Clutch on it's way out?

Ascendancy · 27 Mar 2015 at 09:33

Noticed some weird behaviour on the way to work in the Mazda this morning.

5th gear on the motorway doing about 50MPH, floor it, revs shoot up but not much else appears to happen apart from a funny smell.

I assume the clutch is on it's way out? How much do you reckon it'll cost to replace if so?

Scania · 27 Mar 2015 at 09:35

Classic sign of a slipping clutch, yes.

It's more than on the way out, it's probably already left the building!

How much depends on the model and if you goto a small independent or main dealer.

Ascendancy · 27 Mar 2015 at 09:48

Sigh. Literally just passed the MOT yesterday, everything was fine last night and this morning it decides to play silly buggers.

Thanks for confirming what I was afraid of, I'll see if I can get a local garage to take a look at it today :/

bledd · 27 Mar 2015 at 09:54

Clutch isn't a part of an MOT, or any service really.

When it goes, it goes.

What car do you have?

Cost will vary from ~£150 to £2000

Jono8 · 27 Mar 2015 at 09:55

Ascendancy said:
Noticed some weird behaviour on the way to work in the Mazda this morning.

5th gear on the motorway doing about 50MPH, floor it, revs shoot up but not much else appears to happen apart from a funny smell.

Yep, definitely sounds like your clutch is slipping.

Svack · 27 Mar 2015 at 10:01

I had similar issues in my Peugeot in February

I paid £378 for mine to be done at a local independent
That was with an original clutch kit, replacing the drive shaft seals and fresh transmission fluid

But as stated before, different cars different costs!

Ascendancy · 27 Mar 2015 at 10:17

bledd. said:
Clutch isn't a part of an MOT, or any service really.

When it goes, it goes.

What car do you have?

Cost will vary from ~£150 to £2000

It's a 2002 Mazda 6 2.3L Sport

sovietspybob · 27 Mar 2015 at 10:24

That shulnbd't be too expensive, the cutch kits look around £150 for the parts then say a few hours labour i'd have thought under £400 would be reasonable.

At times like these thank god you're not driving a diesel as it'd easily be double and maybe then some!

Maccapacca · 27 Mar 2015 at 10:28

Ascendancy said:
It's a 2002 Mazda 6 2.3L Sport

I replaced my Mazda 6 clutch, it was a fortune and I didn't replace the dual mass flywheel, a month later the DMF was rattling, same on the wives Zafira, we didn't change the DMF and a month later it was rattling.

The DMF to me now is a consumable item if you need a clutch I'd replace the DMF. The Mazda I put up with it then sold it and the Zafira we paid for it all to be stripped out and replaced including a new clutch as the new one was self adjusting and no one in the country has the tool to reset them. A new one was cheaper than the reset tool, plus not having a car for a month.

Was an expensive lesson.

Ascendancy · 27 Mar 2015 at 10:43

sovietspybob said:
That shulnbd't be too expensive, the cutch kits look around £150 for the parts then say a few hours labour i'd have thought under £400 would be reasonable.

At times like these thank god you're not driving a diesel as it'd easily be double and maybe then some!

Yeah it's looking at £140 + labour. Taking it to the garage at 4pm for them to have a look and give me a quote.

maccapacca said:
I replaced my Mazda 6 clutch, it was a fortune and I didn't replace the dual mass flywheel, a month later the DMF was rattling, same on the wives Zafira, we didn't change the DMF and a month later it was rattling.

The DMF to me now is a consumable item if you need a clutch I'd replace the DMF. The Mazda I put up with it then sold it and the Zafira we paid for it all to be stripped out and replaced including a new clutch as the new one was self adjusting and no one in the country has the tool to reset them. A new one was cheaper than the reset tool, plus not having a car for a month.

Was an expensive lesson.

Yeah from what I've read online replacing the flywheel at the same time sounds like a good idea.

Just hope it doesn't fail between now and Tuesday, going to Chester Zoo tomorrow and Alton Towers on Monday

skyripper · 27 Mar 2015 at 10:48

If you're at the funny-smell and revs up-speed down stage, I wouldnt be planning any long trips! When that happened to my car I had to spend time finding a garage to do clutch replacement that also specialized in not being up any steep hills!

kaiowas · 27 Mar 2015 at 10:54

Ascendancy said:
ust hope it doesn't fail between now and Tuesday, going to Chester Zoo tomorrow and Alton Towers on Monday

Torque is what makes a worn clutch slip, slippage will wear the clutch even faster. To drive around a worn clutch you need to reduce the amount of torque going through it.

Avoid hard acceleration where possible and when acceleration is necessary try to use a lower gear and higher rpm rather than just leaving it in top and trying to accelerate from 2000rpm.

Ascendancy · 27 Mar 2015 at 11:00

kaiowas said:
Torque is what makes a worn clutch slip, slippage will wear the clutch even faster. To drive around a worn clutch you need to reduce the amount of torque going through it.

Avoid hard acceleration where possible and when acceleration is necessary try to use a lower gear and higher rpm rather than just leaving it in top and trying to accelerate from 2000rpm.

Yeah, the car appears to drive fine under normal conditions, the slippage only happens when I try and accelerate quickly.

Granny driving this weekend it seems.

sovietspybob · 27 Mar 2015 at 11:07

When it's started slipping it's completely worn out so personally i wouldn't be driving it at all. If you do drive on a worn clutch you could wreck the flywheel plus it could also just completely fail and leave you stranded.

Dogbreath · 27 Mar 2015 at 13:11

sovietspybob said:
When it's started slipping it's completely worn out so personally i wouldn't be driving it at all. If you do drive on a worn clutch you could wreck the flywheel plus it could also just completely fail and leave you stranded.

If you drive sympathetically a worn out clutch can last for a long time.

Scania · 27 Mar 2015 at 14:07

From his op where he describes the revs as "shooting up" I'd say it's borked and I wouldn't want to drive it like that, I assume the op isn't keen on clutch less gear changes either....

skyripper · 27 Mar 2015 at 14:17

sovietspybob said:
When it's started slipping it's completely worn out so personally i wouldn't be driving it at all. If you do drive on a worn clutch you could wreck the flywheel plus it could also just completely fail and leave you stranded.

Dogbreath said:
If you drive sympathetically a worn out clutch can last for a long time.

Having been on the receiving end of this situation twice, I wouldnt go anywhere apart from the garage with a clutch thats borked.

A cooked up clutch and flywheel is a very messy thing if you drive it past the failure. That smell you get, is the smell of friction plates and metal at high temperature, and its leaking out of a sealed unit.

I can understand reluctance to have the dual-mass flywheel replaced (they're not cheap on some cars), but its a false economy.

chrisoverson · 27 Mar 2015 at 16:47

skyripper said:
Having been on the receiving end of this situation twice, I wouldnt go anywhere apart from the garage with a clutch thats borked.

A cooked up clutch and flywheel is a very messy thing if you drive it past the failure. That smell you get, is the smell of friction plates and metal at high temperature, and its leaking out of a sealed unit.

I can understand reluctance to have the dual-mass flywheel replaced (they're not cheap on some cars), but its a false economy.

+1.

I seriously wouldn't consider doing any trips that arent 100% necessary with a car in that state. To the garage would be about it.

Imagine if you have to floor it to get in a gap on the motorway or to avoid a collision and it just slipped and left you standing... or if it fails completely and leaves you with no power in traffic. Not a good idea.

Even if the car is driveable now you're taking a chance driving it anywhere. Get it fixed asap and get it done properly, can be tough if money is tight but it won't get any cheaper leaving it a week and might get much more expensive.

Dav4 · 27 Mar 2015 at 16:52

If a clutch is on its last legs does it always slip :confused:

as my Mondeo clutch is really high and feels like it struggles getting the biting point on incline or hills as i have to bring it literally all the way up.
But on the other hand it pulls hard in every gear and i have tried the putting it in a higher gear while doing a low speed and it accelerates slowly without over revving or anything. :confused:

chrisoverson · 27 Mar 2015 at 16:54

Dav4 said:
If a clutch is on its last legs does it always slip as my Mondeo clutch is really high and feels like it struggles getting the biting point on incline or hills as i have to bring it literally all the way up.
But on the other hand it pulls hard in every gear and i have tried the putting it in a higher gear while doing a low speed and it accelerates slowly without over revving or anything.

It'll mean it's coming toward the end of its wear limit I expect but not yet "last legs".

A clutch can last a lot of miles so it might be fine for a while. Some cars are auto-adjusting so you don't notice it really until it actually starts to give in.

Just make sure to save up some cash and put it to one side for when it does go

Clutch on it's way out?

Tea Drinker