[raaj.bhalla]

Hi,

I have just bought Rapid TDI manual (the old one now). There is one issue that I am facing. Pls help.

At very low speed or when the car is stationary, when I steer left or right I can hear mild grinding noise. Is it normal? If not what could be wrong? Help me out here please.

[CarguyNish]

Originally Posted by raaj.bhalla

Hi,

I have just bought Rapid TDI manual (the old one now). There is one issue that I am facing. Pls help.

At very low speed or when the car is stationary, when I steer left or right I can hear mild grinding noise. Is it normal? If not what could be wrong? Help me out here please.

Something to do with Rotor I guess, when the steering wheel is turned, it pushes the rack against the pinion gear mounted on the front axle. The Rotors which are present on the Wheel hubs also turn along the steering. When the backing plate on the rotor touches the inner part of hub at an angle, this grinding noise is generated.

It will disappear after some time, if it remains & the noise is heard at medium speeds, then you need to get it checked.

[Mafioso]

Not sure if this is the right thread, mods please feel free to move it to an appropriate one if deemed necessary!

I'm looking to pick a pre-owned Rapid and I have heard numerous complaints on the hard clutch. I drive a Swift Diesel and I'm used to the Diesel clutch, so can the owners please let me know if there are any specific problems related to the clutch being hard on Rapid 2013-2015 models

[nma83]

Originally Posted by Mafioso

Not sure if this is the right thread, mods please feel free to move it to an appropriate one if deemed necessary!

I'm looking to pick a pre-owned Rapid and I have heard numerous complaints on the hard clutch. I drive a Swift Diesel and I'm used to the Diesel clutch, so can the owners please let me know if there are any specific problems related to the clutch being hard on Rapid 2013-2015 models

I have a 2012 model Rapid TDI, and the clutch is indeed harder than most other (diesel) cars. But not really a deal breaker for me.

[raaj.bhalla]

Originally Posted by CarguyNish

It will disappear after some time, if it remains & the noise is heard at medium speeds, then you need to get it checked.

I am sorry when I mentioned that I just bought it, I meant that it was bought in October end and it has done about 2500 kms. Should I be worried that the noise is still there?

[zebanaff]

Originally Posted by Mafioso

I drive a Swift Diesel and I'm used to the Diesel clutch, so can the owners please let me know if there are any specific problems related to the clutch being hard on Rapid 2013-2015 models

I used to have a Swift diesel (albeit four years ago), and I found the clutch weight just perfect on that car. I just booked the new Skoda Rapid (2016/17 variant) after a couple of test drives, and I can confirm that it felt just as light as the old Swift. Not too heavy and not too light, and perfect amount of travel. I was sold in under 2 minutes. For comparison, I test drove the Abarth Punto and found that clutch too light (and WAAAAY too long), and found the Ameo clutch a bit heavy (and also ridiculously long).

The Rapid clutch was lighter than my current Ford Figo and my dad's i20 as well. However (and I could be wrong; this is my generalisation based on the 3 diesel cars I've owned) the clutches tend to get harder over the years. You just don't come to know because you get used to it on a day to day basis. I drove my dad's i20 after around 2 years just yesterday, and found it pretty hard. Two years ago, I used to complain about it being too light in comparison to my Figo

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by Mafioso

Not sure if this is the right thread, mods please feel free to move it to an appropriate one if deemed necessary!



I'm looking to pick a pre-owned Rapid and I have heard numerous complaints on the hard clutch. I drive a Swift Diesel and I'm used to the Diesel clutch, so can the owners please let me know if there are any specific problems related to the clutch being hard on Rapid 2013-2015 models

I moved from a swift Dzire diesel to a Rapid diesel as well and the clutch is indeed a bit harder than the swift diesels. But it's not something you have to be worried about so much. Although if you are crawling in city traffic at say less than 15Kmph for one or 2 hours continuously it can be a pain at times.

[gladiatorchirag]

Last month 2 issues cropped up in my Rapid Elegance Diesel model (October 2015 purchase).
Firstly the dealer called in my car for some s/w update(which I think was done due to the emission scandal), while sending my car to the dealer I told him about the pickup being quite slow, the dealer after inspection told me that the Turbo Charger needs to be replaced. It took more than 3 weeks for the dealer to get the part. After that the car was fine for 2 weeks till one day in December 1st week the car wouldn't start in the office. I called the RSA guy and found out that the battery was dead. The battery was also replaced next day.
All of this raises serious question mark on the quality of the parts used by Skoda.

[F150]

Originally Posted by gladiatorchirag

Last month 2 issues cropped up in my Rapid Elegance Diesel model (October 2015 purchase).

All of this raises serious question mark on the quality of the parts used by Skoda.

What was the year and month of manufacturing of the car ? Did you decode the VIN ?

[torque18]

There is a weird noise noticed in my 2012 TDI when setting the car in motion in the first gear and also while reversing.

The squealing noise is there only when the car needs more accelerator input to be set in motion, say on an incline or under heavy load. There is absolutely no sound otherwise. The sound comes while releasing the clutch and at the point the car starts to move. The clutch is fine otherwise and there is no loss of power or anything else.

The car has clocked 71k. Google results show that it could be an issue with the throw out bearing or even a sign of clutch nearing the end of its life.

Can anyone shed some light on it?

[sree5999]

Originally Posted by torque18

There is a weird noise noticed in my 2012 TDI when setting the car in motion in the first gear and also while reversing.

The squealing noise is there only when the car needs more accelerator input to be set in motion, say on an incline or under heavy load. There is absolutely no sound otherwise. The sound comes while releasing the clutch and at the point the car starts to move. The clutch is fine otherwise and there is no loss of power or anything else.

The car has clocked 71k. Google results show that it could be an issue with the throw out bearing or even a sign of clutch nearing the end of its life.

Can anyone shed some light on it?

Hi Mate,

This is exactly the same issue I faced with my Rapid elegance 2012 with 37K kms on the ODO, Mahavir Hyderabad initially had no clue and investigated the issue for more than a week and finally concluded and replaced my clutch, release bearing, flywheel which cost me 39K. Raised the issue with Skoda INDIA (Skoda area service manager Ganesh Kishore had no answer to my question) as to how my flywheel can go bad for just 37K kms and got blocked on its facebook page for just asking a question.
Currently my car clocked 47K and is running without any issue, fingers crossed for now.

[torque18]

Originally Posted by sree5999

Hi Mate,

This is exactly the same issue I faced with my Rapid elegance 2012 with 37K kms on the ODO, Mahavir Hyderabad initially had no clue and investigated the issue for more than a week and finally concluded and replaced my clutch, release bearing, flywheel which cost me 39K. Raised the issue with Skoda INDIA (Skoda area service manager Ganesh Kishore had no answer to my question) as to how my flywheel can go bad for just 37K kms and got blocked on its facebook page for just asking a question.
Currently my car clocked 47K and is running without any issue, fingers crossed for now.

I have serious doubts if that was actually required!
There are absolutely no signs of clutch going bad.
A casual Google search points towards the issue with throw out bearing. However, I am absolutely clueless and at the same time don't want the ASS to mess unnecessarily with my car.

[quadmaniac]

Originally Posted by sree5999

Hi Mate,
Raised the issue with Skoda INDIA (Skoda area service manager Ganesh Kishore had no answer to my question) as to how my flywheel can go bad for just 37K kms and got blocked on its facebook page for just asking a question.

This is precisely why I'm thinking a hundred times before going for a Skoda or VW. The new Rapid is mouth-watering, but I don't want these hassles after an expensive purchase!

I think you should take more offensive action - post this to twitter or more.

[sree5999]

Originally Posted by torque18

I have serious doubts if that was actually required!
There are absolutely no signs of clutch going bad.
A casual Google search points towards the issue with throw out bearing. However, I am absolutely clueless and at the same time don't want the ASS to mess unnecessarily with my car.

Hi,

Yes, even I had no issue with the clutch or the vehicle performance apart from the mild squealing noise while under load or climbing/reversing the ramps.
As my vehicle was under warranty insisted the service guys to thoroughly inspect the car and got my pocket burnt for 39K.
Raised several questions on how the clutch can go bad at 37K kms and if that is not enough, the flywheel also which is not normal.
BTW I am the only one who drives the car(whole 37K kms) and never ever used the clutch while driving apart from engaging the gears.

[torque18]

Originally Posted by sree5999

Yes, even I had no issue with the clutch or the vehicle performance apart from the mild squealing noise while under load or climbing/reversing the ramps.

In my case, apart from being the sole driver of the car, the car itself is exclusively used for the highway runs so the possibility of riding the clutch is zilch.