clutch gone

[stevenleith]

Clutch just gone while making trip from switzerland to germany. doh!

RAC arranging repatriation as i type. Had to do a roadside water system bleed from cylinder head up a swiss mountain pass last week and water temp was behaving itself only for the clutch to gone 2 days later!

what is most annoying is i had just got to the autobahn south of Munich and was ready to seriously open it up! gutted.

anyway, how much for new clutch? (assuming done with 12k mile service)

[rev-erend]

Around 1K for the clutch..(supply and fit)

[targarama]

Commiserations. Hope the rest of the holiday was OK (sounds like you might have been on the way home when it happened?).

Thank the lord you took out European recovery.

Let us know how it goes.

[nubbin]

Could well be the slave cylinder - it seems to be the weak link in the chain for clutches. Take it to an independent rather than paying vast labour sums at a main dealer. The parts are the same, after all, and £200 for a slave cylinder, whilst a lot, is cheaper than a clutch!

[stevenleith]

Mmmmm....thought as much.

RAC are paid for us to get to Munich and will pay for us getting to Cologne (which was our last stop) and then flying us back from there......they have been pretty good really. I made sure it was taken to a reputable dealer for the diagnostic and went with the car - you should have seen the Mercedes mechanic's faces when it turned up...! They have said it is either the clutch or the gearbox but weren't gonna touch it...(too right). Up to 14 days for repatriation.

Anyway, the symptons (if any of you mechanics out there may be able to diagnose?) were as follows(in no particular order):

- Had had a few days of stuggling to select 1st gear (only when cold)
- Had overheated 3 days before with temps up to 110-115 before stopping and doing a bleed etc...think that was air in the system but not sure if heat couldve affected anything?
- Have had excessive heat coming back up through the gearstick (at one point I could hardly touch it - although we were driving in 40c heat for a few hours!)
- Moments before it happened, i had just pulled off long stretch of autobahn to get fuel, the clutch pedal started vibrating a lot (well more like wobbling up and down not vibrating as such). For the next 1/2 mile, the pedal worsened.
- Stopped, got fuel, cranked the ignition, huge screeching sound (similar to when a fan belt goes), screeching on revving, screeching on trying to use clutch to pull away. Pulled away about 4 metres and it just stalled. Tried again, same thing. London TVR said don't try again so that was that - called RAC.

Anyone experienced similar? Could it be the gearbox instead of the clutch? I have already said to London TVR that if its either i want it tried through the TVR 2 year warranty......mileage 6k BTW on a 54 plate.

Anyway, i gotta book my flight....!

[nubbin]

If the friction plates have failed, you would expect the clutch to spin the engine's revs away, rather than stall - that suggests the plates are in contact. When the cluch went on my Tamora, I struggled to get gears, and eventually couldn't change gear, but got lots of clunking from gear teeth trying to disengage and not succeeding. But no screeching noise. I'm only trying to make it sound better for you, really

[stevenleith]

nubbin said:

If the friction plates have failed, you would expect the clutch to spin the engine's revs away, rather than stall - that suggests the plates are in contact. When the cluch went on my Tamora, I struggled to get gears, and eventually couldn't change gear, but got lots of clunking from gear teeth trying to disengage and not succeeding. But no screeching noise. I'm only trying to make it sound better for you, really

What the hell was the screeching then?!

[targarama]

Sounds a bit worse than the slave cylinder. Maybe a gearbox bearing? If it did it out of gear then maybe something on the clutch plate has broken. Hope the car gets fixed pronto!

[aerospoke]

Hi Steven

Why not try to contact Tvr-Germany.com,they are only 30 km from Munich and could probably help you.
Their phonenr is [phone]

Cheers Jens

Edited by aerospoke on Tuesday 25th July 18:23

[basil brush]

It doesn't sound like the clutch tbh having experienced both a slave cylinder and clutch finger failure. Both resulted in not being able to engage any gears but no untoward noises, with the slave failure meaning the clutch fluid ran out onto the floor.

[stevenleith]

aerospoke said:

Hi Steven

Why not try to contact Tvr-Germany.com,they are only 30 km from Munich and could probably help you.
Their phonenr is [phone]

Cheers Jens

Edited by aerospoke on Tuesday 25th July 18:23

Thanks Jens.

I didn't know they existed so car is making its way to storage for repat - i also have made plans for trip home and intervening journeys etc.

I'm fairly sure its a major problem so TVR Germany would probably only have been able to diagnose it not fix it. I don't think its the clutch now - could be the gearbox - is that covered under engine warranty?

[XTR2Turbo]

Sounds like heat soak into the clutch slave cylinder. Blows seals and hence no clutch movement and soft pedal.