03-21-2011, 06:34 PM
For 2 grand I hope they were going to do a LOT more than just replace the clutch - that's WAY too high. If you got to it before it became so worn that the rivets started gouging the flywheel, the dealer price was more like it - maybe even a little high since dealers rip you off for the labor. (sorry if anyone here is a car dealer, but the only way any of my cars will EVER see a dealership garage is for warranty work - I have PLENTY of horror stories about the incompetent boobs who don't knwo anythign about the specific brand of car they sell). They probably didn't have things aligned correctly, putting abnormal forces on the bearings and allowing the clutch to not seat squarely agaisnt the pressure plate.
AWD does put more stress on the transmisison and clutch, but look how long the firs tone lasted. The second should have lasted wqually as long, assuming your driving habits remained the same. One thing a lot of newer cars have (mine included, soon as I get around to it, it's coming off) is a clutch delay valve, which keeps you from just sidestepping the clutch pedal and dumping it - makes for nice smokey burnouts, and , particularly in the case of AWD, makes for broken axles. But it ALSO makes it nearly imposisble to get a totally smooth shift, especially from 1-2, no matter how good you are - as the actual motion of the clutch lags you foot movement. It works by slowing down how fast the clutch disk comes into contact with the pressure plate - and like most things, goign too fast is bad, but so is goign too slow. Droppign the clutch puts too much strain ont he drive train, engaging too slowly causes the clutch to slip and wear faster. I'm still on the original clutch at 108k miles, as the second owner. There are a variety of things I need ot get checked out, one of those being the condition of the clutch. If it's almsot done for, I'm going to replace it and remove the delay valve, if it's still got plenty of meat left, I'm just going to remove the delay valve.
--Randy
AWD does put more stress on the transmisison and clutch, but look how long the firs tone lasted. The second should have lasted wqually as long, assuming your driving habits remained the same. One thing a lot of newer cars have (mine included, soon as I get around to it, it's coming off) is a clutch delay valve, which keeps you from just sidestepping the clutch pedal and dumping it - makes for nice smokey burnouts, and , particularly in the case of AWD, makes for broken axles. But it ALSO makes it nearly imposisble to get a totally smooth shift, especially from 1-2, no matter how good you are - as the actual motion of the clutch lags you foot movement. It works by slowing down how fast the clutch disk comes into contact with the pressure plate - and like most things, goign too fast is bad, but so is goign too slow. Droppign the clutch puts too much strain ont he drive train, engaging too slowly causes the clutch to slip and wear faster. I'm still on the original clutch at 108k miles, as the second owner. There are a variety of things I need ot get checked out, one of those being the condition of the clutch. If it's almsot done for, I'm going to replace it and remove the delay valve, if it's still got plenty of meat left, I'm just going to remove the delay valve.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad of the 1950's in HO
Visit my web site to see layout progress and other information:
http://www.readingeastpenn.com
Visit my web site to see layout progress and other information:
http://www.readingeastpenn.com