Is My Clutch Gone?

[JohnYossarian]

Hello all,

A couple of weeks ago I had the weirdest experience ever. I tried to start the car (Toyota D4D Avensis, 2.0l TX3, Reg 03) and to my suprise I could not switch into gear. As soon as I turned the engine off, I could use the gears again. No matter how deep I pushed the pedal whenever the engine was running it was impossible to get anything right.

Am I right when thinking that a new clutch is on its way (ouch as it must be in the £ 700 ball park)?

I will appreciate any opinions/experience/comments/advice.

I am currently (have been for the last two weeks) abroad on holiday but would like to have a clear idea what to expect once I am back.

Thank you in advance to everyone who would chip in!

Cheers,

Jordan

[john905]

could be clutch slave cylinder leaking have you checked the fluid also does the pedal feel ok?

[cmia]

I think that your problem maybe a bad pressure plate.

[JohnYossarian]

I think that your problem maybe a bad pressure plate.

Thank you both for your replies!

I have had limited access to Internetfor the last several days being abroad so I could not reply earlier.

Does this mean that I might get away with less than £ 7-800? I have also bought an extended warranty that covers some clutch cylinders and similar things but not the clutch itself. I hope should the problem be in the cylinder to have this covered by them. How expensive is it to replace the pressure plate (or do I need to replace something else to make it work?)?

I am going to take my car directly to Mr. Toyota in Queensferry and I hope that Kingo would be reading this post (fingers crossed) and that he could give me some indications as to how quickly a similar fault can be repaired.

Cheers,

Jordan

[cmia]

I assume that you have been presssing the clutch pedal in, with the engine off.

if it was the clutch / master cylinder the the fault would be replicated more with the engine off.

Pressure plate and clutch / release bearing + labur would be looking at about 500£

[Q.S.]

I assume that you have been presssing the clutch pedal in, with the engine off.

if it was the clutch / master cylinder the the fault would be replicated more with the engine off.

Pressure plate and clutch / release bearing + labur would be looking at about 500£

Sounds like a hydraulic fault to me but can't be 100% without trying it. If it's ok with the engine off, the clutch isn't clearing for some reason and that's all you can say with any certainty. Impossible to diagnose remotely. It's a 'hands on' job really.

[JohnYossarian]

I assume that you have been presssing the clutch pedal in, with the engine off.

if it was the clutch / master cylinder the the fault would be replicated more with the engine off.

Pressure plate and clutch / release bearing + labur would be looking at about 500£

Sounds like a hydraulic fault to me but can't be 100% without trying it. If it's ok with the engine off, the clutch isn't clearing for some reason and that's all you can say with any certainty. Impossible to diagnose remotely. It's a 'hands on' job really.

I have come back from holiday and with my extended warranty I had the car recovered to an authorised garage. Then the problem started (as not having a car handy was not enough). The garage diagnosed the fault as clutch slave cylinder and called National Service Network. They in turn had to call the warranty company. For a couple of days they seem to have spoken Chinese (no offence intended) as they could not work out who to call. Finally on Friday they "found ecah other". At this point the NSN (before giving authorisation for ordering the part) asked the garage to strip out the cutch to prove that it was the slave cylinder. This should happen on Monday. The stripping should be at my expense as it is part of diagnosing the fault. Despite being auhtorised garage the guys there charge almost £ 70 an hour, almost as much as Toyota and I am now thousand times sorry for having this extended warranty and not going directly to Toyota (it would have been solved very quickly).

I called the warranty company and asked them whether this was the right way of treating their customers. I had some arguments over the phone but I am still with the car in the garage and no clear indication how much I have to pay at the end and when the end would be.

Can anyone advise me on what I can do to speed the process up?

I will reveal the name of the warranty company as soon as I resolve the problem and I can assure you, these guys should not be touched even with a barge.

Cheers.

[Q.S.]

I assume that you have been presssing the clutch pedal in, with the engine off.

if it was the clutch / master cylinder the the fault would be replicated more with the engine off.

Pressure plate and clutch / release bearing + labur would be looking at about 500£

Sounds like a hydraulic fault to me but can't be 100% without trying it. If it's ok with the engine off, the clutch isn't clearing for some reason and that's all you can say with any certainty. Impossible to diagnose remotely. It's a 'hands on' job really.

I have come back from holiday and with my extended warranty I had the car recovered to an authorised garage. Then the problem started (as not having a car handy was not enough). The garage diagnosed the fault as clutch slave cylinder and called National Service Network. They in turn had to call the warranty company. For a couple of days they seem to have spoken Chinese (no offence intended) as they could not work out who to call. Finally on Friday they "found ecah other". At this point the NSN (before giving authorisation for ordering the part) asked the garage to strip out the cutch to prove that it was the slave cylinder. This should happen on Monday. The stripping should be at my expense as it is part of diagnosing the fault. Despite being auhtorised garage the guys there charge almost £ 70 an hour, almost as much as Toyota and I am now thousand times sorry for having this extended warranty and not going directly to Toyota (it would have been solved very quickly).

I called the warranty company and asked them whether this was the right way of treating their customers. I had some arguments over the phone but I am still with the car in the garage and no clear indication how much I have to pay at the end and when the end would be.

Can anyone advise me on what I can do to speed the process up?

I will reveal the name of the warranty company as soon as I resolve the problem and I can assure you, these guys should not be touched even with a barge.

Cheers.

I am not conversant with your model but, if it is the same clutch layout as mine, the slave cylinder is external and can be changed for less than it would cost to strip the clutch down.

If yours has an internal slave, then it's only a further 30 minutes (tops) to strip the clutch (if it's a standard type clutch) as they need to remove the gearbox to replace the slave cylinder anyway.

I wish you luck with them, personally I would never have an extended warranty that wasn't backed by the manufacturer. They always have loopholes to wriggle through to get out of paying up.

[Parts-King]

Sorry I have only just read the thread

Did you finally have an answer Jordan?

Kingo

[JohnYossarian]

Sorry I have only just read the thread

Did you finally have an answer Jordan?

Kingo

Hi Kingo,

I am still waiting for the answer of these cowboys. Tomorrow they would hopefully strip the clutch down, prove that it was the slave cylnder and eventually get authorisation to get it sorted.

I am due for service and should my car be ready some time next week I will bring it in Queensferry.

I am so sorry that I paid for extended warranty not backed by manufacturer (never again will I do such a thing) and that did not recover the car to your garage (it had to be recovered to the garage).

I will keep you posted.

Cheers,

Jordan

[JohnYossarian]

Sorry I have only just read the thread

Did you finally have an answer Jordan?

Kingo

Hi Kingo,

I am still waiting for the answer of these cowboys. Tomorrow they would hopefully strip the clutch down, prove that it was the slave cylnder and eventually get authorisation to get it sorted.

I am due for service and should my car be ready some time next week I will bring it in Queensferry.

I am so sorry that I paid for extended warranty not backed by manufacturer (never again will I do such a thing) and that did not recover the car to your garage (it had to be recovered to the garage).

I will keep you posted.

Cheers,

Jordan

Almost two weeks later I would like to update you on my clutch problem. After numerous talks over the phone with the cowboys from click4warranty.com I decided to take actions and to sort out things out with Toyota. I used my recovery from my car insurance and moved the car to Queensferry. They quickly diagnosed the fault (a clutch replacement) and did the work promptly. Yesterday (I could not pick the car up for a week due to a busy week at the office) I got the car and was very pleased with the work done (I had also asked for my service to be done). The clutch is not noisy (creaky) anymore, very soft. The total cost I paid was less than the amount I would have paid in the previous garage but I know that the work was done by people whom I can trust (being a regular I got some discount:))).

I wish to thank Kingo and Mike at Lindop Brothers, Toyta Dealers in North Wales. Excellent service indeed!

Cheers,

Jordan

[moonstone mart]

I assume that you have been presssing the clutch pedal in, with the engine off.

if it was the clutch / master cylinder the the fault would be replicated more with the engine off.

Pressure plate and clutch / release bearing + labur would be looking at about 500£

Sounds like a hydraulic fault to me but can't be 100% without trying it. If it's ok with the engine off, the clutch isn't clearing for some reason and that's all you can say with any certainty. Impossible to diagnose remotely. It's a 'hands on' job really.

I have come back from holiday and with my extended warranty I had the car recovered to an authorised garage. Then the problem started (as not having a car handy was not enough). The garage diagnosed the fault as clutch slave cylinder and called National Service Network. They in turn had to call the warranty company. For a couple of days they seem to have spoken Chinese (no offence intended) as they could not work out who to call. Finally on Friday they "found ecah other". At this point the NSN (before giving authorisation for ordering the part) asked the garage to strip out the cutch to prove that it was the slave cylinder. This should happen on Monday. The stripping should be at my expense as it is part of diagnosing the fault. Despite being auhtorised garage the guys there charge almost £ 70 an hour, almost as much as Toyota and I am now thousand times sorry for having this extended warranty and not going directly to Toyota (it would have been solved very quickly).

I called the warranty company and asked them whether this was the right way of treating their customers. I had some arguments over the phone but I am still with the car in the garage and no clear indication how much I have to pay at the end and when the end would be.

Can anyone advise me on what I can do to speed the process up?

I will reveal the name of the warranty company as soon as I resolve the problem and I can assure you, these guys should not be touched even with a barge.

Cheers.

I am not conversant with your model but, if it is the same clutch layout as mine, the slave cylinder is external and can be changed for less than it would cost to strip the clutch down.

If yours has an internal slave, then it's only a further 30 minutes (tops) to strip the clutch (if it's a standard type clutch) as they need to remove the gearbox to replace the slave cylinder anyway.

I wish you luck with them, personally I would never have an extended warranty that wasn't backed by the manufacturer. They always have loopholes to wriggle through to get out of paying up.

The slave cylinder in on the OUTSIDE of the gearbox therefore there would be no need to strip the gearbox off to change it. I would say the problem is the clutch itself.

Mart.

[JohnYossarian]

I assume that you have been presssing the clutch pedal in, with the engine off.

if it was the clutch / master cylinder the the fault would be replicated more with the engine off.

Pressure plate and clutch / release bearing + labur would be looking at about 500£

Sounds like a hydraulic fault to me but can't be 100% without trying it. If it's ok with the engine off, the clutch isn't clearing for some reason and that's all you can say with any certainty. Impossible to diagnose remotely. It's a 'hands on' job really.

I have come back from holiday and with my extended warranty I had the car recovered to an authorised garage. Then the problem started (as not having a car handy was not enough). The garage diagnosed the fault as clutch slave cylinder and called National Service Network. They in turn had to call the warranty company. For a couple of days they seem to have spoken Chinese (no offence intended) as they could not work out who to call. Finally on Friday they "found ecah other". At this point the NSN (before giving authorisation for ordering the part) asked the garage to strip out the cutch to prove that it was the slave cylinder. This should happen on Monday. The stripping should be at my expense as it is part of diagnosing the fault. Despite being auhtorised garage the guys there charge almost £ 70 an hour, almost as much as Toyota and I am now thousand times sorry for having this extended warranty and not going directly to Toyota (it would have been solved very quickly).

I called the warranty company and asked them whether this was the right way of treating their customers. I had some arguments over the phone but I am still with the car in the garage and no clear indication how much I have to pay at the end and when the end would be.

Can anyone advise me on what I can do to speed the process up?

I will reveal the name of the warranty company as soon as I resolve the problem and I can assure you, these guys should not be touched even with a barge.

Cheers.

I am not conversant with your model but, if it is the same clutch layout as mine, the slave cylinder is external and can be changed for less than it would cost to strip the clutch down.

If yours has an internal slave, then it's only a further 30 minutes (tops) to strip the clutch (if it's a standard type clutch) as they need to remove the gearbox to replace the slave cylinder anyway.

I wish you luck with them, personally I would never have an extended warranty that wasn't backed by the manufacturer. They always have loopholes to wriggle through to get out of paying up.

The slave cylinder in on the OUTSIDE of the gearbox therefore there would be no need to strip the gearbox off to change it. I would say the problem is the clutch itself.

Mart.

Hi Mart,

This was exactly what happened. Initially, at the "authorised" garage they suspected the slave cylinder to be the culprit. From what you say it seems that they do not know much about Toyota cars (they are in fact a Suzuki garage). The guys at Toyota identidified the problem and sorted it out in no time.

I know that the labour is most expensive there but it is worthwhile the money, I could have saved time and nerves, I was without a car for almost three weeks, when everything would have finished in a couple of days had I approached them from the start.

Cheers,

Jordan