gosh darnit my clutch went poof

[g.lewarne]

ok, so here is what happened:

going up long sliproad from a red light onto a38, was behing a fuel tanker so want exactly brisk, went to change from 1st - gear would not disengage.

i drifted it toward hard shoulder with hazards on and the only way i could stop was to stall the engine. With the engine stopped i could manually change the gears but the clutch pedal felt like it had all the resistance of a rubber band.

in neutral, could start engine but again not move gear lever into a gear (clutch in or out made no difference)

Eventually (after a helpful police tow to a safer location) i managed to start the engine with the car in gear and the clutch was slipping like crazy but i was able to move on.

drove the rest of the way up the a38 at about 40 - at this point i could feel some normalish resistance in the clutch pedal and could select gears normally, but any revs above 3000 and clutch was just slipping like crazy unless i got it there slowly.

managed to try it through all the gears and the gearbox still feels good its just very very slippy.

got it home, let it cool for an hour and just tried again and now the clutch feel is almost normal, but there is a bad judder from the clutch when you are slipping into first (as in 1st is selected on box but your slipping the clutch off to start moving). Slipping into all other gears feels fine its just slip happy now.

so, onto my questions:

1) is it extremely likely that its just clutch plate/ pressure plate / bearing i need replaced?
2) any recomendations of a garage in Plymouth area to do this and approx cost? (i was thinking A P Motors in plymouth)
3) which clutch to go for?

ta,
Gav

[foxy-stoat]

I would ring around for quotes as they vary massively.

Just so you know, a 3 piece pattern clutch kit shouldnt be more than £70. Labour must be 4-6 hours but not sure on the book times.

Mr Clutch would be on my call list.

I would check the clutch fluid first tho.

[g.lewarne]

cheapest quote so far is £300 inc VAT for parts and labour + 2 year gurantee, by AP Motors in plymouth.

so far this sounds like a good deal as they have a great reputation and seem to be a performance car specialist. Said they could do it in a day and they are only 1/2 mile from me

so now i gotta start saving as just 2 days ago we ordered and paid for £700 worth of alloys which turned up today. Oh, the irony

[jasongtr]

maybe you could sell the alloys for £300 - just a joke

[prb]

You could make an offer for the exedy clutch kit I have for sale in parts, then see what the labour only would be?

[g.lewarne]

the £300 deal is for an exedy clutch kit (they supply) so i think its a fair price.

now i just have to deal with the fact that i cant drive my car for 4 weeks until payday

also - im a bit concerned as i cant put the car in a garage so it will be left on street and am worried about excessive brake disc corrosion if the rainy weather persists. Im not sure there is enough clutch left to run it for a 100m or so every week AND get me to the garage at the end of the month

[cvega666]

300 with the clutch supplied is not bad. I think I paid around 250-ish.

[Slarty]

also - im a bit concerned as i cant put the car in a garage so it will be left on street and am worried about excessive brake disc corrosion if the rainy weather persists.

Worry not. Within the first mile the rust will be gone and it won't have any adverse affect. Just go easy the first couple of times you apply the brakes.

[g.lewarne]

also - im a bit concerned as i cant put the car in a garage so it will be left on street and am worried about excessive brake disc corrosion if the rainy weather persists.

Worry not. Within the first mile the rust will be gone and it won't have any adverse affect. Just go easy the first couple of times you apply the brakes.

thanks! im just paraniod about them as they are all only 100miles old. but, thinking logically i suppose a disc would have to be left unprotected for a VERY long time for any rust to penetrate into the disc

thanks for the help so far everyone!

[Marf]

Right, quick word on Exedy clutches.

The 4 spring centre plates are not up to the task, especially if you like to drive enthusiastically

I used upgraded Exedy clutches on my old Charade, they were supplied with 4 spring centres. Within a couple of weeks the springs would start to rattle, and three times a spring liberated itself from the centre leaving me unable to select a gear. In the end I started using the upgraded Exedy cover with an OEM 6 spring plate and my problems ceased.

I have just got off the phone with TCB who said exactly the same thing about the Exedy clutches on the MR2, they are supplied with a 4 spring centre and they often spit springs or start to rattle.

As such I've just bought an Aisin clutch from them which comes with an OEM spec 6 spring centre.

[g.lewarne]

thanks marf, thats useful info

when i got the quote its was for the exedy kit, BUT, they also quoted me about £30 less overall if i went for the "blueprint" part. This is what i think i shall do

[Marf]

Find out if the blueprint comes with a 6 spring centre.

If not go with an Aisin from TCB

[prb]

nn

[Joey]

Personally i'd just buy a genuine Toyota one at least you'll know for sure it's up to the job. The clutch is the cheap part it's the labour that costs. Your cheap clutch won't be so cheap if it falls apart and you have to pay to get a second one fitted.....
My experience with aftermarket clutches isn't a good one. The expensive SPEC clutch i bought fell apart in under a year, the OEM Toyota clutch i replaced it with hasn't given any bother

[Marf]

The Aisin clutches that TCB sell are the same as OEM. Aisin supply Toyota.

As for the labour cost, is £160 really that high??

[Moo]

Right, quick word on Exedy clutches.

The 4 spring centre plates are not up to the task, especially if you like to drive enthusiastically

I used upgraded Exedy clutches on my old Charade, they were supplied with 4 spring centres. Within a couple of weeks the springs would start to rattle, and three times a spring liberated itself from the centre leaving me unable to select a gear. In the end I started using the upgraded Exedy cover with an OEM 6 spring plate and my problems ceased.

I have just got off the phone with TCB who said exactly the same thing about the Exedy clutches on the MR2, they are supplied with a 4 spring centre and they often spit springs or start to rattle.

As such I've just bought an Aisin clutch from them which comes with an OEM spec 6 spring centre.

Do you know if this applies to Exedy stage 1 clutches? The centre plate on the one I've just bought has 4 springs. Did a bit of searching and the centre plate on the Exedy stage 2 has 6 springs. Does this mean I'm likely to suffer the same problem with the springs

[Marf]

Possibly, yes.

The problem is excaserbated by having a cover with increased clamping force over standard. The problem occurred for me with both 33% and 50% upgrade covers.

The load is too much for them to handle IMO, an upgraded cover clamps down on the plate harder and faster than a stock plate, so it's much better to split that shock loading across 6 springs.

I should imagine you could pick up an OE 6 spring centre for not much cash.

The first time it happened to me I was pulling out of a busy roundabout that was the meeting point of 4 dual carriageways! I didnt have my mobile on me but luckily a passing copper stopped, helped me push the car out of the way and phoned the RAC on my behalf. They turned up in 10 minutes

Granted I had been thrashing the xxxx out of the car minutes before chasing a 911 but that's a slight aside

[g.lewarne]

this is turning into quite the informative discussion!

We have managed to cobble togther £350 now and have it booked in for monday (hurrah!)

When i called him it turned out there was a miscommunication - the original £300 quote was for an exedy kit, and the "blueprint" part he mentioned for 30 quid less total cost wasnt ADL blueprint, he just meant "pattern" part.

So, i have ordered a stock toyota clutch kit from mr T which is arriving tomorrow (quite cheap for a rev1 - £124 inc vat) and he is happy to do it with those parts.

Onto another question, while he has most of the rear end in pieces, will he have easy access to the rear ARB bushes ? (i know these are a pain to do) because i have two new ones at home and thought while he's at it.....another £20 in his pocket?

now my final task is to identify the tool required to do up the new wheel nuts that came with my alloys. They aint splines, or TORX but something inbetween. im thinking the "tuner wheel nut tool" off ebay is the thing im after......?

[Moo]

Rats. Wish you'd have posted this a week ago and I would have bought a stage 2

So when you buy an uprated clutch to handle more power, in my case this stage 1, it's the cover that's the uprated bit and not the centre plate? So it's nothing to do with the friction material on the centre plate? As you can probably guess, I don't know much about clutches!

I'm going to be running aroung 350atf but don't really abuse my car so might opt to get it fitted and see how it goes. If I do have problems all I have to do is swap out the Exedy centre plate for a stock one and that will be ok in that it won't start slipping or anything?

Other than the fact my clutch stops working, how can I tell if the springs in the Exedy centre plate are playing up? I'll hear them start to rattle or something?

Apologies to the OP for the thread hijack by the way!

[Marf]

Rats. Wish you'd have posted this a week ago and I would have bought a stage 2

Maybe call the supplier and ask if you can switch the plates? TBH I didnt even twig about the spring issue till Trev at TCB mentioned it. I should have been more on the ball given how much of an ar$e ache it was on my charade. Box off 4 times in a year!!

So when you buy an uprated clutch to handle more power, in my case this stage 1, it's the cover that's the uprated bit and not the centre plate? So it's nothing to do with the friction material on the centre plate? As you can probably guess, I don't know much about clutches!

Depends, some clutches just have increased clamping force to handle more torque, some also have different friction material which provides more friction.

If I do have problems all I have to do is swap out the Exedy centre plate for a stock one and that will be ok in that it won't start slipping or anything?

That'd be fine, shouldnt slip. The bulk of the grip a clutch has comes from its cover. On my charade once I'd worn out the disc all I would do is replace it. Never had any issues.

Other than the fact my clutch stops working, how can I tell if the springs in the Exedy centre plate are playing up? I'll hear them start to rattle or something?

It'll start rattling in neutral with the clutch engaged. Put the clutch down in neutral and it'll stop.

That's how it starts. If you're lucky it'll stay like that. If not then one of the springs will work free of the centre, jam between the cover and the centre leaving you unable to change gear at all.