[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Anand, Im not sure if they have failed.

Hi Swanand
I feel that your clutch plates and flywheel should be ok and should still last. If there are no visible scrape marks on the plates or the flywheel I recommend that you retain them. The good thing is that you didn't attempt to drive it in this condition as it would have caused much more damage.
Hopefully your car should be back in good health after a master slave cylinder change.
Check the extended warranty booklet as If I recall correctly the master slave cylinders are covered and if their failure causes clutch and dmf failure it should also be covered. Raise it to Skoda directly if the dealer doesn't cooperate.

Regards
Behemoth

[Swanand Inamdar]

Originally Posted by Omtoatom

Swanand: buddy it is not unusual to Skoda owners to shell out that sort of money on a clutch assembly. Although in your case I doubt the flywheel will need replacement because that would be tantamount to some serious wear and tear which is improbable. So let's hope for your sake that the damages will be minimal.

That seems to be the general opinion of a lot of people. Hoping it stands true. Even I have this feeling that it may be the master/slave cylinder only.

While on the subject; did you check what is the extent of coverage under extended warranty? Oftentimes what falls or does not fall under the purview of "wear and tear" is hazy and/or a gray area. It is a very wide umbrella and many a time, at the service center's discretion. I have known the service guys to "pass" marginal claims for "special" customers or those that have stood their ground. Have these folks given any indications yet?

Yes, I did check and as your rightly put, that is a gray area. Wear and Tear parts are not covered in extended warranty. But then again, I've known many instances where "special" customers were given a replacement in the warranty.

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Hi Swanand
I feel that your clutch plates and flywheel should be ok and should still last. If there are no visible scrape marks on the plates or the flywheel I recommend that you retain them. The good thing is that you didn't attempt to drive it in this condition as it would have caused much more damage.
Hopefully your car should be back in good health after a master slave cylinder change.
Check the extended warranty booklet as If I recall correctly the master slave cylinders are covered and if their failure causes clutch and dmf failure it should also be covered. Raise it to Skoda directly if the dealer doesn't cooperate.

Yes, that is what I hope too!
The problem is, when my car was bought, there was no extended warranty offered by Europa. The Skoda Shield program started only a month after my car was bought.

So, if all the parts do indeed need a replacement, the money shall be going from my pocket. Not a nice way to end the year. Or maybe, it really is doomsday for me today .

I shall be going to Europa in half an hour or so.
Shall update everyone on the progress later.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Yes, that is what I hope too!
The problem is, when my car was bought, there was no extended warranty offered by Europa. The Skoda Shield program started only a month after my car was bought.
So, if all the parts do indeed need a replacement, the money shall be going from my pocket. Not a nice way to end the year. Or maybe, it really is doomsday for me today .
I shall be going to Europa in half an hour or so.
Shall update everyone on the progress later.

That is a real bummer that they didn't have the extended warranty program then
It would have saved you a lot of trouble.

Inspite of that, there is something known as "Goodwill warranty" which Skoda can give to customers on a case to case basis, as your car has just come out of warranty and leakage from the master/ slave cylinders is treated as a manufacturing defect.
Typically in such a case, Skoda can agree to absorb 50-100% of the parts cost and you will only have to bear the balance and the labour cost. I have seen them do this in quite a few cases recently in Gurgaon.

Do push your case with customer care and escalate to Kamal Basu (head marketing) and Sudhir Rao (MD) if required - They are supposed to be on a path to better customer service!

Regards,
Behemoth

[Swanand Inamdar]

Back from Europa.
News aint good.

The following parts need a replacement:
1. Flywheel
2. Clutch plate
3. Pressure Plate
4. Release bearing

He showed me the damage. The flywheel has developed a 'play' cause of metal friction. The plates bushing (or whatever that rubber thing is called) had gone and that rubbed against the flywheel.

Attaching pics of the flywheel and the plate (thats missing that rubber thingy).


One can see the bluish burn marks on the wheel.


Only saving grace is the master/slave cylinder need not be changed.
So, saving a total of ~8500, which in the scheme of things is hardly anything.

The reason?
Riding the clutch and "normal" wear and tear.

[anandpadhye]

Swanand,
Sorry to see this.
But the pics are too small at least for my eyes, I can't see the blue marks.
Did they not remove the flywheel for inspection? Any pic taken when it was removed?

Which plate bushing? Where is it supposed to be?

And who rides the clutch? Your driver?

BTW, if DMF can get damaged like this, can you check with Europa if they can get you a single mass flywheel so as to avoid such high expense in the future?

P.S. Master slave cylinders intact!!! What a way for Murphy to hit :-(

[Swanand Inamdar]

Anand, Ill try to upload bigger pics, but size restrictions made me reduce them to the one's present. Ill send you an email if need be.

According to the SA, the bushing needs to be on that metallic part in pic 2. Since that was not present, that caused friction.
The clutch was ridden by me, in stop go traffic in HJW, but that was minimal, just to get the initial surge.
Single mass DMF not possible. Checked already.

Tell me about Murphy man! That too at the fag end of the year. 2012 not gonna end on a happy note, for me at least.

[Omtoatom]

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

News aint good.

The following parts need a replacement:
1. Flywheel
2. Clutch plate
3. Pressure Plate
4. Release bearing

He showed me the damage. The flywheel has developed a 'play' cause of metal friction. The plates bushing (or whatever that rubber thing is called) had gone and that rubbed against the flywheel.

Only saving grace is the master/slave cylinder need not be changed.
So, saving a total of ~8500, which in the scheme of things is hardly anything.

The reason?
Riding the clutch and "normal" wear and tear.

Very sorry to hear this awful bit of news partner. Exactly what we were dreading huh. This is worse and then some.

In your pics, I'm unable to spot the blue marks you mention. Speaking of which who's been riding the clutch and how the heck does this constitute "normal" wear and tear??!!

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

P.S. Master slave cylinders intact!!! What a way for Murphy to hit :-(

You mirrored my thoughts exactly!! What a crook, this fella Murphy!!

[Omtoatom]

Swanand, what's the update pal?

Is the car fixed and road-worthy now? Did you explore the possibility of a goodwill warranty which Behemoth had spoken of?

[Swanand Inamdar]

Hey Om, yes the car is roadworthy again.
Got the delivery as promised by Europa. Spent a good time there on Saturday, trying to fight for that goodwill warranty. Tried writing to Skoda too, but didnt get the expected response. Couldnt continue with it, as we needed the car badly. With only 1 car as spare, things were getting annoying in the house!

Europa has given a warrnty on the replaced parts, and tried knocking off a few k's on the bill. Glad that they did that though.

Slightly : While I was there, I happened to speak to the Service Advisors, Managers, and Sales Managers too. All of them agreed that Skoda A.S.S is far from good, and that is reflecting in their sales too. BIG TIME!
They, in association with the second dealer (Asset Auto) have been in touch with Aurangabad to help them increase their serivce levels and in turn, customer satisfaction. They did mention that they needed a very honest feedback from customers to help them understand the overall frustration.
Dont know if this is the response of all dealers, but at least the one's in Pune are trying.
I say its better late than never!

[F150]

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Hey Om, yes the car is roadworthy again.
Got the delivery as promised by Europa.

Europa has given a warrnty on the replaced parts, and tried knocking off a few k's on the bill. Glad that they did that though.

Great news !

What the total cost of replacement ? Could you upload the bill ?

[anandpadhye]

Good that car is back on the road.
But, in all honesty, what's so special about Europa in giving warranty on the new clutch parts? Skoda offers 2 years warranty on all spares anyway (assuming they are replaced post warranty) and even then wear and tear parts will be excluded so warranty on clutch and flywheel is practically useless.

the only way forward is - drive cautiosly, don't ride the clutch and keep a target of another 70,000km before going to Europa again for anything that sounds like CLUTCH or PLATE.

BTW, Europa is claiming that they are working with Skoda to improve the service levels? You know what, I spoke to Mr Laurin (in my dream last night, Mr. Klement was not available) and even he told me that they are working with Europa to improve the service levels...what a coincidence...

Cheers!

[Swanand Inamdar]

Anand, the newly replaced parts, that are prone to wear and tear also get a 1yr/15000 kms warranty. All other parts carry the 2 yr warranty.
This is standard from Skoda, and not Europa specific. Although, I need to find out if this indeed is true.

Given the current situation, even Messers Laurin and Klement cant figure where they goofed up. Its that tangled up a situation

@F150: Ill try and upload the bill. Its at home currently. The total amont excl discount was ~60k.

[Omtoatom]

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Hey Om, yes the car is roadworthy again.
Slightly : While I was there, I happened to speak to the Service Advisors, Managers, and Sales Managers too. All of them agreed that Skoda A.S.S is far from good, and that is reflecting in their sales too. BIG TIME!
They, in association with the second dealer (Asset Auto) have been in touch with Aurangabad to help them increase their serivce levels and in turn, customer satisfaction. They did mention that they needed a very honest feedback from customers to help them understand the overall frustration.
Dont know if this is the response of all dealers, but at least the one's in Pune are trying.

Good to know you have the car back.

No doubt that the dealerships are striving to improve servicing levels is in right earnest for Skoda. In some ways, it does show in them knocking off a few Ks from your service bill. That gesture itself must've gone a long way in reassuring you that these guys are serious about it.

However I don't mean to be a skeptic here, but on an overall level, this the spiel I've been hearing for the longest time from Skoda. About time, some real action and results are seen. Or like you said, sales will continue to take a severe beating and the figures will be even more abysmal.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

You know what, I spoke to Mr Laurin (in my dream last night, Mr. Klement was not available) and even he told me that they are working with Europa to improve the service levels...what a coincidence...

Ouch!

I'm sure Mr. Laurin has also been clocking up the frequent flyer miles lately with all those flights between Europe and India in his endeavor to "work closely with Europa and other dealerships"

[Seacat]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Hi Rohit,

This fault is typically know as a stuck Flap valve which means that it will not be able to mix the hot/ cold air properly and the position of the flap needs to be recalibrated. This was a recurrent problem with 2010 Laura's.
It can be done with a VCDS through "Basic Settings" of the AC system, for which you can get the procedure on the Ross-tech website.

There is a way to also do it even without a VCDS - Hold and press both the AC ON and the Recirc buttons on the AC controls (on the Ambiente version) for around 30 sec and the AC ON button will start flashing. Let it flash for 1 min with ignition on (and engine off). Then Start the engine and press the AC on button - let it run for 2 min with AC on and the engine running - this also resets the AC to Basic settings mode (I have done this procedure on my Yeti)

Or you can take it to the service centre and have it checked there - they will do the basic settings with the VAG. If there is still a problem, they may need to change the flap motor (which includes the position sensor).

PS: Don't clear the DTCs yourself, as the timestamp on when they were cleared is retained and will show up in the VAG scan when they do the scan.
Regards.
Behemoth

Hi, great suggestion carrying out the basic setting .
I tried it out this moring on my Laura AT Ambiente and noted the following;
1. With Ign On, AC and recirc pressed and engine not running, the AC light
blinks for abt 30 secs only and goes off. Is this correct or is there
something wrong?
2. How do you make out if the flap motor is re-calibrated. is there any
indication on the MFD ? etc
Would really appreciate a reply or Pm me as my AC was giving me trouble. I had posted on this forum but the MOD deleted my post.
regards,
Seacat

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by Seacat

Seacat

Hi Seacat
After pressing both buttons when the Ac button starts flashing, press it once again to start the setting. It will take another 20 sec to calibrate the flap. What you can observe (if the engine is at normal operating temperature) is that the air will become full hot and then full cold to test both limits. There will be no other indication.

Regards
Behemoth