Clutch last year and now DMF needs replacing....

T

tilla

New Member
I needed a new clutch in February 2024 at 62,000 miles on my 2017 Transporter T6 LWB. I went through Mr Clutch for this.

At first they said they would need to do the clutch, master and slave cylinder and flywheel, but then they called and said actually the flywheel is fine and does not need replacing.

This brought the quote down by hundreds and at the time I was happy with it and didn't ask too many questions.

I got a 2 year warranty with the clutch replacement (or 20,000 miles).

Now I'm at 78,000 miles and there's issues with the vehicle. It's in a different garage right now for diagnostics but pretty certain it's the flywheel.

Mr Clutch said if the flywheel needs replacing, I will need to do everything again... new clutch kit + flywheel and I would receive 50% off the labour due to the warranty, BUT I would have to pay all the parts.

I feel like if that's the case I've been screwed over. If I knew this thing could potentially break and I would have to replace the clutch again within such a short timeframe I would have paid the extra and asked them to do the flywheel at the same time as they did the clutch last year... They have said that they would only give 50% off labour because if there's nothing wrong with the clutch it's not really their fault

Does this sound right. Literally spent thousands on this van over the last couple of years on sooo many repairs. Most unreliable vehicle i've ever owned but I have invested so much time and money into it that I just can't let it go :(
 
Seems like they should have explained it a little more. I think it’s one of those calls, do you replace things that hasn’t failed while getting the work done as it would save on labour or save on parts in the short term
 
50:50
To be honest sounds quite fair.

You were happy with the money off at the time and it could have lasted another few years, or not.
As Sasquatch says, if you are operating on the bowels of the vehicle anyway, worth just getting everything done at once.
This isn't schadenfreude or meant to direct you in any way - just my opinion looking from the outside with the info you've told us.

However, make sure the amount of labour (hours) tallies with the official guidance, and the price they are charging you for the parts is fair (expect 10 or 20% on top anyway) then scrutinise their quote as it is possible you'll be paying for all of it anyway - just with an extra couple hours here and a gromit there added on to make it look like 50% labour.
 
I guess the fact that they called and said the flywheel wasn’t needed swayed the decision though, meaning he would have to of forced the money into their hand, bit weird
 
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Yes - agree - but on the other hand, it seems they were being honest at the time. They may be should have said words to the effect - 'but maybe it is worth doing anyway'.
Who knows - a conversation a couple years ago - it is possible they may have inferred it if not said it outright. I don't remember exact conversations with mechanics from 2 years ago. Good luck and well done if you do.
 
Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it.

The garage I trust diagnosed it in a few hours and it is the flywheel. They have advised me NOT to drive it AT ALL or it could ruin my gearbox or potentially engine. Frustratingly, Mr Clutch couldn't even diagnose it when they looked at it the previous week and said it was still driveable, so i've potentially been doing more damage. The good garage have quoted about £2k including a few hundred for rear coil springs replacement that I need doing.

Mr Clutch have quoted £1150 with the discount (advised 5.5 hours total labour). This doesn't include coil springs so likely to be more like £1400ish in total.

Btw Mr Clutch have said that apparently if they inspect a part and they estimate it to have 20% life in it then they won't advise on replacing it... I definitely wasn't told that at the time I can assure you.
 
Do Mr Clutch have X Ray vision? Without that it would be difficult to determine the remaining life left in a DMF unless it's actually teetering on the brink already.

Even if they could, how do they expect a DMF to last the life of a new clutch if it only has, say, 30% life remaining?

Sounds to me like they're desperately making stuff up after the event to try and avoid looking like tools.
 
Rear springs are an hour to fit ,plus the price of the springs if they're supplying them .
£2k seems alot of money still .
 
I've sent a complaint in because I think I should only have to pay for the DMF parts and they should cover the clutch parts and all of the labour. I would have got it all done last year if I had known that if the DMF went I would have to get the clutch done again...
 
Worth a try, but if not, with only 16,000 mile on that clutch I really wouldn’t see any point in replacing it. Surely there’s another 60k in that. And of course, unlike the dmf, it’s possible to inspect it for wear prior to re installation
 
Yes, also - depending if they are a little dodgy or not - you'd not know if they replaced the whole clutch anyway. So might be worth pre-empting and saying that you just want the DMF done.
However - that would be their 'out' if anything goes wrong in the future.
Maybe another way to think about it would be like insurance - is it worth paying the extra few hundred in order that it is guaranteed for 2 or 3(?) years?

What I mean is that the chance of it going wrong in the guarantee period vs the cost of it needing replaced within the same period.
Roll your dice/toss your coin.

Also - how much do you trust this garage anyway.

A long time ago in a galaxy far away I took my old horseless carriage to a mechanic. They took it in and started work immediately on it - think it was clutch also.
Anyway a couple hours later I pop by to check how it is going and the boss is all dressed up in a suit. Ask him if it is a funeral or wedding. He says it is for a court case as a client wasn't happy with his work.
I couldn't do anything about it apart from hope/pray/sacrifice as there were bits of my Viva all over the floor. All worked out well in the end though.
 
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whodat said:
Yes, also - depending if they are a little dodgy or not - you'd not know if they replaced the whole clutch anyway. So might be worth pre-empting and saying that you just want the DMF done.
However - that would be their 'out' if anything goes wrong in the future.
Maybe another way to think about it would be like insurance - is it worth paying the extra few hundred in order that it is guaranteed for 2 or 3(?) years?

What I mean is that the chance of it going wrong in the guarantee period vs the cost of it needing replaced within the same period.
Roll your dice/toss your coin.

Also - how much do you trust this garage anyway.

A long time ago in a galaxy far away I took my old horseless carriage to a mechanic. They took it in and started work immediately on it - think it was clutch also.
Anyway a couple hours later I pop by to check how it is going and the boss is all dressed up in a suit. Ask him if it is a funeral or wedding. He says it is for a court case as a client wasn't happy with his work.
I couldn't do anything about it apart from hope/pray/sacrifice as there were bits of my Viva all over the floor. All worked out well in the end though.
Click to expand...
hahaha
 
Bigsidavies said:
And of course, unlike the dmf, it’s possible to inspect it for wear prior to re installation
Click to expand...
This in spades.

The state of the clutch is easy to assess visually. With 16k and a sensible driver one would hope that wear would be minimal and it should be straightforward to assess. I'd be happy reusing the clutch if it passes a careful eyeballing.

But as I cross posted with the OP and he's getting it replaced gratis it's a moot point anyway.
 
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