[JPC]

Took delivery of a 2010 JSW manual transmission yesterday with 11 miles on the odometer. I noticed a burnt plastic type smell when first sitting in the car while going through the features of the car with the salesman and it proceeded to get worse after driving it a while. I brought it home and the smell was so bad I could hardly go into the garage later in the day.
I took it back to the dealer and a mechanic thought that it might be coming from the clutch. He drove it around and thought it was driving okay, but said they would look into it on Monday.
Any thoughts, or ideas?

 

[chittychittybangbang]

Is it like burning wire insulation? Burning clutch normally smells worst while it's happening and right after. The smell is bad but it dissipates. Taking it in and logging the complaint so that it's on the record is the right thing to do.

 

[JPC]

To me it smells like when an electrical motor or solenoid coil burns up. So, I guess it is like insulation burning. There wasn't any smoke that I could detect while driving, but the smell was definitely worse the longer I drove the car. Seemed to be worse by the left front wheel well.
We'll see what they say tomorrow...

 

[chittychittybangbang]

The reason I don't think it's the diesel particulate filter is because your car only has 11 miles on it and you say it's so bad you can't go into the garage. If there is a wire burning report it to the NHTSA

I just added this note to the new owner checklists for cars equipped with a DPF (2009+).
HTML clipboardAfter you shut off the engine or are stopped at a light: if you hear the engine fan running and you smell something overheating at the tailpipe, this is the diesel particulate filter (DPF) burning off accumulated soot. If the DPF doesn't get hot enough during a highway run or normal driving, it injects some fuel to burn off trapped particulates. If you shut it off in the middle of a regeneration burn off cycle it will have a little odor.

 

[JPC]

Dealer pulled the clutch apart and found a failed spring on the dual mass flywheel. They're waiting to hear from VW on the next steps.
Besides the flywheel that failed, are there other things that I should insist they replace?

 

[JPC]

Dealer replaced the flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, throw-out bearing, and slave cylinder. Also needed a new shift linkage (may have been damaged when pulling out the old clutch?).

Should be good to go...I hope.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

I believe that it's an unusual failure this early. The dual mass flywheels on the manual transmission should be pretty reliable by now.

 

[LIQUIDSILVER]

The flywheel is the only reason I don't like the DSG. Oilhammer said most over 60k with the DSG have shaky flywheels.