The Epic 6 Speed Clutch/Flywheel Guide For The TDI 45PICS!

[philwept_33]

Well.........what can i say. Not finished it yet however its about 95% finished hopefully all being well. I appologies if there are areas that i miss and if i see vague in certain areas. PM me if you need further details.

Step 1:

Jack up car in the air at the front, you will want it at least 14 inches from the bumper to the floor at the front. I kept the rears donw on the floor however blocked them up along with using the handbrake for safety. You will need some very good axel stands and they can be placed just below the wishbones on the silver metal caps that are designed for jacking from.
ENsure a couple of jacks are available at the jacking sills for safety if the stands were to fail. The most of this job you will be under the car so you need to be confident its safe and solid!!!

Step 2:

Remove undertray, air box, you will need to disconnect some fragile vacume hoses, a plug for the MAF sender in the air box and the pipe that connects from the intercooler to the air box.

Step 3:

Now that there is some room to manouver, there are 3x12mm bolts that atatch the exhaust to the turbo. Remove these and disconnect the pipe at the join under the car. THere is a sleeve that connects the cat / turbo downpipe to the backbox. Because of the nature of the design if should pull out fairly easilly. Have a friend help you remove the pipe from the turbo end now the opposing end at the backbox is off. Make sure nothing falls into the turbo housing, get a latex glove and cover the hole up the avoid issues.

Step 4:

I found that the pipe that goes to the EGR was in the way when trying to remove the exhaust so i removed this. THere are 2x6mm allen keys at the top, and 2x 13mm hex bolts that attatch to the head. WOrking as a team with someone under the car, twist and pull carefully on the exhaust to enable to remove it from the engine bay out. Its virtually impossible to remove from the bottom from what i can see.

Step 5:

Now that the exhaust is out the way, there is a heat shield that covers the CV joint that will need to be removed. 3x 6mm allen key bolts. Once this is out of the way the gearbox rear support braket can be loosened off. DO not remove full as the gearbox may drop of the back.

Step 6:

From under the car the drive shaft bolts can be removed. Have someone holding one of the front wheels to stop them from turning. A torx key is needed, however unsure on the size required.

Step 7:

Repeat process on the opposite drive shaft (passenger) however the heatshield does not need to be removed as there is not one needed this side.

Step 8:

Start by identifying the bolts that connect the gearbox to the engine block. Unfortunatly i did not count them however they are mostly 16mm hex bolts. About 6-7 of them are pointing towards the front of the car, with the head of the bolt facing the back of the car. Be aware that there are some at the top of the engine under some coolant hoses and electrical looms. Be carefull when getting to these, there is one in the centre right at the back of the engine, and it is a oh fiddlesticks! to get to it.

Step 9:

There are further bolts that face the opposite direction. They are located at the bottom of the gearbox very close to the subframe. We struggled to get to the bolts with a socket, well....its impossible to get to them. We got over this by using a ring spanner with the slighly offset of the end pointing towards the bolt. A totally flat ring spanner will not work. They are all 16mm again, 3 in total by the subframe. THey also have 8mm allen key indents also but cant see how it would help.

Step 10:

FInally there is one more bolt that is on the driver side at the bottom that has a nut on the back end. THere is a final nut that is on the passenger side that is at the same level as the previous bolt on the other side. For some reason this has a funny offset washer that locks off when undoing the bolt. Again 16mm.

Step 11:

Now at this point you should have all of the gearbox to engine bolts removed. DOnt wiggle the box around just yet though as there are still some components that are attatched. Ensure that both of the electrical plugs are disconnected. One on the drivers side, other other on the passenger side of the gearbox. THey are accessible from above if you put your hand down the back of the engine and follow the cable that will lead to the plug.

THere are 3 bolts that need to be removed to disconnect the gearbox linkage. One is on the drivers side just on top of the box. It is a 12 or 13mm hex bolt that is just a support bar to keep everything stiff. THe other is on the passengerside literally 5mm from the clutch cylinder. THere is a nut that is about 13mm that holds the gear linkage on. Its in a recess but easy to get to.
THe final bolt for the linkage will be an bum! I warn you.....take a break now and be nice and calm. You will need to get under the car lying on your back with your feet facing the back of the car. Look up towards the back of the box and feel on the drivers side of the box for a rod connecting to it. THe room is very limited, i found by dropping the box down at the back with the help of a jack just enough to get your arm around the back. THere is a 8mm allen key bolt that sits in a recess. ALl will become clear when you are under the car. I would reccomend a short 8mm allen key, or a short straight allen key bit with a rathet spanner on the end. Room is limited.

Step 12:

The clutch slve cylinder must be removed prior to removing the gearbox. This is possible from reaching from the passenger side wing and leaning down into the bag. THe Haynes manual says is easier from the bottom. I used a bit of both to help get it out.
There is a single 6mm allen key bolt that is hidden under the bleed nipple. Trust me it is there, just takes a bit of finding.
Take extra care with the rubber boot that is over the piston on removal. Mine was perished and split in half. Its the only thing that stops the piston rod falling out so when you replace it must be in excellent condition. You dont want the rod dropping inside the bellhousing once its all bolted back up together.
WHen reinstalling it would suggest 100% opening the bleed nipple and getting the fluid out. The reason for this is that it allows you to instal the pushrod easilly without trying to compress against the spring and hydraulic pressure. Trust me i ruined my cylinder by thinking it was installed properly and bolted up pumping the pedal. It was solid and stiff, then it just popped and fluid went everywhere. I think the rod was not installed properly and it jumped up and over the internal release bearing plate of the bell housing. WIthout the back pressure exerted on the slave cylinder the whole thing blew up. Off to GSF tomorrow to get another hopefully so i can finish the job.
Now i have refitted it a couple of times after some issues encountered (one being rounding off the plastic bleed nipple when bleeding the system) i have a few good pointers to mention.

The gear linkage will need to be disconnected from the passenger side to allow room for the cylinder to fit in the hole of the bell housing. THe drivers side gear linkage support arm will need to be disconnected also to allow movement. THen make sure the rubber boot that is over the piston on the slave cylinder is clean and does not have any oil on. Then push it into the hole ensuring that the pistom goes in straight and locates on the dimple on the release bearing plate. This is pretty much guess work as the access is soo limited. If you push hard enough the rubber boot should go tight against the bell housing hole and should grip it just long enough to get he 6mm allen key bolt in the hole under the nipple and tighten before the piston tries to push its way back. This is another reason for disconnecting the two out of 3 gear linkage bolts because that little bit of access gained enables you to get a better position to get the piston in straight. I would advise you to crack off the bleed nipple before refitting if you need to bleed the clutch as i managed to round the plastic nipple off once fitted, it all had to come out again.

Step 13:

Now have a final check over to ensure that all bolts are out and that no parts of the loom are going to get tangled up when removing the box. Start by having 2 of you under the car, one at the front of the box, the other at the rear. WIggle it around and gentle pull back at the same time. Its VERY important not to move the box up and down to much as the input shaft can get bent easilly. Have a jack at the rear of the box and the front if possible to support it fully. Be patient and work the box out carefully. Periodically get out from under the car and look in the bay to check the water hoses at the back of the engine are not getting trapped with the box. THere is a plastic flange with 2 hoses comming off at the back of the box that will get tight when removing the box. Just be aware that this is happening and take care.

Step 14:

Now hopefully by now the box should be removed and loweved to the floor. I would advice carrying out an oil change on it seeing as its out or if it has done over 100k as i cant see it being an easy job with the box in situ at a later date. To do this i would pull out from under the car and place on some blocks of wood. My box took about 2.5 - 2.8 litres and didnt take more than 15 mins to do really. Just make sure the box is level so an accurate amount is added, so its not too empty or too full.

Step 15:

THis is basically the reverse of removal. Be carefull when manouvering the box under the car, if you have to roll it on its side like we did, there is a small thread that is exposed that the passenger side gearbox mechanism attatches to. Just try not to rest the box on its side on this thread.
Get it up to height and focus on getting that difficult 3rd shift rod on at the back of the box. Its possible to pull it forward a bit if its in neutral so you get a couple of inches closer to where you need to be. This is a very fiddle job, i was able to use my finger tips to just start the thread off by spinning the retaining washer that is located at the bottom of the rod. THis locks against the thread and turns the bolt at the same time. Once this is in (it took about 20mins of fiddling for me) tighten with a stubby 8mm allen key or a short 8mm socket allen key.