So I have a 2003 1.8L quattro with less than 60,000 miles on it and check out what happened....

I was teaching a friend to drive stick on this car (I know, bad idea, but hey) and she ended up smoking the clutch really badly. Afraid she hurt the car, I limped it about a mile back home and let everything cool down.

Next morning I turned the car on and it wouldnt go into gear, so I had it towed to my mechanic to replace the clutch and throwout bearing... when he took everything apart, he noticed a couple of holes in the bell housing of my transmission. Upon further inspection, it turns out, the rivet that holds one of the fingers on the pressure plate had snapped and turned thefinger into a hedge trimmer, tearing up the housing.

So my question comes in a few parts...

1. Would this have happened anyway, regardless if I was driving or a friend?
2. My mechanic is a guy I trust, but, if he welds the holes (if it's even possible) is it safe?
3. Anyone seen anything like this before?
4. My mechanic said that if he cant weld it I would most likely need a new or usedtransmission... why cant we just replace the housing?

Thanks a lot guys.

 

I have never actually seen a clutch blow up, or any of the pressure plate fingers come off before, but i have heard of it.
If the holes aren't that bad and he can weld aluminum i don't see any problem with him welding them closed.
If its bad, yes you would have to get a new tranny.

 

I've worked on blown clutches before but holy **** not bad ones where the PP fingers came off! Poor thing must've gotten raped. I think your friends aggressive shifting caused this drastic damage... must've been dog-boxin' that SOB