# Clutch defect causing pre-mature wear



## Gott ist gut (Jul 2, 2010)

Ladies and Gents,
Is it possible for a mal-adjusted clutch to cause pre-mature wear and if so, how can you determine the pre-mature wear is caused by the mal-adjustment and not user error?

I submit this situation:
The rod behind the pedal is adjusted is such a fasion that when in quiesent state (pedal released/not applied) it is pressing the master cylinder actuator, activating the slave cylider -> clutch fork and in turn pressing the throwout bearing and therefore removing adequate pressure to the clutch plate from the flywheel.

Wouldn't this act the same way as someone "riding the clutch"?
If my situation is possible, I think the answer would be yes. So...how can this be proven as not the fault of the user?

Thanks!


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## TylerO28 (Jul 7, 2008)

Oooh that's no good. I might say that... the clutch is self adjusting though, so its possible that it doesn't really matter. Did yours go boom? I'm inclined to think if a dealer looked at it, they'd see if you adjusted it. As in most cases there is a clear paint Pen mark when the factory adjusts something to show its been torqued/adjusted properly.


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## Gott ist gut (Jul 2, 2010)

TylerO28 said:


> Oooh that's no good. I might say that... the clutch is self adjusting though, so its possible that it doesn't really matter. Did yours go boom? I'm inclined to think if a dealer looked at it, they'd see if you adjusted it. As in most cases there is a clear paint Pen mark when the factory adjusts something to show its been torqued/adjusted properly.


Can you explain how it "self adjusts"?
Yes it went boom.
No I havent adjusted anything myself.


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## Scotty_2.0 (Jan 14, 2005)

Pretty sure all vw hydraulic clutch slaves are self-adjusting. I know from removing the clutch slave on my VR6, that even with the clutch pedal at rest, there is still some forward pressure on the push rod pushing against the clutch fork. This pressure is not nearly enough pressure to even begin to release the clutch. All this pressure really does is take up the free play in between the push rod and clutch fork - keeping the release bearing against the PP diaphragm spring fingers. IIRC this pressure is generated from a spring inside the clutch slave. The self-adjust function works for that as the clutch disc wears, the PP dia****m springs sit higher and higher (further away from the flywheel. This in turn pushes back against the release bearing, clutch fork and clutch slave. The slave then sits a little further back in it's bore and the pedal range stays the same.


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## Scotty_2.0 (Jan 14, 2005)

Sorry and I have to say as a service advisor myself, I knew exactly where you were going with this. Gonna step out on a limb here and say there's no way you're gonna get anywhere on this issue. Although defects in clutches do exist, if the clutch has some decent miles on it, no way any dealer would warranty it.


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## TylerO28 (Jul 7, 2008)

yeah its probably going to be your issue.. but upgrade it! smf and better clutch


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## Scotty_2.0 (Jan 14, 2005)

TylerO28 said:


> .... smf and better clutch


Can't wait til my clutch goes... hate the dual mass flywheel slush.


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## Gott ist gut (Jul 2, 2010)

Scotty_2.0 said:


> if the clutch has some decent miles on it,...


 30k miles. This is actually my wifes 2011 Kia Soul but those clowns over there on the Kia forums don't know anything. She bought it before we got married, I would have never let her buy Asian. 



Scotty_2.0 said:


> Gonna step out on a limb here and say there's no way you're gonna get anywhere on this issue. Although defects in clutches do exist, if the clutch has some decent miles on it, no way any dealer would warranty it.


 Actually, I had my clutch go bad in the Jetta at 50k miles and VW of America paid 50%. I'm working with Kia of America now. 



Scotty_2.0 said:


> Can't wait til my clutch goes... hate the dual mass flywheel slush.


 I completely agree, if VW wasn't willing to pay 50% I would have put in a Clutch Masters.


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## itskohler (Jan 7, 2011)

You guys must ride the clutch or something. I have 80k with absolutely ZERO problems. 

Guess I'm just lucky. Now that I post this, it'll tear away from the car and roll itself into the ocean. :banghead:


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## GTACanuck (Feb 20, 2009)

Im sitting at 150k right now on mine and zero probs so far. 30k is nowhere near enough to be a natural wear problem, but could fall into driver problem, could also be mechanical too. Hard to tell actually


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## Scotty_2.0 (Jan 14, 2005)

Yeah I agree, 30K is pretty low for a clutch to go. But that's a pretty good outcome on your VW that they covered half. When I was at BMW, I saw a number of clutches covered. But mainly there was some other damage associated with the clutch failure.


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## TylerO28 (Jul 7, 2008)

I had my turbo installed 1 week... And the clutch essentially said "i'm done" couldn't get above 3500rpm without massive slip. But it lasted 80k so meh...


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## tchilds (Nov 21, 2008)

They can tell by the coloration of the flywheel and wear pattern if it was defective or wear caused by someone thrashing the clutch at high rev's. 

If she drives a lot of city they're going to take one look at the flywheel and say she caused the problem. Also, wear items typically are covered for far less than 30k miles. Assuming this is true for the cars made out of korean scrap metal too.


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## TylerO28 (Jul 7, 2008)

Yeah this is a worn item for sure.... I think VW would have laughed me out of the dealer if I brought this by for warranty


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## Gott ist gut (Jul 2, 2010)

Thanks for all the repies, guys. 



Scotty_2.0 said:


> Yeah I agree, 30K is pretty low for a clutch to go. But that's a pretty good outcome on your VW that they covered half. When I was at BMW, I saw a number of clutches covered. But mainly there was some other damage associated with the clutch failure.


 Scotty, 
What kind of "damage" did you see from the "clutch failure"?


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## Scotty_2.0 (Jan 14, 2005)

Gott ist gut said:


> Scotty,
> What kind of "damage" did you see from the "clutch failure"?


 The ones I saw that got warrantied when I was at BMW had a clutch disc that had disintegrated. From the impression I got, it was mainly BMW trying to keep the customer happy. One I remember was totally shedded, had only 18-20,000km and was driven by a young kid that was driving standard for the first time...  

But basically the ones that got warrantied were ones with shedded/broken clutch discs. Whether is was from "misuse" or not is hard to say. IMO they were all from misuse, but really depends on the badge on the front of the car and how willing the dealer is to go to bat for you. In alot of cases, the manufacturer goes on the dealers' recommendations.


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## Gott ist gut (Jul 2, 2010)

Well, I've made a verbal complaint to Kia and sent an email to Consumer Affairs. My next step is to take it to the dealer and authorize them to open it up and "investigate" (that's in quotes because I have very little trust in mechanics actually working to find blame in their own products when it's so easy to say it's user error). If they say it's my fault, I'll make a request for them to prove it. If they cannot provide sufficient data to back up their statement, an email is going straight to Executive Chairman ([email protected]), Director of Regional Operations 
([email protected]) and the General Manager of the dealer. 
:beer: Here's to hoping it doesn't go that far.


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