Bah, clutch went

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2009
Posts
18,599
Location
Finchley, London
Just over a mile or so away from home, felt shuddering under my clutch foot, then smelt burning, then saw smoke from the bonnet and quickly switched off. Gearstick was locked into first gear position, but after a minute or so it freed itself. But then clutch pedal lost all springback and is completely loose, dropped to the floor without returning. I thought it was a cable but the AA man said they're all hydraulic. He pointed to the road and showed me some fluid leaking, and said the slave cylinder was leaking pressure. He said they have to remove the gearbox so I might as welll replace the clutch. I'm hoping it doesn't come to more than 5 or 600 quid. I believe Mr.Clutch is very cheap hourly rate, but there isn't one nearby.

Just got a tow to the nearest garage, a citroen/peugeot specialist and MOT centre I use, both next door to each other. I'll ring them both tomorrow, see who's the cheapest, or, who can get it done this week. :(

Oh, 307 HDi, 2001.
 
Whats the miles on it, You would probably be sensible to change the DMF as well, they tend to go at appx 70-100k on the HDIs, Clutch plate would be badly contaminated by the fluid so a new clutch is deffo on the cards.
I wouldnt bother with mr clutch, kwik fit ECT, they are normally run by a bunch of cowboys without a clue, Peugeot would cost a fortune, Probably best to find a decent independent garage
 
Will Gill said:
Based on what I've heard and read here - don't use mr clutch if you value your car
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Glad you said that. AA man said their hourly rates are the lowest at £40ph, and estimated a clutch and labour cost of around £350. I was tempted, but since they're not local, it's probably just as well! There is another problem too. Over the last few months, my mechanic told me that the flywheel doesn't engage properly, so what happens is that often when I turn the key, there's a high pitched noise. But I always get it to engage and start after that. I'm wondering if this flywheel can be adjusted or if that's another expensive job?
 
scottg17 said:
Whats the miles on it, You would probably be sensible to change the DMF as well, they tend to go at appx 70-100k on the HDIs, Clutch plate would be badly contaminated by the fluid so a new clutch is deffo on the cards.
I wouldnt bother with mr clutch, kwik fit ECT, they are normally run by a bunch of cowboys without a clue, Peugeot would cost a fortune, Probably best to find a decent independent garage
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Ah yeah, DMF, that's the one my mechanic mentioned, dual mass flywheel, yes?
Any idea how much on top of the clutch? I'm on 87,000 miles, regularly serviced since I bought it in 2007 on 52,000 miles.
 
DMF- Dual Mass Flywheel
Common problem on most modern diesels, Unfortunately expensive usually around £300 for a pattern part, you could chance a 2nd hand one if its a known to have low miles, my mates sister has a 03 307 2.0 HDI, She managed to source a 2nd hand DMF for about £80 plus a new clutch kit and a mate to fit so worked out not bad
 
scottg17 said:
DMF- Dual Mass Flywheel
Common problem on most modern diesels, Unfortunately expensive usually around £300 for a pattern part, you could chance a 2nd hand one if its a known to have low miles, my mates sister has a 03 307 2.0 HDI, She managed to source a 2nd hand DMF for about £80 plus a new clutch kit and a mate to fit so worked out not bad
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Oh god. So in theory, a clutch, DMF and labour could be around £1000?
 
When I had a minor issue with my car (clutch pedal broke) I got talking to the RAC man about possibly changing the car. He strongly advised me not to get a diesel unless it was quite new and covered by a good warranty. The more I read about expensive repairs on them, the more I think he's right. I know any car can have expensive issues but it just seems that diesels have lots of expensive bits to break.

Sorry to hear about your problems though. Hope you get them sorted. How bad can Mr Clutch be? Might be worth a punt. Or try to find a local indi near a Mr Clutch and see if you can haggle a bit.
 
Yeah, a £150 to £200 saving could be false economy in the long run.

Shall I mention the flywheel to the garage or will they discover a problem with it anyway?
 
dalin80 said:
DMF's aren't exclusive to diesels.
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But the unique stresses placed on them which causes premature and commonplace failure are unique to diesels.

There are many petrol cars fitted with DMF's but you hear nothing about them because they are considerably more reliable because a decent petrol car uses a gearbox and revs to provide torque at the wheels, whereas a turbodiesel produces that torque at the fly..
 
I just rang the two garages where my car is parked. The Peugeot/Citroen dealer is £75 an hour, reckons it will cost £1,050 inc vat, and will lend me a little automatic run around car while he's working on it which is handy. Hhe says should be done by weekend. Meanwhile, the garage next door are getting back to me with a price, are £62 an hour, and don't have a car to lend me. There'll no doubt be a difference in their prices, but possibly negligible. So, I guess it might be worth going with the peugoet/citroen dealer?
 
Oh, apparently my car doesn't have a DMF, but just a regular flywheel, according to another garage, and I checked with robins and day parts dept who confirm that. I've been quoted £750 all in by another garage and they can do it all by tomorrow or thursday if I can get the car to them (don't know how, gonna try and get the AA to tow it again).
 
Merlin5 said:
Oh, apparently my car doesn't have a DMF, but just a regular flywheel, according to another garage, and I checked with robins and day parts dept who confirm that. I've been quoted £750 all in by another garage and they can do it all by tomorrow or thursday if I can get the car to them (don't know how, gonna try and get the AA to tow it again).
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AA Won't Tow you again, as they've already fulfilled their role of getting your recovered to a garage. Best trying to get the competing garage to tow you, or a mate.
 
AA Won't Tow you again, as they've already fulfilled their role of getting your recovered to a garage. Best trying to get the competing garage to tow you, or a mate.
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They will but you'll have to pay for the privalege.
 
Yea you're right, I rang AA and they wouldn't do it. Anyway, I'm still waiting for this 3rd garage to ring me back with a quote to beat or match £750, that would save me having to get the other garage at £750 to tow the car to their garage. I'm not going to bother with the peugeot/citroen specialist at over £1000, even for their free runaround car.
 
[TW]Fox;18138198 said:
But the unique stresses placed on them which causes premature and commonplace failure are unique to diesels.

There are many petrol cars fitted with DMF's but you hear nothing about them because they are considerably more reliable because a decent petrol car uses a gearbox and revs to provide torque at the wheels, whereas a turbodiesel produces that torque at the fly..
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It is not just turbo diesels that kill the DMF, it is engines that produce a lot of torque low down the failure rate with 2L turbo petrol engines of DMFs is quite high aswell. It is just no one buys the petrol model so you don't hear about it as much.

New petrol engines which are moving to high pressure direct injection with a turbo are going to have exactly the same failure points as a modern diesel.

In saying that no one will buy these petrols I watched a salesman explain that 8k a year didn't warrant a diesel and that DPFs may cause problems with town driving and the petrol model would be far better suited and over 1k cheaper the buyer still wanted a diesel.
 
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