I think my clutch is gone...

af_thefragile

And the car has become almost undriveable... :(:(

The clutch is "sticking in", if you know what i mean... the clutch is not engaging quickly and so the car either stalls when taking off from a stop or you have to be very slow when taking off. And then when you do stop, the clutch doesn't disengage properly and the car again either stalls before coming to a stop or when its stop, it won't go into gear. You have to press in the clutch pedal, it then comes back out very slowly, wait for it to come out and then put it into gear. Even then I think I can feel the clutch slipping...

So just wanna make sure its the clutch that is gone and isn't anything else.
And if anyone of you can recommend me a good garage where I can get this fixed. Thanks.
The engine is revving up and losing revs very slowly as well...

The car's a Ford Puma and the Ford dealer is very pricey...

cgarrad

Mr clutch in finglas, done in 3 hours, €300! for my colt.

http://www.mrgearboxmrclutch.ie/

af_thefragile

^Yer man quoted me €500...
Sounds a little pricey.

I might attempt at changing it myself... Its summer so I don't have much else to do anyway and could save a good bit...

Scoffeymonster

You'll need to replace the pressure plate, bearing and flywheel as well.

The Clutch pack will include pressure plate and bearing.

The biggest expense with changing a clutch is normally the time it takes to remove the gearbox, so while you have it out I would recommend changing the flywheel, as this is normally goes at the same time as the clutch or shortly after (if you've never seen a clutch, the clutch and flywheel go together)

When you get a price off a garage, make sure it includes the Flywheel as they will normally just give you a price for the clutch pack and then add the flywheel to the price afterwards once it's in the garage. Or I have heard Garages putting the clutch in, knowing that the flywheel will need to be replaced and then charging for the labour again when you have to go back to them.... :mad: (you could be very lucky and there will be nothing wrong with the flywheel, however from the description you've given it sounds like it is gone)

you can get a refurbished clutch, that will save you a bit of money and they come with a warranty!

mickdw

When I started reading your description, I immediately thought, is it an older ford he has.
It could possibly be the clutch rachet (if your car has that system) but older fords generally did & were troublesome.
A faulty rachet would let the pedal snap to the floor at times or could even allow the car to take all of a sudden with the pedal still almost on the floor. It would generally come right by pusing the pedal up and down a few times but then would be likely to happen again at any stage.
If this is what is happening you, it is the rachet.

If not, it will be a clutch job at minimum

djimi

Slave cylinder maybe? That went in my Integra; meant that when I pressed the clutch it didnt come back up again. Wasnt that big a job to fix for the guy who sold me the car as he had the part in his garage.

af_thefragile

mickdw wrote: »

When I started reading your description, I immediately thought, is it an older ford he has.
It could possibly be the clutch rachet (if your car has that system) but older fords generally did & were troublesome.
A faulty rachet would let the pedal snap to the floor at times or could even allow the car to take all of a sudden with the pedal still almost on the floor. It would generally come right by pusing the pedal up and down a few times but then would be likely to happen again at any stage.
If this is what is happening you, it is the rachet.

If not, it will be a clutch job at minimum

It does look like what you're describing there but I don't know my car has that system. Its a 99 Ford Puma 1.4l...

ianobrien

Scoffeymonster wrote: »

You'll need to replace the pressure plate, bearing and flywheel as well.

The Clutch pack will include pressure plate and bearing.

The biggest expense with changing a clutch is normally the time it takes to remove the gearbox, so while you have it out I would recommend changing the flywheel, as this is normally goes at the same time as the clutch or shortly after (if you've never seen a clutch, the clutch and flywheel go together)

When you get a price off a garage, make sure it includes the Flywheel as they will normally just give you a price for the clutch pack and then add the flywheel to the price afterwards once it's in the garage. Or I have heard Garages putting the clutch in, knowing that the flywheel will need to be replaced and then charging for the labour again when you have to go back to them.... :mad: (you could be very lucky and there will be nothing wrong with the flywheel, however from the description you've given it sounds like it is gone)

you can get a refurbished clutch, that will save you a bit of money and they come with a warranty!

Ah, doesn't the Puma (along with most Petrol cars) come with a solid flywheel, ie one made from a lump of metal, not that silly notion of a Dual Mass flywheel (who thought that rubber in a flywheel was a good idea?) fitted in VAG/PSA/Ford/etc diesels.....

kennethk

My brother recently paid €150 for labour alone! It took the mechanic 3 hours to do! Isn't €50 a hour way to much??!!

He even said that he would have charged €200, only for he knew my brother!!:eek::eek:

djimi

kennethk wrote: »

My brother recently paid €150 for labour alone! It took the mechanic 3 hours to do! Isn't €50 a hour way to much??!!

He even said that he would have charged €200, only for he knew my brother!!:eek::eek:

No I would have said thats pretty reasonable actually.

af_thefragile

^Which is why I'm thinking of doing it myself. That way I'll also learn how to change the clutch in a car and might have a look at the gearbox while at it.
Though before any of that I wanna make sure what exactly has gone wrong with it first... Might have to get hold of a mechanic for that...

ianobrien wrote: »

Ah, doesn't the Puma (along with most Petrol cars) come with a solid flywheel, ie one made from a lump of metal, not that silly notion of a Dual Mass flywheel (who thought that rubber in a flywheel was a good idea?) fitted in VAG/PSA/Ford/etc diesels.....

No idea what any of that means...

voxpop

ianobrien wrote: »

Ah, doesn't the Puma (along with most Petrol cars) come with a solid flywheel, ie one made from a lump of metal, not that silly notion of a Dual Mass flywheel (who thought that rubber in a flywheel was a good idea?) fitted in VAG/PSA/Ford/etc diesels.....

Dont forget bmw petrols in your list

ianobrien

voxpop wrote: »

Dont forget bmw petrols in your list

Cheers. I didn't know that.

mondeo

af_thefragile wrote: »

^Which is why I'm thinking of doing it myself. That way I'll also learn how to change the clutch in a car and might have a look at the gearbox while at it.
Though before any of that I wanna make sure what exactly has gone wrong with it first... Might have to get hold of a mechanic for that...



No idea what any of that means...

Changing a clutch yourself will be a pig unless you can get the car on a ramp. Trying to do a clutch on your back will put you off cars. I done it a few years ago without a ramp and my fecking arms were killing me for days afterwards. If you don't have the right tools to do it yourself then don't do it..Your just going to piss yourself off!

Henry Ford III

Might not be the clutch itself. Could be the slave (hydraulic) cylinder leaking or several other possibilities.

Get it diagnosed properly AF.

af_thefragile

I think its not the clutch but the master cylinder or the slave cylinder as I don't think the clutch is slipping but just the clutch pedal is sinking in and becoming useless.

It does look like a fairly big job to change the clutch. Looks like the best way to do it is to jack the car up as high as you can and then remove the transmission out of the way. I have another month of summer left so I can take my time while doing it. I'll save a good amounts of money and I'll also learn how to change a clutch in a car...

I've got a garage (not a big one but should be enough) so I don't need to do it all at once.
Its like I've already spent a lot of on this car taking it to garages and that really wasn't worth it. And so I really don't wanna spend any more on it getting it repaired in garages. Wanna keep the total expenses on the car low so when I come to sell it, I won't be making a big loss. 500eur for a clutch replace/repair is pretty steep. I can get the whole clutch assembly and a lot more replaced myself for that much.