clutch gone after 4,900 miles

[xman]

5 minutes ago, Llanigraham said:

And of course you know that because you saw the car, saw the clutch when it was taken out and are an expert in these matters?
Read Ken's comments above!

 

Yeah, 45 years ago, learner driver, hill start, cabin filled with burning smell, completely relevant!

 

[Sad555]

I had an old Vauxhall chevette with a slipping clutch at 45,000 ......new clutch fitted at 70,000,yes clutch plates wear over the years they are meant too but experienced drivers driving a Skoda yeti for 1500 miles I don’t think so but unfortunately typical Skoda response.

[rhamscallion]

Thanks Sad555. I know, it's wearying. Actually I think it's this sort of drubbing that everyday folk get which eventually leads them to go berserk and vote against the establishment! You just feel you want to send a message back sometimes  Thanks for your support

[awfabia]

Having spent a lifetime in the motor trade, I have read this thread with interest my first thought being "clutches not warranty" . I've carefully read it all and it does sound like "catastrophic failure" not wear due to driving style. ( Wear, as some posts above, CAN be driving style or abuse and therefore NOT covered by warranty ) It would have been interesting for an independent examination of the failed parts. 

It would seem that "dieselgate" has negatively affected Škodas attitude to agreeing warranty. I have previously posted about my standing up to the dealer who initially refused to change my front suspension struts when,  just before the three years was up, the MOT found "slight misting" of fluid on them. Souces told me that, until a few  months previously Škoda had routinely accepted warranty claims on struts.

[KenONeill]

@awfabia - Cheers for that. I see your point, but wanted to make it clear that IME clutch failure can be abuse/style rather than manufacturing fault, and you need an inspection to decide either way.

[edbostan]

Blimey. I have had only to replace a clutch once in 50 years of motoring and that was a 1966 Vauxhall Viva. Every car since until I got rid of  had the factory fitted clutch doing around 113k miles.

[Zarniwoop]

Besides the Yeti I have a twelve year old Peugeot 307 SW (i.6HDi) with over 140,000 miles on the clock,  still on its original clutch.

[edbostan]

On 22/11/2018 at 18:08, Sad555 said:

I had an old Vauxhall chevette with a slipping clutch at 45,000 ......new clutch fitted at 70,000,yes clutch plates wear over the years they are meant too but experienced drivers driving a Skoda yeti for 1500 miles I don’t think so but unfortunately typical Skoda response.

We as a family had a HA Vauxhall Viva and the clutch went after 35k  miles. Also the cable broke regularly at 15k intervals. The Bowden clutch cable was a bad design in the clutch pedal and acted as a lever on the ball end which severed the cable at the clutch pedal. Design has moved on thankfully since then. My dad always had a spare clutch cable in the boot as it was a fairly simple roadside mend.

Edited 30 December, 2018 by edbostan

[JED]

On 30/12/2018 at 10:14, edbostan said:

Blimey. I have had only to replace a clutch once in 50 years of motoring and that was a 1966 Vauxhall Viva. Every car since until I got rid of  had the factory fitted clutch doing around 113k miles.

WOW the Viva engine lasted long enough to wear the clutch out 

[edbostan]

10 hours ago, JED said:

WOW the Viva engine lasted long enough to wear the clutch out 

The car was owned by my father and passed onto me and I part-exchanged it for a Mini at 80k. There was a problem with the quality of metal used for the cylinders and pistons and yes it did smoke. The weakness was in the clutch cable where the Bowden end fitted into the fork on the clutch pedal. It acted as a wrenching lever and the cable sheared at the Bowden every 15k. He always carried a spare cable. The original clutch failed at around 30k a couple of days before we were leaving for a road trip to Germany

Edited 1 January, 2019 by edbostan

[Rustynuts]

My first car was nearly a Viva E, but on the test drive I put the clutch down and it stayed down until the engine was turned off, then it popped back up. I had to start it in gear and clutchless change to get back to the garage. I bought a Morris Marina instead... 

[KenONeill]

On 01/01/2019 at 09:45, Rustynuts said:

My first car was nearly a Viva E, but on the test drive I put the clutch down and it stayed down until the engine was turned off, then it popped back up. I had to start it in gear and clutchless change to get back to the garage. I bought a Morris Marina instead... 

The more things change...

 

That was a machining fault in the release forks, and it took months to get Vauxhall to admit the fact...