Impending clutch failure?

Should have said that there are no symptoms of any clutch problem but I don't know about pedal travel. Garage is a small independent that hasn't abused her trust in the past.

Tim

Should have said that there are no symptoms of any clutch problem but I don't know about pedal travel. Garage is a small independent that hasn't abused her trust in the past.

You yourself have used the word ageing- clutches do wear out eventually. Anybody in the know (and I would definitely include garage mechanics in that group) can tell just from the feel of the pedal - you certainly don't have to see the clutch to tell. Start the car up, depress the clutch, put it in third gear and try to pull away. If the clutch is in good shape, the engine should stall pretty quickly. If not, then you have a worn out clutch. I have seen cars where the clutch is so worn out the engine does not stall at all- its just carries on merrily spinning! It doesn't sound to me like your garage is pulling a fast one at all.

[..]

I first took to the road in 1962. I've owned a large variety of vehicles, from new to ancient.Some of them have done well over 100k miles. I've replaced lots of clutches - but *never* in one of my own cars.

If you drive properly, the clutch should easily last the life of the vehicle.

How?

My current car will pull away in third gear without stalling easily, but the clutch is fine. Of course, if I tried it with the handbrake on... ;-)

Chris

That would seem to be the case. This daughter is quite mechanically sympathetic and sensitive (unlike my other one!) so I assumed that she would have noticed a problem but I think it's developed slowly and slipped under her radar.

The garage was quite unequivocal in saying it was the first thing they noticed about the car!

Tim

Mmm. Debatable. It depends, of course, on the "life of the vehicle". If you treat a car as disposable and being driven into the ground at a mere decade and a bit, purely because the replacement cost is greater than the sale value, then - yep...

Last clutch I changed was in our 150k mile £100-five-years-ago Pug 205. Probably the original, given how badly worn it was... but the car's nowhere _near_ end of life.

He was trying to suggest that the clutch'd slip.

Other symptoms often include the pedal's weight.

IIRC, some cars have a clutch wear indicator - which may only be visible from underneath. But I dunno if it applies in this case.

[...]

I know. If you had a partly-worn clutch and tried to pull away in third

*without* the h/b on, the clutch weakness would tend to help however. I realise it was just an oversight to fail to mention the test needed the h/ b on to be valid.

You wouldn't notice any difference if the clutch was hydraulically- actuated, (as most are now). In fact, unless you knew that particular vehicle really well, you wouldn't notice if it was a diaphragm spring, and coil-spring clutches went out with cross-ply tyres!

Chris

Leave it until she notices it starting to slip. Doesn't seem much point in mucking about with it before that unless she's on some sort of emergency response call out rota - which is unlikely if she's driving a V-reg Corolla ;-)

One thing to add: how accurate is she in reporting a message? As someone who worries (excessively) about context & vocabulary, I can never get over how some people perform a 27-person Chinese Whisper chain corruption on a simple message. eg a mechanic saying "This clutch is biting quite high" becomes "the mechanic said its about to rip itself out of its mountings and bite my foot off."

Only been driving for 40 years but like you, never worn out a clutch even in high mileage cars.

I agree! In this case I'm pretty sure my daughter's not to blame. The car had been pre-owned by an elderly couple whose clutch control I suspect wasn't the best.

Tim

Well it would seem from what the mechanic said that not doing the clutch would render the MOT a bit pointless due to the state of it. My daughter's gone with his judgement and should get another year out of the car.

Tim

Problem is, of course, many of us buy secondhand, and sometimes at the budget end of the market. I never replaced a clutch on any of the cars we've bought when they were relatively new: The old Golf & Polo I replaced them on were both 80k miles or more, over 10 years old, and had had a couple of owners at least.

The highest-mileage car I had (a Mk2 golf with, IIRC 160k on it? Dunno. I never replaced the clutch, and the comprehensive set if bills with it didn't show a replacement, so maybe not. It had 118k on when I bought it.

I personally experience elderly drivers who do go through a clutch in a year, less than 500 miles too.

Biting point/softness is a usual giveaway that the clutch is on its way out.

on a car of that age there is little point doing the clutch before it fails, rescue service membership and wait till it burns out would be a good plan.

I had a pal who learned to drive late in life after making quite a bit of money. Bought himself a new E-Type Jag in about 1970 and got through two clutches and flywheels in less than 5000 miles - before the first main service. He didn't like it running away with him when starting, so used third gear. ;-)

It does depend on use though. A clutch doesn't get much use on a motorway.

Oy!

I only had one car which needed a new clutch in 58 years, and that was a

1970 Vauxhall Viva HC.

They had had so much embarrassment from bodywork rust that they had increased the body gauge by 25%, but they didn't upgrade the clutch for the heavier car. The clutch wore out on that pig every 13,000 miles like clockwork, and I only got 30mpg from a 1300cc engine.

It was 30 years before I bought my next brand new car.

I switched from a 10 year old Mondeo to a new Focus, and it took a week or so before I adapted to the increased pedal travel required for clean gear changes.

Whether that was clutch wear on the Mondeo or just different characteristics I don't know.

And as long as you have reasonable mechanical "feel" you can cover a fair mileage after you first detect slipping, at least provided you don't have to do 1 in 3 hill starts.

My dad took on a job to tow a coach back here from Germany, he used a Mk2 3.4 Jag. as the tow car. He decided that a pair of rear tyres were considerably cheaper and easier than replacing the clutch, so when he needed to get going from a standstill he dumped the clutch and span wheels till it was all on the move.

Girlfriend had a 1965 HA Viva which she bought in about 1972 - rear bearing on gearbox failed so I rebuilt it, and fitted a new clutch friction plate while I had it apart. Instructive, but would actually have been cheaper to buy a re-con gearbox.