05 Astra 1.9cdti - flywheel problem (had car 4 months)

[funkyrobot]

I bought the above car from an award winning and (apparently) reputable Vauxhall main dealer. Since I collected the car in March it has been back twice. The latest problem, so i've been told, is that the flywheel is on the way out.

Fortunately for me I managed to get a year's warranty with the car (Vauxhall extended warranty, not network Q though), so the cost of replacing the flywheel etc (around £1000) will be absorbed by this. However, there is a small problem.

The clutch isn't covered by the warranty and I have been informed by the dealer that when they take it off, if it looks sufficiently worn (the car has now done 70k miles) they will be advising me to put a new one on. Cost for this is around £300. They did say though that if the flywheel has damaged the clutch in any way it will be replaced free of charge.

I must say at this point that the dealership are looking helpful. However, do I have a right to be a little miffed about this situation? And should I be expected to pay for a new clutch, even though i've only had the car for about 4 months? I've already been back to the dealer twice (they are around 30 miles away) and it looks like the car is going to be off the road again.

Yes they are being helpful, yes they will hopefully fix the problem, and yes the car has done 70000 miles. But the car was supposed to be fully checked over and serviced before I bought it. And, are they trying to fob me off with this clutch problem?

Funny thing is the car last went in a month after I had got it. I had a knocking noise on the engine and a funny vibration (along with other faults, like the CIMM(sp?) which meant the car wouldn't start sometimes). They fixed the other faults but said nothing was wrong with the engine.

Any ideas anyone, or am I wrong to complain because of the age and mileage of the vehicle? Also, what would have happened if I didn't have the warranty?

Thanks all.

[R1chardP]

I would be surprised if the clutch was worn from normal driving after only 70k (unless whoever you bought it from did lots of stop start driving but that is unlikely because it works out to be about 14k per year so far) so you could argue that if the clutch is shagged that it is definately the DMF that caused it. If they don't admit as much, you could try to settle on going halves on the cost of the clutch.

Basing this on my clutch wear from mostly motorway miles, the Focus is on its original clutch after 130k and my 306 was on its original as well when scrapped at 155 (both diesels although not DMF I would have thought they were comparable).

[funkyrobot]

R1chardP said:

I would be surprised if the clutch was worn from normal driving after only 70k (unless whoever you bought it from did lots of stop start driving but that is unlikely because it works out to be about 14k per year so far) so you could argue that if the clutch is shagged that it is definately the DMF that caused it. If they don't admit as much, you could try to settle on going halves on the cost of the clutch.

Basing this on my clutch wear from mostly motorway miles, the Focus is on its original clutch after 130k and my 306 was on its original as well when scrapped at 155 (both diesels although not DMF I would have thought they were comparable).

Thanks. This is the main thing that is bothering me with all of this. My last car had done over 130k miles and I had had it since 55k. I never changed the clutch on that car and it never seemed to have any problems.

I'll have a chat to them when the car is in. I did think about asking to go halves with the clutch, but I don't see why it should be shagged after 70k. I just didn't want them to try and fob me off about this. I'm good at arguing my case but as i'm not a mechanic I don't really know much about clutch wear and tear.

[RobCrezz]

Get it done, £300 for the clutch is pretty reasonable and it would be fairly worn after 70k miles anyway.

[funkyrobot]

RobCrezz said:

Get it done, £300 for the clutch is pretty reasonable and it would be fairly worn after 70k miles anyway.

Really?

Oh yes, the service chap said 'around £300', so they may try to increase that.

[funkyrobot]

Oh yes. As an extra to this, is there anything else I need to make sure they have checked in relation to this flywheel problem? Can a dodgy flywheel damage other things like drive shaft and gearbox etc?

[Munter]

How long are you going to keep the car? Do you do lots of in town driving?

If the answers are "a long time" and "yes" definitely do the clutch. However if it's "6 months" and "no mostly motorway". You probably want to tell them to poke it.

[funkyrobot]

Munter said:

How long are you going to keep the car? Do you do lots of in town driving?

If the answers are "a long time" and "yes" definitely do the clutch. However if it's "6 months" and "no mostly motorway". You probably want to tell them to poke it.

Planning on keeping the car for a few years at least (if it doesn't break ) so may be a good idea just to get it done then. I guess it is worth getting done whilst they have the car in bits anyway.

I'll see what they say and see if they will give me a discount or something .

[R1chardP]

Just thinking about this, given that its a common rail direct injection engine (quiet, quite "petrol" like) if the previous owner was used to having to give it some gas to get it moving it could be a bit worn but I think that is pretty unlikely. Thinking back to a mate driving my car when he was used to petrols he was revving the tits off it to get it moving (about 2.5k) when it could pull off on the clutch quite happily.

On the dealer front, I think there is a lot of scope for them taking the piss if they think you don't know about the DMF. It would be well worth boning up on some detail before you get blinded by bullst from them (I remember a dealer telling me that NCAP was some busybody European legislation that I didn't need to worry about, needless to say I didn't go back). Some articles that might be worth a go:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t...
http://www.cdxetextbook.com/trans/clutchMan/clutch...
http://www.europeancarweb.com/tech/0701_ec_flywhee...
http://www.high-impact.net/transmission_and_gear/D...
http://moodle.student.cnwl.ac.uk/moodledata_shared...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caradvice/hone...

Good luck with it!

[funkyrobot]

R1chardP said:

Just thinking about this, given that its a common rail direct injection engine (quiet, quite "petrol" like) if the previous owner was used to having to give it some gas to get it moving it could be a bit worn but I think that is pretty unlikely. Thinking back to a mate driving my car when he was used to petrols he was revving the tits off it to get it moving (about 2.5k) when it could pull off on the clutch quite happily.

On the dealer front, I think there is a lot of scope for them taking the piss if they think you don't know about the DMF. It would be well worth boning up on some detail before you get blinded by bullst from them (I remember a dealer telling me that NCAP was some busybody European legislation that I didn't need to worry about, needless to say I didn't go back). Some articles that might be worth a go:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t...
http://www.cdxetextbook.com/trans/clutchMan/clutch...
http://www.europeancarweb.com/tech/0701_ec_flywhee...
http://www.high-impact.net/transmission_and_gear/D...
http://moodle.student.cnwl.ac.uk/moodledata_shared...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caradvice/hone...

Good luck with it!

Thanks chap, i'll take a look. The car itself has been serviced at the garage I got it from since it was new. Will be good to have some background knowledge to take with me.