MK3 Clutch change - How difficult?

Muncher

Muncher

Muncher

Soldato
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
7,169
Location
Ipswich
The clutch on my trusty MK3 golf is starting to slip so I assume it will be on its way out fairly soon, it's done very nearly 220,000 miles and I don't know when the clutch was last changed!

I've got a few questions, having never changed a clutch before...

Which bits need replacing? The haynes manual lists the release mechanism, the pressure plate, and the driven plate...

How diffcult a job is it to do given I've never done a clutch before? Done in a morning? I've got enough tools but not a lift or anything to take the gearbox out if that is needed?
 
Muncher said:
How diffcult a job is it to do given I've never done a clutch before? Done in a morning? I've got enough tools but not a lift or anything to take the gearbox out if that is needed?
Click to expand...
I know your decent enough with spanners so it wont be that hard a job for you, but it'll probably take slightly longer than a morning if your working on your back, fitting the box back in place can be a pain when your just using a jack to support it.
You wont need a lift to remove the gearbox, you should be able to remove the bolts and use a jack to support it and lower it down, best put some wood between the box and jack. I put some spare carpet under the engine last time and just dragged the gearbox out under the car when it out was.
 
Well I did it on saturday afternoon and about 6 hours on sunday.

It's the first time I've done a clutch change or removed a gearbox, here's what I found....

  • It's more difficult than it looks!
  • The haynes manual misses out a lot of useful bits of info so should be taken as a vague pointer at best
  • It's not simply a case of lowering the box out as it won't drop clearly as too much is in the way, it can come out but not easily
  • I really wouldn't want to do it without an engine hoist, getting it out would be bad but getting it back in would be extremely tough
  • You need more than one pair of hands (I had two people helping)
  • The spline bolts on the driveshafts are rubbish and two got rounded off requiring removal with a dremel.
  • Centering the clutch wasn't as tricky as I thought, in fact the whole clutch change bit is easy, it's just undoing all the bolts and moving the gearbox which takes time.
  • The job would be much easier on the VX as I think it would drop out easier and certainly be quite easy with the subframe and rear clam off, however it may be more time consuming...
  • Flywheels weigh a ton so I can see why in some applications you'd want a lightened one.
 
Yeah some golfs use a odd system where the clutch is inside the flywheel and the 'release' bearing is at the back of the box meaning the flywheel needs to come off to change the clutch.
 
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