Some Serious car advice please

Magic_x_uk

Magic_x_uk

Magic_x_uk

Soldato
Joined
11 Oct 2005
Posts
5,725
Location
Derbyshire
I know some of you wont like my car, but fair enough I just need some advice.

I have a W reg Renault Laguna 1.6 Alize. Had it since new and has done 104k miles.

the clutch cable snapped last week and my mechanic sorted it (£130, which included £60 recovery charge as I was about 12 miles from home) but told me clutch is on way out. Could last 3 - 4k miles but he was not sure.

Driving home tonight from work it is going. Have all on getting a gear. Cannot get 1st unless I switch engine of, put it into 1st then start car and it starts to move off even with clutch pedal all the way down. Same in reverse. Very hard changing gears.

Now my mechanic told me (used him for years, he is good) New clutch £300 plus it needs a front left hand wheel bearing £70 and MOT on 24th July.

I don't have the money to change the car really for something else. so I am looking around £400 ish to sort my car.

Is it worth sorting ?

Or should I just cut my losses and buy a cheap car for that sort of money or what. Everything else (I think) is ok on the car.

Does my head in as you rely on your car so much and this will put me in a big pickle with regards work. But I can still get there as I have a motorbike but only recently passed motorbike DAS test and don't really want the bike for riding in the wet.


Just posting here to see what the people in the know think.


Thanks
 
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Sometimes with older cars, especially given you have owned it from new, if it has no other major faults you dont yet know about, then it may be worth paying the money to make it sound for another 12 months.

I believe the phrase is, better the devil you know than the one you don't.

I recently sold a 1997 P 1.9TD Xantia with 115k on the clock for £550 and tbh the clutch on that was nearly gone too, so my guess would be that a large car such as the Laguna/Xantia/Mondeo etc at £400 is more likely (imo) to have faults that will push the overall cost above the cost of repairing your Laguna. So that would be my choice personally.

ALSO, it sounds to me that they havent adjusted the clutch cable properly! If its biting at the bottom of the pedal, then there is loads of slack in the cable and tbh, properly adjusted, you may find the clutch itself will do you for many more thousands of miles! It varies per car, but typically a new clutch should bite at roughly 50% of the travel of the pedal.. not when its buried in the carpet! Get him (or better still somebody with a Haynes and a little knowledge) to have a look for you, adjusting a clutch cable is never difficult.
 
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Magic_x_uk said:
I know some of you wont like my car, but fair enough I just need some advice.

I have a W reg Renault Laguna 1.6 Alize. Had it since new and has done 104k miles.

the clutch cable snapped last week and my mechanic sorted it (£130) but told me clutch is on way out. Could last 3 - 4k miles but he was not sure.

Driving home tonight from work it is going. Have all on getting a gear. Cannot get 1st unless I switch engine of, put it into 1st then start car and it starts to move off even with clutch pedal all the way down. Same in reverse. Very hard changing gears.

Now my mechanic told me (used him for years, he is good) New clutch £300 plus it needs a front left hand wheel bearing £70 and MOT on 24th July.

I don't have the money to change the car really for something else. so I am looking around £400 ish to sort my car.

Is it worth sorting ?

Or should I just cut my losses and buy a cheap car for that sort of money or what. Everything else (I think) is ok on the car.

Does my head in as you rely on your car so much and this will put me in a big pickle with regards work. But I can still get there as I have a motorbike but only recently passed motorbike DAS test and don't really want the bike for riding in the wet.


Just posting here to see what the people in the know think.


Thanks
Click to expand...

£400 to sort an otherwise sound car might seem cheap if you go and spend £500 on something else only to find it needs x, y and z doing to it.

I thought clutches normally just start to slip when on their way out?
 
Spend the money repairing the car. You know the car and how it has been treated. Buy something else at this price range and who knows what sort of can of worms you might open.
 
IIRC he had a sqealing clutch then the pedal snapped. The mechanic said it's only got a few 1000 miles on it was probably referring to the release bearing but if its not slipping then a quick adjustment to tighten the cable a bit more is all thats needed I reckon
 
To clarify - it's probably not the clutch, they fail slowly, release bearings fail fairly quickly in comparison. But if you replace the bearing, you replace the clutch else you'll be paying all that labour again in a few thousand miles.

Agree you need to check the cable first, maybe get a mechanically minded friend to look?
 
He posted a while ago and said it was squealing so I think the bearing is on its way....

Definitely worth fiddling with the cable a bit first though :)
 
The cynic in me is saying that he purposefully adjusted it like that to make sure it only lasted 3-4k miles :/

Yeah, if it was worn out then it would slip, not do this.
 
Agent_Smith357 said:
Im pretty sure the cable has a self adjusting ratchet on the pedal like the clio's and such.
Click to expand...

It does and I suggested in his other thread that it was this that had failed. I had an almost identical problem with difficult gear changes after having a new clutch and cable fitted. Garage had no idea and thought they had bent the rod between the box and gear lever. £20 later for a new pedal assembly and all was well much to there supprise. If the clutch was slipping I cant see why the car would try to pull itself along with the pedal down. If however the cable wasnt adjusting properly and leaving the clutch slightly engaged then it would be trying to pull away.
 
Another one thinking it is the cable that needs adjusting.
If the clutch (plate) wears out then the clutch starts to slip. it does NOT make it hard getting into gears.

Definitely an engagement issue, could be the release bearing also as already stated but rare.
 
Just had mechanic on phone. (Nice guy as lent me a R reg Diesel Estate Golf whilst mine is at his works. It is the release bearing. Something has also sheared of and so it needs a new gearbox £120 second hand. So all in all around £500 to get sorted.

I really am in a pickle as the car is worth about that. Dont really know what to do. Car is in pieces at moment. So told him to go ahead and get it done. Suppose this is the only major thing I have had go wrong with the car and hopefully nothing else will happen.

£500 covers new clutch/ gearbox/ MOT and wheel bearing, unless he finds anything else wrong with it :( :(
 
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