I am sad. My T4 has been eviscerated

[Seano]

Just a couple of weeks after getting the belts done in Adelaide, the extra power and glory released saw off the original dual mass flywheel and clutch. After 270,000 km one cannot be too disappointed except the repair is massive and stupid.

The vehicle has been off the road for two weeks waiting for shop time and now being repaired. It has been mostly gutted with the engine and gearbox removed just to get at the bellhousing. It may never be the same again.

Still...it could be waiting for the local VW dealer. They didn't have a slot for it until the 26th September and they wanted nearly three grand for the genuine parts alone.

Next time I might just get a Hino or a Fusion or an Isuzu...

[jets]

Sorry to hear that Seano. So who did you entrust to do the work for you? The $3000 seems very high to me. A quick check on Ebay shows a LUK DMF & clutch kit for 300 pounds [+freight] but they don't post to OZ. There must be others who will. On the Aust. Ebay , Valeo sell one for $617 including freight. The kits don't show a new slave cylinder that you need to fit at the same time.
I will be interested to hear the labour cost on completion.

[Sunny43.5]

At least with a T4 engine gearbox combo they are relatively easy to remove , I did my sons transplant and got pretty quick with the R& R of the lump . Hardest part is the aircon gas recovery and regass .Dual mass flywheel what a pain in the butt eh .

[Seano]

Sorry to hear that Seano. So who did you entrust to do the work for you? The $3000 seems very high to me. A quick check on Ebay shows a LUK DMF & clutch kit for 300 pounds [+freight] but they don't post to OZ. There must be others who will. On the Aust. Ebay , Valeo sell one for $617 including freight. The kits don't show a new slave cylinder that you need to fit at the same time.
I will be interested to hear the labour cost on completion.

So will I! They've been working on it for three days...

It's getting a single mass flywheel.

[Seano]

OK...now it'll be another weekend. Went into the shop (an independent mechanic) and the front is still out of the T4 so it won't be running till Monday. The syncro driveline is not what they had imagined. And it needs some inner CV boots too.

The DMF had basically gone bang. There's a hole in the side of it beside the ring gear that's the size of a ten cent piece. The resultant debris has scored the inside of the bell housing but not seriously. What has caused the hole is unknown but the flywheel is over rotating so it's rooted. The clutch itself still had quite some life in it according to the mechanic.

Five days worth of labour is going to sting...

[LogicprObe]

T4s always need CV boots.
I think it was a design fail.
I think I had the CVs themselves replaced twice over 600k and the boots replaced six times!

[Seano]

OK. It's back in one piece and can move under its own steam. I'll pick it up today. And leave $3,697 with the mechanic. Not as bad as I thought it might be.

I'll break that up for the audience in another post.

As for CV boots...I don't go through that many. Perhaps I've done 4 and one (rear) driveshaft in 16 years.

[Seano]

Righto...$950 for the clutch and flywheel kit, $150 for the air-conditioning regas, 24 hours labour @$90 per hour ($2,160), $59 for the CV boot kit and $39 for coolant,hoses and workshop supplies. Plus GST.

How's that sound? It seems to work by the way...

[Kiels3927]

$90 an hour labour. Wish I could get it that cheap.

[jets]

How's that sound?

It sounds very realistic. Hopefully it will last just as long as the original.

[jets]

I read that you used a SMF. How's that going? Please report back after a while if you notice anything negative with driving/noises etc.

[jets]

T4s always need CV boots.
I think it was a design fail.

I haven't experienced that. Over the last 14 years of T4 ownership [2 vans] I have only replaced one boot. In the last year replaced one on our Mk5 Golf, none on a previous Mk2 GTI & a couple on numerous Mk1s. Boots can vary in quality, so I have always used Lobro brand & have never had one fail while in my ownership.

[Seano]

Following up on this...

There's been a couple of issues, mostly to do with the gutting and refitting. One headlight not plugged in while the other lost its bottom adjuster, spotlights and second battery relay not reconnected to earth.

The main one was one of the bolts connecting the rear drive shaft to the back of the gearbox came loose and it would strike something in reverse setting a bang clunk in the driveline. Also didn't help driveline vibration. Fixed now!

The SMF is noticeable. Higher NVH all round. As the boss says it sounds and feels rougher, more truck like. But otherwise the driving experience is fine.

Unfortunately, the shop did not pick up on a noisy input shaft bearing before they gutted it. So it's still noisy...oh well.

[irsa76]

You can pull the transmission out without pulling the engine as well, even the slightly difficult access to the flywheel is preferable to pulling EVERYTHING off the front of a T4. In all the T4 TDI autos I replaced we only pulled 1 engine, and found that was more messing around than the official way, which we weren't using either, we just muscled the things in and out.
270k is very good life, my old Sprinter work van destroyed it's DMF and clutch at just over 150k, and I'm a tad worried my current Citroen is going to need attention in that area in the near future, only 60k on it. Granted the Merc and Citroen are automated manuals, I laugh when people say that style of transmission is easier on the driveline, the computer treats the clutch, and thus the DMF, as a fuse.

[Seano]

You can pull the transmission out without pulling the engine as well, even the slightly difficult access to the flywheel is preferable to pulling EVERYTHING off the front of a T4. In all the T4 TDI autos I replaced we only pulled 1 engine, and found that was more messing around than the official way, which we weren't using either, we just muscled the things in and out.
270k is very good life, my old Sprinter work van destroyed it's DMF and clutch at just over 150k, and I'm a tad worried my current Citroen is going to need attention in that area in the near future, only 60k on it. Granted the Merc and Citroen are automated manuals, I laugh when people say that style of transmission is easier on the driveline, the computer treats the clutch, and thus the DMF, as a fuse.

Yeah I know that from reading the workshop guides but try telling that to a mechanic. Especially when they get that info out of their subscribed workshop guides. Oh well...

Mind you...the syncro drivetrain adds to the perceived complexity so maybe that's what triggered it?