Motor Ombudsman Advice

Thanks for your response. Ultimately I will wait for the garage to diagnose the extent of the damage caused by the flywheel not operating correctly. But I assume, as found by other VW experts that fixing the flywheel will fix the air con.

Umm - no. It doesn't get its power from the flywheel, and it's a clutch - but not the same one.

It's driven from the serp belt at the other end of the engine to the flywheel, same belt as drives the alternator, and the electro-magnetic cluch is an integral part of the compressor, rather than the friction plate between engine and transmission.

These two paragraphs seem contradictory to me. It seems like you think that one end of the crankshaft is isolated from the flywheel at the other? I would assume that there is no isolation.

B'sides, your aircon problem was almost certainly a gas loss caused - first time - by means unknown, and second time probably by some small foreign body that got introduced into the filling valve during the regas, leading to the gas escaping. If they've not done a thorough vac pull-and-hold test, then used UV dye to trace any leak, then it may well be both are the same cause - foreign object damage to the condenser, probably the single most common cause of gas leaks on newer cars, and not something that's EVER warranty covered.

This could be true actually, I will amend the letter to ombudsman because the First problem with the air con probably was caused by the service person graunching something or a valve and causing a gas leak. This sounds about right as the air con completely stopped working. Since then, and currently, the air con is working intermittently which suggests there is some gas left in the system. and all signs point to flywheel causing this problem. Note that it feels like - though difficult to confirm that the air con doesnt work when idling and at low speeds but ok at faster speeds. It was 100% working all the time before i took it to get serviced.

Again, many thanks for all your contributions, I am not an expert on car mechanics but do have a university level understanding of engineering in general. I am mainly here for advice on Money, and the matter of consumer rights rather than the mechincal aspects - that im certainly not an expert on but was hoping that some people here would be able to chip in! Although, your questions about the mechanics will certainly help me to use the correct terminology if and when i need to argue the case.
But it would be extremely unfair for VW not to fix this under warranty seeing as they already booked it in on Thursday for a warranty repair after diagnosis and, further, the flywheel is covered under the terms of the warranty. I am slightly nervous that they wont fix the clutch but they have already told me that this is a warranty replacement too so that just about covers that one.

Ill take this moment to remind everyone that my gripe is neither with the fact that the car has a fault, nor with the fact that it will be fixed under warranty, but my case is about not providing a courtesy car, drive to work or suitable compensation for hire car/public transport as advertised.

On that side of things your "wall of guff" comments were very helpful so i am very grateful for that!

But that doesn't mean the two problems are in any way related.

Ok, if the two are not related then:
A) Explain how the compressor belt can turn if the flywheel cannot.
explain how the compressor can remain operational if the belt is not turning.

Also I refer back to the point about the alternator, possibly though i still think unlikely, if the flywheel is not turning consistently then, perhaps there is not enough voltage on the alternator to enable switching of the electromagnetic clutch in the compressor.

If the flywheel wasn't turning, how did you get the car to move under its own power?

First of all, by changing the subject i assume you are agreeing that the two are directly related.
I cant get the car to move under its own power all the time. hence, why I'm so peed off!
Before the clutch stopped working, the ac was working intermittently and the clutch was working intermittently.

Again, if there was insufficient voltage for the compressor clutch, you'd have plenty of other problems. The car wouldn't start, and you'd probably need to use the key in the physical lock to open the door... But the alternator is, at least, driven by the same belt as the compressor.

Yes i see what you are saying here - i did say that its possible that it was alternator problems. I know this is not your main point but obviously the key locks run off the battery when engine is off and do not require alternator voltages. I'm suggesting that the compressor clutch may require higher voltages to operate than the door latch solenoids, these higher voltages normally being provided by the alternator when the car engine is running. same applies to starter motor which runs off the battery voltage rather than the alternator voltage. I assume that very soon the battery will no longer have enough charge to start the car because if the alternator is not providing enough charge voltage.


I completely agree with all your other explanations and diagrams, that was never in question but nice pictures! A flywheel is bolted to the crank and the belt is driven off the crank at the other end. Therefore if the flywheel stopped turning the belt would stop turning and therfore any devices driven by the belt would stop working. Exactly what is happening in my car.

Again thanks for your contributions here [cheers], perhaps we can get back to the MSE aspects of this rather than the mechanical.