how long does a clutch last ?

how long does a clutch last ?

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Discussion

S0 What

Original Poster:

3,358 posts

173 months

Wednesday 3rd February 2016
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Well in this case 2 years and 3027 miles!







Owner is an old boy, 85 and a habitual clutch rider eek
i fitted the clutch pre MOT 2 years ago and it went on the way to me for this years MOT so i know the timing exactly and the MOTs show the millage exactly.

If anyones interested it was an LUK kit (as was the OE clutch), the LUK kit even had both GM and LUK stamped into it so not like it was a cheap ste kit (£300 cos it uses an F17 box and rare release bearing) apparently.
Anyhoo there you go, you cant engeneer for stupid laugh

stevieturbo

17,273 posts

248 months

Wednesday 3rd February 2016
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I always recall an article in Car Mechanics where a mechanic wrote in about a customer complaining about no power, clutches etc would never last and car was generally bad.

The mechanic could never find anything wrong other than destroyed clutches, so eventually got the owner to take him for a drive.

Again elderly person. They only used 1 gear...4th gear. And just slipped the clutch as required to make the car move !

Really...people like that should never have a license

Blaster72

10,893 posts

198 months

Wednesday 3rd February 2016
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I love the smell of burning clutch in the morning....


Munter

31,319 posts

242 months

Wednesday 3rd February 2016
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If you ask the local Kia service manager, 5000 mostly motorway miles is totally normal. That's 4 clutches for every service....

(Not surprisingly there was oil spraying on the clutch from a failed seal)

Pumaracing

2,089 posts

208 months

Wednesday 3rd February 2016
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Reminds me of a few stories. The first going back over 30 years was my neighbours with a VW Polo in Aberdeen when I lived up there briefly before moving back to England. The car lived in the garage and had an absurdly high cold idle speed, possibly the auto choke wrongly adjusted and every day they'd start it up and then crunch it into reverse at what sounded like several thousand rpm. I could hear and feel the shudder through their garage wall, through my house wall and into the kitchen or lounge. It never occurred to either of them to put it in reverse first and start it with the clutch in to save the gear teeth.

Then at Chalfont there was the unknown person from somewhere down the road opposite my house who used to arrive at the junction with the engine screaming and use the clutch to modulate speed as they pulled away rather than the throttle.

Finally one of my audit clients before I went into engines who used to let me borrow the works van at weekends if I needed to shift anything. I think it was a Toyota Hiace but it's a long time ago. First time I needed it was for a motorway trip up to the Scottish borders. It had a column gear shift which I'd never used before so I took a while to familiarise myself with all the controls and then off we went. Brought it back on the Monday morning and they asked how the trip had gone. I said it ran like a dream and cruised really nicely on the motorway once it was into 5th. Astonished looks from both my friend the MD who drove it when he had to but not very often as well as the main delivery driver who drove it every day. "It's only got a 4 speed box" they both agreed. I took them out to it and showed them the markings on the gear shift. They'd had the thing for ten years but no one had ever realised it had a 5th gear.

one eyed mick

1,189 posts

162 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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Back in time we had an old guy buy a new fiat 127 3 clutches in 1200 miles or so 2 before 1st service at 1000 ,fiat stood 2 on warranty but would not stand the 3rd ,he gave the car to his grandson who put many thousands of miles on it never problem!

227bhp

10,203 posts

129 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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Pumaracing said:
Finally one of my audit clients before I went into engines who used to let me borrow the works van at weekends if I needed to shift anything. I think it was a Toyota Hiace but it's a long time ago. First time I needed it was for a motorway trip up to the Scottish borders. It had a column gear shift which I'd never used before so I took a while to familiarise myself with all the controls and then off we went. Brought it back on the Monday morning and they asked how the trip had gone. I said it ran like a dream and cruised really nicely on the motorway once it was into 5th. Astonished looks from both my friend the MD who drove it when he had to but not very often as well as the main delivery driver who drove it every day. "It's only got a 4 speed box" they both agreed. I took them out to it and showed them the markings on the gear shift. They'd had the thing for ten years but no one had ever realised it had a 5th gear.
I used to work somewhere that had a couple of VW T3 Transporters, being petrol and rear engined they were whisper quiet and had no rev counters, it wasn't uncommon for employees to drive down the motorway in third bouncing off the rev limiter....

stevieturbo

17,273 posts

248 months

Thursday 4th February 2016
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227bhp said:
I used to work somewhere that had a couple of VW T3 Transporters, being petrol and rear engined they were whisper quiet and had no rev counters, it wasn't uncommon for employees to drive down the motorway in third bouncing off the rev limiter....
I did that in a hire car once...lol

Was actually purely by accident, wasnt even thinking. Only wondered why it kept cutting out every now and then, it was bouncing off the rev limtir

Sardonicus

18,965 posts

222 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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Honda Civic CRX when I worked for a main dealer in the late 80's 6 k from new fried , wanted it under warranty the doughnut I even changed the fly, he collected the car after we explained the cause while we watched him pull away past the showroom shredding the new clutch for a 100 yards some people

imagineifyeswill

1,226 posts

167 months

Saturday 6th February 2016
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Many years ago the garage I worked in sold one of the first MK2 Cavaliers to an 80 year old farmer wh o was notorious for driving about slipping the clutch, said to the boss Id give it a fortnight before he burnt the clutch out. 12 days we get a call car broken down wont move, clutch burnt out. Replaced the complete clutch, 8 days later, car broken down wont move, second complete clutch fitted, 6 days later clutch burnt out again.

stevieturbo

17,273 posts

248 months

Saturday 6th February 2016
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I do wonder these days why people like that just dont buy an auto.

Modern auto's can be pretty damn good ( or DSG of course )

Nevermind GP's informing the DVLA of incompetent/unfit aholes who shouldnt have a license...some mechanics should be allowed to inform on the same !

Mothersruin

8,573 posts

100 months

Saturday 6th February 2016
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Just got a Nissan X Trail 06 with 115k still on the original clutch and has been used as a towing car and a general dogsbody.

I've factored in a new one but it still seems to be going strong without any slippage etc...

Sardonicus

18,965 posts

222 months

Saturday 6th February 2016
quotequote all
stevieturbo said:
I do wonder these days why people like that just dont buy an auto.

Modern auto's can be pretty damn good ( or DSG of course )

Nevermind GP's informing the DVLA of incompetent/unfit aholes who shouldnt have a license...some mechanics should be allowed to inform on the same !
yes

Tango13

8,460 posts

177 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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I once let a mate have a drive in my e39 M5, he got a serious earful of verbal abuse when he started to slip the clutch at 1800rpm+ to pull away!