Caddy clutch burning problem

[kellyjelly]

Hey all you mechanically minded people,

So, we've had the new caddy for about 3 weeks. We went up the coast last week and had a dodgy burning smell coming from the engine through the air con system. We called VW australia and they sent a mechanic in about 20 mins (very impressed) who said it smells like a clutch issue but couldn't do anything about it without getting it up on those things in the workshop.(?hoist)

So we took it to cricks at Maroochydore (who were lovely) and they looked it over quickly and said yup it's a clutch smell and that they've had a few caddy's in with the same problem.
These are new caddy's with low mileage that have some sort of material on the clutch plate detach and burn off (hence the smell).

Has anyone else had this issue or are we just "one of the lucky few"

[Transporter]

I can smell clutch in my T5 after driving up very, very steep driveway. As long as it doesn't smell during normal driving I wouldn't be worried too much. Let's see what the other Caddy drivers have to say.

[gregozedobe]

Is there any chance the burning smell on the Caddy is the DPF doing a regeneration ? The exhaust gets much hotter than normal when this happens and I've read it referred to as a "hot, burning smell" more than once.

T5 clutches dislike being slipped much at all. They are particularly fussy when reversing, as reverse gear seems to be higher geared than first, plus people tend to slip the cluch a lot more in reverse with a van as they are being cautious.

[Preen59]

The new Caddy's have a DPF huh??

I've never, ever smelled any clutch out of my Caddy, even when it was new.. However i never slip the crap out of it or anything like that unless i absolutely have to, so i'd like to think i'm pretty easy on it.

[Two Dogs]

No smelly cluch here either (After 1 year and 30k).

The car (Caddy Maxi Life) still gets compliments from friends, and we are still amazed at the versatlity.

Two Dogs

[kellyjelly]

The car (Caddy Maxi Life) still gets compliments from friends, and we are still amazed at the versatlity.

Two Dogs

I agree two dogs, our caddy is amazing, so much room to fitting heaps of people and last week was a load comprising of a single ensemble and a massive cardboard box.

As for the clutch issue, we've been to the mechanic and there is powder leaking around the clutch area (sorry i'm no mechanic in explaining things)
So due to this powder, it means there is something seriously wrong with the flywheel and clutch and needs the gearbox taken out, looked at and repaired. It will take 3 days of work and SHOULD be covered by the warranty.
Well all i can say is it better be covered by warranty as i drive like an angel and it's only 2K on the clock and i'm sooooo ready to fight it's unbelievable.(um excuse me i won't be forking out $3500 to fix a manufacturing fault!!)

Thanks for all your replies on the burning smell but it turns out there is a serious reason to the stench.
Kel

[swingn]

Haven't had any clutch smelling issues with my Caddy... I've done about 6000kms & got the car earlier in the year.

Out of interest, how much load was the car under? Like were you going up a steep hill with a full load etc?

[swingn]

Should be covered by warrenty if it can be prooven to be a manufacturing fault.

Hopefully they won't try & drive it on your driving style - Which regardless of age & kms is the attitude of some other car manufacturers in the market.

[Lams]

my bus has 54k km
clutch burn smell twice, both times I couldn't explain what caused it

another instance was my brother learning to do uphill start at 5500rpm, crawling at 5km/h... he learned not to do that again

[kellyjelly]

Well i have the verdict from VW.
The fly wheel was the part that was stuffed and yes it's a manufacturing fault and is covered by warranty - thank goodness.
Also, hubby tells me that in the other cases from up the coast, it was from some material coming off the flywheel and burning against the clutch, hence the dodgy smell. So they were nothing like what happened to ours like i originally thought.

As for the load when it (the smell)started. There was only 2 people in the car, no hills, no trailer, no heavy load.....it just started to smell bad after normal driving through suburbia.

Thanks for your tips/hints
xx
kel