Clutch gone at <17k miles?

[Neofolis]

I was driving home today when I noticed the clutch pedal had much less travel than normal. As the journey continued, it seemed as though the pedal was bearly lifting after gear changes and it became increasingly difficult to find gears. By the time I got home it wouldn't go into reverse at all. I don't know whether it is related, but when I got out of the car the remote locking wouldn't work, so I had to use the key. The remote would still unlock the car, but when it did, the lights didn't flash as they normally do. If this a clutch problem or an electrical problem or more than one problem?

The car has only done 16,700 miles, surely the clutch should last a lot longer than that. I could do with answers fairly quickly because the warranty expires in about 15 days.

 

[Atreyu3388]

I don't know whether or not you bought the car new or not, but when your warranty expires is pretty irrelevant at this point as I believe the clutch is only warrantied through 12k miles. (Correct me if I'm wrong..) After that it becomes "wear and tear." Try taking it in and having the clutch TSB done. Otherwise...pay for a new clutch.

 

[kendon]

my clutch blew on my svt focus due to the flywheel being loose and tearing the clutch to shreds. i had 16001 on the odometer when it went and had to get Jerry Reynolds "the car guy" to have his dealership fix it under warranty. not sure why you are having electrical issues, i would think that's a seperate issue. best of luck to u on getting a dealership to fix it, if it is due to mechanical failure than i'm living proof a dealership will replace the clutch after the 12k period.

 

[Blendercloud]

I bought mine from a Mazda dealership with 16,800 on the odometer. A few days after having it, I started noticing the smell of the clutch. With 19,100 on the car now, I'm noticing slight variations in the clutch play from when I purchased the car.

Short answer: Yes, the clutch can go out because of 'wear and tear' in less than 17,000 miles. Secondly, take it in to your dealership and see what they have to say about it. I would approach them sternly requesting that they check it out at no expense to you. If it's not a warranted item, at least you'll know where to start without paying a to diagnose it.

 

[Neofolis]

Thanks for the replies, even if it's not the best news having only bought the car a month ago.

Would if be worth me getting an after market clutch, like one of the SPEC clutches from RPM, even though the rest of the car is totally stock? I'm not planning any other specific upgrades, but I was intending to add mods over time, as things need replacing, but obviously doing it that way, the next upgrade could be a month away or two years away.

 

[Super Shredder]

i would replace it with a stock clutch and during this process make sure they take care of ALL clutch TSBs. or if you go with spec, stay spec 1 untill you have serious mods.

 

[Neofolis]

I don't suppose anyone would know how the wear characteristics of the spec 1 compare with stock. I notice that the spec 2 is described as having extremely long life. Also, should I get the Fidanza Aluminium Flywheel at the same time.

 

[Blendercloud]

I don't suppose anyone would know how the wear characteristics of the spec 1 compare with stock. I notice that the spec 2 is described as having extremely long life. Also, should I get the Fidanza Aluminium Flywheel at the same time.

Ken from Protege Garage can explain the differences and similarities between the Spec parts and stock in great detail. I would shoot him a PM and ask him to reply in this thread.

The aluminum flywheel is going to reduce rotating mass saving you some lost drivetrain horsepower and allowing the car to rev a little faster. Ultimately, I would probably wait until further down the road when you've done some other less-expensive mods first. There is likely nothing wrong with your stock flywheel.

 

[Neofolis]

The thing is that replacing the clutch is going to be fairly expensive anyway, so I didn't want to replace it with a stock clutch, just to replace it again at a later date, at which point there maybe nothing wrong with the stock one. Also, having read the clutch TSB thread, it seems like the clutch change is a major job, that requires a lot of labour hours, so I would think the cost difference in the parts, if I choose to upgrade, is not too much of an issue compared with paying that labour cost again at some point in the future.

 

[Otacon_X]

The clutch TSB is free. I had mine replaced at around 16k miles.

 

[Neofolis]

True, but had your clutch already gone, when you got them to do it. I'll still try that option first, either way.

 

[dquarasr]

I was driving home today when I noticed the clutch pedal had much less travel than normal. As the journey continued, it seemed as though the pedal was bearly lifting after gear changes and it became increasingly difficult to find gears. By the time I got home it wouldn't go into reverse at all. I don't know whether it is related, but when I got out of the car the remote locking wouldn't work, so I had to use the key. The remote would still unlock the car, but when it did, the lights didn't flash as they normally do. If this a clutch problem or an electrical problem or more than one problem?

The car has only done 16,700 miles, surely the clutch should last a lot longer than that. I could do with answers fairly quickly because the warranty expires in about 15 days.

Could it be the master or slave cylinder rather than the clutch itself? Check this, too, just in case.

Issue with remote likely coincidental, not related. My '03 6s MT did some flaky things with locking / unlocking and flashing the lights after the car's battery was replaced after about three or four years, I don't remember. Might be obvious but ensure all the doors and trunk were all closed all the way; won't lock and/or flash if one is open.

Good luck with the clutch situation.

 

[Neofolis]

Thanks, I'll definitely get it checked out before I do anything else and I think you are probably right about the remote locking. I noticed when I was cleaning the car today that one of the kids had not closed one of the back doors properly and after closing it, the remote is working fine.

 

[Neofolis]

Thanks for eveyone's input, fortunately it's not the clutch, although I'm not exactly sure what it is/was. I had to drive today and I was going to use my old car, but I got in the Mazda and tried again to lift the pedal away from the floor. I had tried this on Friday with no joy, but today it lifted after a little resistance and has been fine since. I guess the master cylinder sounds like the likely culprit, maybe an airlock in the hydraulics, whatever the cause it has not re-occurred after 80+ miles with regular gear changes.

 

[Blendercloud]

That's great to hear. Hope it was just a freak occurance and doesn't happen again. Happy motoring!

 

[dquarasr]

Thanks for eveyone's input, fortunately it's not the clutch, although I'm not exactly sure what it is/was. I had to drive today and I was going to use my old car, but I got in the Mazda and tried again to lift the pedal away from the floor. I had tried this on Friday with no joy, but today it lifted after a little resistance and has been fine since. I guess the master cylinder sounds like the likely culprit, maybe an airlock in the hydraulics, whatever the cause it has not re-occurred after 80+ miles with regular gear changes.

Good to hear. Is the car still under warranty? If it is the master or slave cylinder, it will likely happen again. You should get some sort of record of the issue with your dealer if it is still under warranty, if it happens to fail all the way after the warranty expires.

If the car is out of warranty, then your wait-and-see approach is appropriate.

Glad we could help.

 

[Neofolis]

The warranty expires on June 12, so I will try to get it checked over before then. Thanks again everyone. Having owned a Fiat, I got used to one time freak events, hopefully this is the same.