Qashqai burnt clutch
Discussion
Hi, I bought a Nissan Qashqai new 2.5years ago and have so far only driven 12.5k miles. I have been driving for over 15years and my girlfriend for over 20. We have both driven lots of different cars and have never had any issues with clutches previously. A week ago i was driving back from a weekend away in 6th gear and the suddenly when i put my foot on the accelerator the rev counter shot up briefly to 5 and the engine revved as if i had changed gear and chosen the wrong gear. This kept happening when i put my foot down to accelerate (wasn't changing gear or anywhere near the clutch). No warning lights came on and it didn't seem to affect the ability to drive the car so i kept at a constant speed and it seemed to relent. I got off the junction onto an A road which required gear changes and more speed variation. At this point the revving issue became really bad and was anytime i did anything the car reacted as if i had chosen the wrong gear. At this point i decide i need to stop and was looking for somewhere safe to pull in as my 20month old son was asleep in the back. I put hazards on and drove as slowly as was feasible until i came to a car park (5minsish) and then pulled in by this time if i put my foot on the clutch there was no resistance and it was revving constantly. When we came to a standstill i could smell smoking and knew the clutch was burnt out. It has been assessed by the garage and Nissan are claiming its wear and tear. I am not disputing the damage but my theory is this happened as there was a fault that caused the random revving when not changing gear or touching the clutch and it was this issue and me then driving with it for a little while that burnt the clutch out and is therefore a mechanical fault rather than me riding the clutch. Anyone got any advice/experience. Cost is £2.4k to fix which just seems ludicrous to me
richhain1982 said:
Hi, I bought a Nissan Qashqai new 2.5years ago and have so far only driven 12.5k miles. I have been driving for over 15years and my girlfriend for over 20. We have both driven lots of different cars and have never had any issues with clutches previously. A week ago i was driving back from a weekend away in 6th gear and the suddenly when i put my foot on the accelerator the rev counter shot up briefly to 5 and the engine revved as if i had changed gear and chosen the wrong gear. This kept happening when i put my foot down to accelerate (wasn't changing gear or anywhere near the clutch). No warning lights came on and it didn't seem to affect the ability to drive the car so i kept at a constant speed and it seemed to relent. I got off the junction onto an A road which required gear changes and more speed variation. At this point the revving issue became really bad and was anytime i did anything the car reacted as if i had chosen the wrong gear. At this point i decide i need to stop and was looking for somewhere safe to pull in as my 20month old son was asleep in the back. I put hazards on and drove as slowly as was feasible until i came to a car park (5minsish) and then pulled in by this time if i put my foot on the clutch there was no resistance and it was revving constantly. When we came to a standstill i could smell smoking and knew the clutch was burnt out. It has been assessed by the garage and Nissan are claiming its wear and tear. I am not disputing the damage but my theory is this happened as there was a fault that caused the random revving when not changing gear or touching the clutch and it was this issue and me then driving with it for a little while that burnt the clutch out and is therefore a mechanical fault rather than me riding the clutch. Anyone got any advice/experience. Cost is £2.4k to fix which just seems ludicrous to me
The random revving is the clutch slipping due to wear. Which means it's knackered unfortunately. Floor a car with a worn clutch in a high gear, and it'll do exactly what yours did I'm afraid.£2.4k to change a clutch is steep! A GTR I could understand, but not a SUV! - I'm sure a good indy could do it for under half that.
Have you done any research to see if it's a common issue? Clutches should last many, many thousands of miles.
Is the car mainly used in stop/start traffic? Do you do a lot of hill starts?
Have you done any research to see if it's a common issue? Clutches should last many, many thousands of miles.
Is the car mainly used in stop/start traffic? Do you do a lot of hill starts?
2.4k to change a Qashqai's clutch is not right. It just can't be.
https://www.clickmechanic.com/price-estimates/niss...
Suggests from 427 using an independent to 924 using a franchised dealer.
I would not be happy if the clutch burned out in 12k miles on a brand new car. What is your driving like?
https://www.clickmechanic.com/price-estimates/niss...
Suggests from 427 using an independent to 924 using a franchised dealer.
I would not be happy if the clutch burned out in 12k miles on a brand new car. What is your driving like?
I looked into Kumquats for the Mrs, but steered away because all the ones we looked at were dogs. Part of the reason for this, I was told, was that they are based on basic 'car' underpinnings rather than designed to be a bigger SUV (what they actually are). Therefore the engines are under-powered, the gearboxes are weak and the clutches too small which is why they wear quickly.
If you do a bit of googling you will find countless 'clutch slipping' threads for this car.
If you do a bit of googling you will find countless 'clutch slipping' threads for this car.
yes its the flywheel as well. Most of driving is in and around London so avg speed is 20mph. It has a button handbrake so i actually ride the clutch less than i would of on an old car with a handbrake as its no issue taking it on or off. Just seems ludicrous to me that it would go after 12.5k miles from new and i have been driving almost 20years and never had a clutch issue before. I drive more sensibly now than ever as the whole time i've had this car the girlfriend was pregenant or the baby was in the car
So just to be clear, you say the car was revving itself at certain points without you touching the accelerator?
The symptoms you describe up to that point are, as others have said, textbook knackered clutch. Unprovoked engine revving is not. If that's what happened I'd be more concerned about that than the clutch personally. If the worn clutch is the only issue I doubt you'll have much luck getting Nissan to pay for it. You could nuke a clutch in 5 minutes if you tried hard enough so with 12k on the clock they'll just claim you've abused it and unfortunately you can't prove otherwise.
£2.4k to change a clutch would be perfectly reasonable on a McLaren, it's completely bonkers for a Qashqai.
The symptoms you describe up to that point are, as others have said, textbook knackered clutch. Unprovoked engine revving is not. If that's what happened I'd be more concerned about that than the clutch personally. If the worn clutch is the only issue I doubt you'll have much luck getting Nissan to pay for it. You could nuke a clutch in 5 minutes if you tried hard enough so with 12k on the clock they'll just claim you've abused it and unfortunately you can't prove otherwise.
£2.4k to change a clutch would be perfectly reasonable on a McLaren, it's completely bonkers for a Qashqai.
mainly when i touched accelerator but at the end not necessarily it was just revving. I'm worried they are not going to do anything other than charge me £2.4k. I don't know whats happened here but surely if our driving was that bad this would have come up at some point in last 20years of driving. It would have to be pretty shocking to burn out at 12k miles!
Limpet said:
I bet they are pricing in a dual mass flywheel as well at about £800.
Get it done at an indie.
That. Get it done at an indie.
However, it's possible there could have been a fault with the original clutch or flywheel (or a crankshaft oil seal failure which will be apparent when the box comes out) but proving faulty manufacture will be difficult, if not impossible.
Could try Nissan twitter or facebook or whatever to see if they'll make a contribution?
richhain1982 said:
by this time if i put my foot on the clutch there was no resistance and it was revving constantly.
That seems strange and makes me wonder whether the the clutch release mechanism may have jammed.I assume that when you say it was revving, you mean that when you opened the throttle there was no drive and the engine revs increased without the car accelerating. If you really mean the engine revved itself while you had your foot off the throttle there is something else going on.
I remember reading a very similar story about a Nissan clutch on here not so long ago.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=17...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=17...
Edited by cuprabob on Wednesday 2nd May 15:03
richhain1982 said:
thanks i have logged a claim with them direct and will be speaking with them today/tomorrow about this and will be pushing hard for a contribution/reduction but who knows. wont be getting another one
I once had a gripe with Renault. The issue is their contribution is a discount from there ludicrous main dealer rate card, so it was still cheaper to go to an independent. cuprabob said:
I remember reading a very similar story about a Nissan clutch on here not so long ago.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=17...
Eeeesh, doesn't sound like this will end well for me.https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=17...
Edited by cuprabob on Wednesday 2nd May 15:03
The revving is due to the worn clutch, not due to any other issues (it can't be).
Clutches wear, it's what they are designed to do - looks like whoever had the car before you used the other ~1.5mm of material
Hopefully you can get a cheap replacement. Clutches aren't normally covered by warranty as even the best clutch design can be destroyed by a useless driver in 10 mins from new.
Clutches wear, it's what they are designed to do - looks like whoever had the car before you used the other ~1.5mm of material
Hopefully you can get a cheap replacement. Clutches aren't normally covered by warranty as even the best clutch design can be destroyed by a useless driver in 10 mins from new.
Obviously a clutch should last longer than that....but a bad driver could kill a clutch in a handful of miles. So it's not an easy one.
And the fact you've driven it until it has burnt to a crisp and pretty much stopped driving.....that alone has to ring alarm bells. IMO...why would anyone knowingly do that ? That in itself is a sign of bad driving with no mechanical sympathy whatsoever.
But with such low mileage, and if by 2.5 years you mean from new, it should be well within the warranty period so it would be worth fighting them on this, via the media if need be
And the fact you've driven it until it has burnt to a crisp and pretty much stopped driving.....that alone has to ring alarm bells. IMO...why would anyone knowingly do that ? That in itself is a sign of bad driving with no mechanical sympathy whatsoever.
But with such low mileage, and if by 2.5 years you mean from new, it should be well within the warranty period so it would be worth fighting them on this, via the media if need be
stevieturbo said:
Obviously a clutch should last longer than that....but a bad driver could kill a clutch in a handful of miles. So it's not an easy one.
And the fact you've driven it until it has burnt to a crisp and pretty much stopped driving.....that alone has to ring alarm bells. IMO...why would anyone knowingly do that ? That in itself is a sign of bad driving with no mechanical sympathy whatsoever.
But with such low mileage, and if by 2.5 years you mean from new, it should be well within the warranty period so it would be worth fighting them on this, via the media if need be
Firstly why are you being a d!ck when i am about to get stung with a £2.5k bill I explained above i was driving it on the motorway and it started revving when i accelerated but only a few times. I slowed down and then got off motorway and it got really bad but i was on a crappy road and had a baby asleep in the back so i drove it with hazards on at a low speed until i was somewhere safe to stop rather than just on a grass verge on the side of a road about 15mins in total of driving from first incident. I only noticed the smell when i stopped completley And the fact you've driven it until it has burnt to a crisp and pretty much stopped driving.....that alone has to ring alarm bells. IMO...why would anyone knowingly do that ? That in itself is a sign of bad driving with no mechanical sympathy whatsoever.
But with such low mileage, and if by 2.5 years you mean from new, it should be well within the warranty period so it would be worth fighting them on this, via the media if need be
It's possible i am a terrible driver but having had cars for 20 years and have owned 5 cars and have never had a clutch issue even when i've owned car for 5years and done more and do 70k miles. This is the newest car i have ever owned and the least mileage i have ever driven so I am alarmed that my driving has deteriorated so much in the last 2 years
richhain1982 said:
stevieturbo said:
Obviously a clutch should last longer than that....but a bad driver could kill a clutch in a handful of miles. So it's not an easy one.
And the fact you've driven it until it has burnt to a crisp and pretty much stopped driving.....that alone has to ring alarm bells. IMO...why would anyone knowingly do that ? That in itself is a sign of bad driving with no mechanical sympathy whatsoever.
But with such low mileage, and if by 2.5 years you mean from new, it should be well within the warranty period so it would be worth fighting them on this, via the media if need be
Firstly why are you being a d!ck when i am about to get stung with a £2.5k bill I explained above i was driving it on the motorway and it started revving when i accelerated but only a few times. I slowed down and then got off motorway and it got really bad but i was on a crappy road and had a baby asleep in the back so i drove it with hazards on at a low speed until i was somewhere safe to stop rather than just on a grass verge on the side of a road about 15mins in total of driving from first incident. I only noticed the smell when i stopped completley And the fact you've driven it until it has burnt to a crisp and pretty much stopped driving.....that alone has to ring alarm bells. IMO...why would anyone knowingly do that ? That in itself is a sign of bad driving with no mechanical sympathy whatsoever.
But with such low mileage, and if by 2.5 years you mean from new, it should be well within the warranty period so it would be worth fighting them on this, via the media if need be
It's possible i am a terrible driver but having had cars for 20 years and have owned 5 cars and have never had a clutch issue even when i've owned car for 5years and done more and do 70k miles. This is the newest car i have ever owned and the least mileage i have ever driven so I am alarmed that my driving has deteriorated so much in the last 2 years
Clutches are designed to slip when they get beyond an acceptable wear condition, as an indicator to the driver that it's time for a new one. It seems you were given a very worn clutch car. Now, where you'll have issue is that there's no way of proving to the garage you didn't do it all yourself. Clutch wear isn't obvious until they start slipping - with modern Self-Adjusting Clutches, you can't even use the pedal feel as they have the same release profile new vs ancient.
I would fight the £2.5k as it's frankly ridiculous. A clutch & DMF kit is at most £1k. Labour for a few hours and you're at £1400 max.
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