2002 Clio Dci Clutch - £720?!!

yeah seems about right, they are quoting ICME time which as you say is 11 hours, but its like any job you quote for & not just the motor trade, building trade for example, if you can do it quicker, then its a few extra sheckles for the tea break fund.

Look round for an independent garage who can do it - the labour rate will be far lower. 11 hours labour suggests engine-out, but often there are ways of doing these things without completely removing the engine, and that shortens the time.

just out of interest, i'll have a looksie tommorrow when i get to work to see how much we would charge.

Is it a dual mass flywheel on that? If so it's pretty normal practice to replace that as well.

Autodata quote 6.8 hours to change the clutch, surely the dealer should be able to do it quicker, with all the special tools and knowledge.

Engine and transmission removal is quoted at 6.5 hours, so even if the dealer has to take the engine out they are still charging far too many hours.

Indeed. Presuming the 6.5 hours includes putting the engine + transmission back in (I can't imagine many people would take a car to a garage for them to just remove the engine+transmission and *not* put it back :-)), then once out, there's no reason why the clutch change shouldn't be doable in little more than 5-10 minutes. Even allowing for more complicated bits than I might have thought, 1 hour absolute tops would have been adequate, I'd have thought.

SimonJ ( snipped-for-privacy@mine.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Removal? Or removal and refitting?

( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Depends *entirely* on how it's driven. It's eminently possible to kill a clutch in a lot less than 50k.

( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

That's £612+vat. £55 per hour. Ignoring the parts prices.

Not a chance, not a dealer. Not unless you live somewhere VERY VERY cheap or in a timewarp.

Yet another reason why I like old cars. 11 hours to do a clutch!? So, for a home mechanic doing one for the first time? Better book a week off work and start on the Friday afternoon.

Si

Heh, I remember a Mk3 Escort clutch taking me two months. On and off, mind. That included being too tight to buy a torque wrench to do the clutch bolts up to 12Nm or so (not entirely neccessary for an experienced mechanic who knows how it should feel, but for someone without much of a clue of how tight 12Nm feels, and not enough room to piss about balancing weights, it would have helped), and me keeping on tightening it up until I snapped the head off the bolt. I then had to remove the flywheel to drill out the remainder of that bolt, at which point buying a torque wrench was pretty essential, as I didn't fancy the flywheel bolts being unevenly torqued.

Next clutch I did was on a Mk2 Astra - took me 1.5 hours in total, over two days (because the first day it was pissing it down with rain, and I didn't desperately need to finish the job) - could probably do another one in an easy half hour.

Yeah, and me. Even on a Mini, I can change a clutch without removing the engine in about 3 hours.

I once picked up a lorry from a rental place with just over 10k on the clock and the clutch was just starting to slip. God knows what they'd done to manage that.

according to our times its 8.2 to do the clutch @ 42.50 an hour. £348 + the clutch at £120 approx as there is a choice, then you've got the dreaded on top of that.

approx £549.00 to do the job.

Rented it out to Muppets without a single clue how to drive a truck.