Clutches!

[GridGirl]

To start a long and boring story, last week my other half's car got all it's fuel lines ripped out out and spilt fuel eveywhere after an altercation with a bollard. It wasnt cheap to repair. Its still not repaired and he was gutted. Then its snowed...blah, blah, blah, then I spent 5 hours trying to get home from work on Friday and ended up abandoning my car on a pub carpark up the road from my house rather than attemping to get down my steet. Went to get it the next morning. It was stuck and I had someone helped me remove it as I had a hair appointment that I didnt want to cancel. I did bunt the clutch a little and my car did smell pretty aweful.

To cut my long story short, I did some more town driving, and then drove 120 miles to see my other half, bought him a meal to cheer him up because of his own car dramas. Just before we left the resaurant he said *I'd laugh if your clutch went now, we could both go home and cry together*. Less than 5 minutes later we had ground to a hault on the hard shoulder of the M62 and were calling for my car to be towed back to his place. I then stood on the verge and thew a minor hissy fit but on the up side my hair did look lovely!

Now here's where I wouldnt mind some car boffin advice. My car is a brand new Fiesta ST. Its 4 and a half months old and has only done 6000 miles. Does anyone think I could get this fixed under warranty? I know clutches are usually exempt as its classed as wear and tear. Does anyone know roughly what a new clutch would cost, and have I got a stupidly complicated fancy one as I bought an ST instead of a standard slowmobile Fiesta?

[Plato 4 Title]

This should be fixed under warranty - something very not right there. A clutch should last 60,000 miles or more depending on the type of driving you do and how you use the clutch. Unless you go round doing burnouts etc etc! if you did have to pay for a new clutch, release bearing etc you would be looking at around £250-300 inc fitting.

[GridGirl]

No I wouldn't know how to do a burnt outs, Im an accountant unfortunately :p My car does have go faster stripes which does suggest I'm some kind of girl racer, but I only picked them as my favourite football team play in a blue and white stripey kit and I wanted to show my support for them.

I had rung the dealer early that day to complain that my car mats that I'd purchased with my car had already worn out and had started to ruin my carpet. The dealer said I could have a new set for free as this shouldnt happen. I dont know whether this could be related to having a dodgy clutch as it was under the clutch pedal where it had worn. I dont believe I ride the clutch so I dont think its my driving, but getting stuck in the snow and burning the clutch then was never going to do it any good.

[Mark]

It depends, the dealer could turn around and say that you've been doing burn outs and that it's your fault (I know it's not). Especially if you tell him that it was caused by you driving out of the snow.

But a clutch should last 30-40k, at least. Having said that the clutch on my Fiesta is starting to squeal under leoad and that's only after 19k, so I don't think they are brilliant. I think Fiestas do have issues with burning clutches, I've tried to move it up a bit on my steep drive before and it's ended up smelling of clutch :s .

LMAO at ripping the fuel lines on the bollards tho :laugh: You can be sure I won't let him hear the end of that ;)

[GridGirl]

Stop being mean Mark, you should eb sympathetic to our cause. :p We prolly have £20,000 worth of car between us that have either no fuel to power them or no gears to move anywhere. Our legs aint made for walking!

[Dave B]

You'd be very lucky if the garage replace the clutch FOC, but it certainly should last far more than 6000 miles!

They'll claim wear & tear, you should counterclaim fair use. If you take the pessamistic view that a clutch should last 20,000 miles then you've only had 30% of that, so I'd say a fair solution would be that you pay 30% of the cost.

[Iain]

Bollards? Fuel lines? He didn't try to get over some of those electronic bollards before the went back up did he? :dozey:

[GridGirl]

The bollard wasnt electric, it just wasnt secured down. A wheel hit it when he was reversing off the parking space and it flicked up. Its a good job the car was a stinky diesel or the whole thing could have blown up.

Ford have looked at my car and apparently there is no clutch left, its completely burnt away. :( I'm not happy, might think about selling my stripes and getting a normal boring car, this has never ever happened to me before.

[luvracin]

Ford have looked at my car and apparently there is no clutch left, its completely burnt away. :( I'm not happy, might think about selling my stripes and getting a normal boring car, this has never ever happened to me before.

Did they say if they'll replace it under warranty?

[captin 1 VXR]

ohhh arrrrrrrrrrr . not good tell them u want it repaired as its a fult with the car . if thay say no say u go to u local radio station and newspapers . that works most of the time

[GridGirl]

From what I've been told there are no marks on the clutch and that it has just worn away completely. I've been quoted £360 to get a new one fitted, and right now it doesnt look like it will get fixed under warranty but I will try and argue it. The dealer has said that he's never heard of it happening after only 6000 miles.


I'm not going to go to the papers or anything like that but I do want to know the value of my car is. I'm not prepared to pay over £1000 a year if this is going to happen every 4 months, I'd rather cut my losses.

[Daniel]

Sorry to hear your problems :) Tell your better half the Australian from the forum sends his best wishes and laughs cruely at his misfortune :p

If I was yourself I'd call up Ford and give them a good talking to and if that doesn't work do this.

Write an email letters@evo.co.uk

Call it "pisST off with my Fiesta" and just put your story in an email. Companies don't tend to like their premium models being slated in the press and if you send your mobile number with your letter (Evo would of course not publish it) that will give Ford's press department somewhere to contact you and sort your problem out. If you write your letter well enough and make it funny as you've done on this forum you could win a Road Angel fixed camera detector and a 12 month subscription.

Hope that helps.

Say hi to Ibby "Bollard" for me :wave:

[Mark]

I would suggest that it's a one off. I've read lots about Fiestas in the 2 and a bit years I've had one, and I've never heard of a clutch completely wearing away after 6,000 miles before.

Some advice when wor lass had a problem with her car is, don't talk to the dealer, get directly in touch with Ford customer care, they have the power to fix things in order to maintain the reputation of the brand, whereas the dealers aren't bothered.

I think the problem is that you let your boyfriend drive your car, he can't even reverse in a straight line ;)

[Daniel]

Or have his picture taken while drinking a pint without wearing a bad tie :mark:

[XR8]

Grid Girl! Dont want to sound mean or upet you!
I am in the industry and have never heard of a clutch lasting 6000ks that wasnt abused.I remember a little old lady sopme years back that owned a Volvo and only got 4000 kays out of her front brakes.The pads were worn down to the metal and destroyed the discs and all.She sued the mechanic and had the brakes rebuilt.4000 ks later same thing. Sued that mechanic and won again.Had the brakes rebuilt by another mechanic but before the 4000ks he got wind of the situationb and the man from the liecensing board and him followed her home one day with a movie camera.Her journey home took her down the Galston Gorge (on the outskirts of Sydney)vert steep a winding road. Well her brake lights never went off from the top to the bottom and by the time she was near the bottom there was smoke comming from her front brakes and this was a daily occurance!All this from a lady that stood up in court and said she was a slow and sesible driver and never abused her car.Well Grid Girl baybe just maybe some one has driven your car and mis treated it so I would not make to many waves as the car maker has the proof that there clutches last many more miles than that in normal use.
Please have a happy day.

[Mark]

...and breathe :p

Well she admitted that the problem started on getting the car out of the snow. Even so I would think that it would have to be a LOT of abuse to completely wear it away. By that I mean several straight hours.

[GridGirl]

My insurance is due 1st March, maybe now is the time to take him off it :p He actually said I drive around like Captain Slow yesterday Grrrr

XR8, I can appreciate your thoughts but I personally dont think the clutch has been absued. Roughtly 4000 of its miles have been done driving on the motorway, and once its in 5th it never comes out of gear untill I get off the motorway or have to slow down excessively, and then my foot is always on the floor under the clutch pedal. That only leaves around 2000 miles where I could have riden the clutch but I dont belive I do. Thats subjective I know, but this is my 5th car and I've never had any such problems before.

I didnt buy my car for any of its fancy performance things. Yes its sad, but I'm a woman and the only decision to buy the car was that I thought it was pretty.

[Daniel]

My insurance is due 1st March, maybe now is the time to take him off it :p He actually said I drive around like Captain Slow yesterday Grrrr

XR8, I can appreciate your thoughts but I personally dont think the clutch has been absued. Roughtly 4000 of its miles have been done driving on the motorway, and once its in 5th it never comes out of gear untill I get off the motorway or have to slow down excessively, and then my foot is always on the floor under the clutch pedal. That only leaves around 2000 miles where I could have riden the clutch but I dont belive I do. Thats subjective I know, but this is my 5th car and I've never had any such problems before.

I didnt buy my car for any of its fancy performance things. Yes its sad, but I'm a woman and the only decision to buy the car was that I thought it was pretty.

Well the way I see it..... your ST should if Ford don't cut corners, have a better clutch than a regular Fiesta and even Mark hasn't had problems with his in the years that he's now owned it. So why should you be having issues with yours unless Ibby's done something he shouldn't have. In fact just make Ibby pay because when Ibby was here we used to blame him for everything :p

But seriously call up Ford and if you don't have any joy then email Evo.

XR8 I think what you've is slightly rude. Not everything comes out of the factory perfect and any part of the drivetrain could have been faulty from day dot. GG not being that interested in the performance side of her car may not have noticed that the clutch was always slipping or that there was a problem. As long as the stripes stayed attached and the car kept on going all was good. It is not totally unprecedented for a car to come out of the factory with a problem. That's why cars usually come with what we call a warranty which means that if there is any defect in the car that was not caused in some way by the driver then it's up to Ford to repair it during the warranty.

I understand that there are stupid people who ride their brakes and clutches but how does one ride their clutch when their foot isn't even on the pedal?

Gridgirl. As a final offer I'll swap my F reg Audi 80 for your Fiesta purely out of the goodness of my heart ;) In fact I'll even paint it blue and put some stripes on it for you :p It's extremely reliable in that it stops on me just about every other day :cheese:

[LotusElise]

Definitely go back to Ford - they are more concerned with your vehicle working well than a garage who'll have to wait ages to be paid for repairs through a warranty scheme.
To have clutch plates totally worn away screams "problem" to me, not overusing it a bit on snow.
Going to the press is always a good threat - the "Honest John" page of the Saturday Telegraph motoring section is another good one to contact.

[GridGirl]

Apparently I'm going to have to pay for it to be fixed. Something about the clutch plates getting really hot and they have turned blue, which meant the clutch hardened and has basically disintegrated.

I really can’t understand how that can happen when you’re stuck in 3 inches of snow on flat ground, have it in second gear and have someone pushing you car out just to be sure. The clutch burnt for less than a minute in total and that was over 2 stints with a gap in between.

I’ve said I need it fixed becuase I cant do my job without a car. It will be ready by tonight, not that that is of any use when I’m currently 120 or so miles away from it.

Sorry Daniel but a F reg Audi doesnt sound very pretty, even if it does have slightly more chance of moving than mine. But if I can accessories with my Baggie Bird, lipstick and perfume etc I'll bear it mind.

[Daniel]

I'll put money on your clutch doing the same again :mark:

[Mark]

I'll put money on it not doing the same again!

[Daz]

Clutches can be very strange things. the cluth in my Impreza turbo is starting to slip now and it's covered 70K miles. Have heard of clutches in other Impreza's only lasting about 15K miles so the life of them can be vary variable depending on the way they have been used.

[GridGirl]

Just a quick update on my car, it was fixed by Wednesday and I finally managed to get it back on Saturday. My car is now looking very pretty in the car park at work but my purse is now £360 lighter.

[fly_ac]

Apparently I'm going to have to pay for it to be fixed. Something about the clutch plates getting really hot and they have turned blue, which meant the clutch hardened and has basically disintegrated.

I really can’t understand how that can happen when you’re stuck in 3 inches of snow on flat ground, have it in second gear and have someone pushing you car out just to be sure.

I'm in the motoring repair industry and repair clutches on a daily basis, and if I remove a clutch from a vehicle and the clutch plate, pressure plate or flywheel have blue metal hot spots, I usually have to tell the customer that it is a sign of abuse. Please don't misunderstand, that is the business part of it all. Manufactures will look for anything, which can proof that they do not have to repair/replace a part on a vehicle.

Usually the Agents for the manufacturer will be the one's arguing that the customer is at fault so that they do not have to wait for the claim to be processed.
That process can sometimes take months, as the faulty part has to be send to the manufacturer to determine the cause of failure. For that simple reason especially on a wear and tear component such as a clutch, 99% of the time the customer will have to pay.

Most standard clutches fitted to cars can be damaged with only about 30sec of abuse.
If the clutch slipped while your foot were not near the clutch pedal then I'll have to guess, but the clutch could have a defect. The only way to tell for sure is to see the clutch components.

The agents will usually tell you the opposite is true. :eek:


The clutch burnt for less than a minute in total and that was over 2 stints with a gap in between.

Well there's your prooooblem. :p :

[GridGirl]

Fly_Ac I never said that I'd never burnt the clutch at all, although I do fail to see how burning it once can completely destroy it. If you tell someone that having blue hot spots or whatever they are called are signs of abuse then fair enough. I didnt bother arguing with the garage and just paid up. It was never constantly abused but that one time probably wasnt good for it.

I can now see why McLaren can provide you with a much better clutch for a rather stupid price if your willing to pay for it. :p

[fly_ac]

Fly_Ac I never said that I'd never burnt the clutch at all, although I do fail to see how burning it once can completely destroy it. If you tell someone that having blue hot spots or whatever they are called are signs of abuse then fair enough. I didnt bother arguing with the garage and just paid up. It was never constantly abused but that one time probably wasnt good for it.

I can now see why McLaren can provide you with a much better clutch for a rather stupid price if your willing to pay for it. :p

I realised that you said you have burnt the clutch :hot: :D , and as I said a clutch can get damaged rather badly in a short period of time, all depend on the situation. Having hot spots on a clutch can also tell one there might be something wrong with the clutch assembly as well, but it is easier for the agents to argue the customer is at fault. ;)

It is like I said the clutch could have a defect, but to go to all the trouble of proofing that, is usually not worth the time and effort.

The clutch that comes with a car are normally a very good clutch as the manufacturer will have tested the product, but there are better aftermarket one's available, usually not worth the price though. :erm:

[GridGirl]

So I get home tonight and I've got two letters, an urgent one from Ford and one from my insurance company.

I open the one from my insurance company first demanding £381.15 additional premium as I have apparently not notified them of my no claims discount. I ring them up and have a go at them as I notified them last week, and they'd sent the letter out 4 days after I'd rang them.

So I'm in a mood already. I now open my letter from Ford, its about an urgent recall. My car was in the garage last saturday as the cigarette lighter had broken. I wasnt best pleased when they told me it was just a fuse that had gone, when atleast 3 different people had checked that it wasn't the fuse that had gone before I booked it in to the garage. When they rang me to tell me that my car was ready they told me about an urgent recall that had they had done on my car while it was there. I didn't bother to ask what it was and they told me to ignore any letter I get in the post.

So I open the letter as now I'm curious as to what the recall is. Apparently my car has "a potential issue with the clutch control mechanism which in extreme cases can cause the pushrod to disconnect the clutch pedal which then results in the drive from the engine not disengaging the gearbox when the engine is depressed"

This made me even more mad, because the car was driving so much better after the clutch got replaced. With the old clutch it used to crunch every time when it went into reverse, with the new one it doesnt at all. Its like driving a completely different car to before.

It's always good to find out theres a fault with it, after you've spend £360 getting a new one. It might not be related to my problem but I can sure as hell sulk about it. I dont know whether to ring Ford tomorrow and see if they will give me some money back

[Daniel]

Don't sulk. Get on the phone to them and demand all of your money back. Don't accept anything less than that. The fact that your car is driving better now suggests to me that something was wrong all along.

[GridGirl]

I will sulk, because I'm a sulker. Its one of the things I do best ;) Mind me sulking about my clutch again might make Ibby marginally happy as it will mean I will have to stop sulking about all my stuff getting stolen from his car the other week.

I am going to ring Ford, as the difference between the old and new clutch is just so noticeable to me. I was both annoyed and happy when my reverse gear stopped crunching. I'm glad it was doesnt crunch anymore, but I still dont know what damage was done to to my gear box while it was crunching for 4 and a half months.

[Daniel]

That's brought a smile to my face :p Anything bad that befalls Ibby is always good :p Only messing.

Call Ford up and demand they refund the money for the clutch and look at the gearbox and replace it if it appears suspect and ask to take it to another garage as you'll just be "That dozey bint who burnt out her clutch" at the garage you took it to before. They'll never replace your gearbox unless it's majorly screwed but to Ford it'll feel like a victory to talk you down to "just" paying for your clutch replacement and after all that's all you ever asked for.

[GridGirl]

Ibby's car did indeed get all mashed up by Robin Hood and his Merry Men, infact its in the garage right now being repaired.

Daniel, stop being mean to him :p Actually no, lets all laugh at him for driving a bright orange curtesy car, because thats funny.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Grid Girl, I wish you could have pushed the issue with Ford. Clutches on some of my cars have gone through Canadian winters and being stuck, and I have yet to wear one out. What is more, the only way you should be at fault if you smelt clutch and continued to work the clutch. The second you smell anything, you should shut down. That said, most modern clutches can take a hell of a lot of abuse. I think it was a faulty product, and you could have raised holy hell over it and got a new clutch. If you drive mainly on the motorway, one time getting stuck shouldn't have killed that clutch. If you could see some of the loopy stuff I did as a kid with my first VW and its clutch....well lets just say I should have burned out the clutch....and never did. I am sure you are not one hundreth the maniac I was when I was 19......

[The Ripper]

Do you habitually drive with your left foot on the clutch pedal?
Might even be a subconscious thing, will still burn a clutch out though-sorry. The blueing suggests it's been slipping&overheating, this can be down to incorrect fitment or misuse. On the upside you are 50% not to blame.

NB If I have echoed anyone else's opinions or inputs then sorry, or cheers, good effort ;)

[Erki]

Is GridGirl somehow related to Ibby? Nothing has been heard of him for years and now GridGirl comes and all starts again. :p :

[GridGirl]

Something like that Erki... :p

[Easy Drifter]

If your car was crunching going into reverse from new there was something wrong from day 1. The dealership should have caught that before it left the lot but you also should have complained immediately.
The recall could easily have been related to your problem.
I still think you should be screaming at the dealership and Ford.
You might check a couple of search engines and see if there are any mentions of clutch problems with your car.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Ya Drifter, you have it right....there has to be something amiss with that little Ford...