Clutch Replacement Every 12K Miles?

[nativeson]

Afternoon folks -

My dad and I bought a used 06 speed6 about a year ago. Since then, we've had the clutch fail on us twice. We had the dealer service the car and on the service shop's advice, had the clutch assembly replaced. This being a dealership, I assume I'm being lied to and overcharged.

Checking the vehicle's history, it appears that the clutch has been replaced once before we purchased it. So, on average, the clutch is failing about every 12 K miles.

The first time, I had them give us the actual parts so I could get some money back from the seller of the car. The clutch was quite "burned" up. The second time, I didn't get the parts, but am pretty shocked that the clutch failed again and needed to be replaced.

Questions:

1. Is excessive heat/friction a known issue with the clutch? Are there other known issue with the clutch (aside from the pedal friction point, which I noted from the other posts).

2. Is the clutch assembly difficult to get to? The dealer claims that the servicing the clutch is more labor intensive in a speed 6 than a normal mazda, e.g., the engine has to be removed to access the transmission assembly. Sounds like bulls***. But, what do you all think?

3. Know of any good tuner shops in the chicago-land area that work on the speed6 and do you have any suggestions/recommendations for aftermarket clutches?

Much thanks in advance for your help.

 

[brianguild]

Nativeson, does the car pop out of gear at all, or does it feel hard to shift compared to another MazdaSpeed6 you've driven?

I had my clutch replaced under the clutch TSB, and it turned out that I ended up having bad syncros on 1/2 and my clutch fork had disintegrated. They didn't replace those things when they redid my clutch, and it burned out in 12k miles. Dealership said "it's toast". They ended up redoing the whole thing, but yeah, I believe its possible.

 

[FORZDA 1]

Afternoon folks -

My dad and I bought a used 06 speed6 about a year ago. Since then, we've had the clutch fail on us twice. We had the dealer service the car and on the service shop's advice, had the clutch assembly replaced. This being a dealership, I assume I'm being lied to and overcharged.

Checking the vehicle's history, it appears that the clutch has been replaced once before we purchased it. So, on average, the clutch is failing about every 12 K miles.

The first time, I had them give us the actual parts so I could get some money back from the seller of the car. The clutch was quite "burned" up. The second time, I didn't get the parts, but am pretty shocked that the clutch failed again and needed to be replaced.

Questions:

1. Is excessive heat/friction a known issue with the clutch? Are there other known issue with the clutch (aside from the pedal friction point, which I noted from the other posts).

2. Is the clutch assembly difficult to get to? The dealer claims that the servicing the clutch is more labor intensive in a speed 6 than a normal mazda, e.g., the engine has to be removed to access the transmission assembly. Sounds like bulls***. But, what do you all think?

3. Know of any good tuner shops in the chicago-land area that work on the speed6 and do you have any suggestions/recommendations for aftermarket clutches?

Much thanks in advance for your help.

There is/has been issues with the pedal assy leverage and in some cases the clutch push rod is misadjusted and puts constant pressure on the release bearing and thre clutch will slip badly after a short period of use....

 

[fitbikes07]

this clutch is a huge pain to get to.. you have to remove part of the frame to get to it.. if you are doing it on a jack stand you are going to have a miserable weekend. I was going to do it myself but stopped before I got to the point of no return and took it to a mechanic. The guy told me it is written as 10-12 flag hours or something but gave me a much better price than mazda- 800 compared to 1000+ for labor.

 

[Blendercloud]

I just replaced the clutch and flywheel last weekend. It took my father in law and me six hours to do it on a lift. It is rated for 10-12 hours as the user above stated. This is NOT easy to do. I highly suggest that if you don't have access to a lift and transmission jack with a wide assortment of tools that you take this to a shop.

I replaced my stocker that had 28k on it (clutch disk was all but destroyed) with a Fidanza aluminum flywheel and a Spec Stage3. It does not have great driveability for taking off in first gear, but given the characteristics of the clutch and what it was designed for it really shouldn't. If I were you, I would look into an ACT setup that comes with a steel flywheel (in the event you find hotspots on your stock flywheel and it can't be resurfaced). I believe price out the door for most ACT setups is around $700.

 

[fitbikes07]

blendercloud... correct me if i am wrong, but i don't think the stock flywheel cannot be resurfaced because it is a dual mass flywheel.

Plus, the bulk of the cost of this job is labor, not the parts. I got the complete clutch set up for 675. I have the ACT 6 puck sprung.. sucks to get used to, but it is a great set up. If you have to do a ton of driving in stop-and-go traffic it can get frustrating.

I agree 100% about NOT trying it unless you have a lift. It gets really tight when you are underneath the car for 10 hours fighting bolts while on your back...

 

[Blendercloud]

Yea, being dual mass I've never known them to be resurfaced, but I wasn't going to make a declaration without knowing for sure. Someone always comes along to prove ya wrong!

 

[coyfish]

Why did you have to replace clutch so soon blender?? lots of launches ?

 

[Blendercloud]

Why did you have to replace clutch so soon blender?? lots of launches ?

I had probably in the neighborhood of 40 launches at over 4k per launch on the stock clutch. The clutch was badly burned when I bought the car with 16k on it. You'll have to check the "What did you do to your 6/MS6 today" thread for pictures, but the disc was nearly down to metal on both sides. The flywheel and the pressure plate both had hot spots on them as well.

 

[fitbikes07]

I had the EXACT same problem blender.. I got my car with 17000 miles on it and it was messed up from the start. here is what it looked like when i got it replaced with 21k miles. (i did not launch the car at all)

 

[Blendercloud]

You're lucky you replaced it when you did!