the clutch plate would cause it to slip real bad. It would only take you reving the engine for a few seconds with the clutch slipping like that to bring the fluid to it's "flash point" and poof....instant fire. These things are so easy to take the transmision out of, it's not even funny. I did the timing chains in my vr6 last year. It litterally took about an hour and a half to get the trans out. Make sure you buy quality triple square bits. You can order them from mac, and snap-on. I bought cheap ones from a local parts store and went through three sets. That was the cheap part. Had to order 5 new half shaft bolts from vw at 16 bucks a piece.
 
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