My Fiat Marea Weekend 2.4 turbo diesel had a new clutch fitted by the local Fiat dealer. As this was a very time consuming job, I decided to source the clutch separately as I wanted a new clutch rather than a reconditioned one. The clutch kit by Valeo was bought from an auto factors for £123.28 (compared to the Fiat cost of £220.00) and the garage agreed to fit on a labour only basis at a cost of £602.19, so a fairly expensive job.
The clutch was fitted on 9 February. During the fitting the garage contacted me to say there were a couple of hairline cracks on the flywheel and a replacement flywheel would be £550.00. After a long series of discussions with the service manager, the deputy service manager and the workshop foreman, they all said the flywheel was serviceable and would last for the life of the new clutch. When I collected the car they advised there was a slight clutch judder, but this stopped a few days later once bedded in.
This morning was very cold and when I started the car it did not want to move very easily. I thought that the rear brake callipers had locked up, eventually I got the car moving and it felt very sluggish as though the brakes were dragging. Deciding the best thing to do would be to get them checked immediately, I popped into my local brake centre. When placed on the ramps, the wheels were all free, but the mechanic commented it smelt as if the clutch was burning. He checked the hand brake and this worked correctly. He then gently drove the car back and forward and you could smell the clutch burning.
When I contacted the Fiat garage who fitted the clutch, they said that it could not be due to their work as the clutch was a hydraulic operation, so there is no adjustment. I contacted the motor factors and they will only supply a new clutch and refund if the clutch is faulty. Any claim for labour for fitting the new clutch would be at the discretion of Valeo, once they had checked the clutch.
This means I am going to have to buy another clutch kit and then have it fitted before I can sort out the liability (if this is possible). The situation is being compounded by the Fiat garage letting me know they are closing down in a short while, although within their group they still have another Fiat dealership about 25 miles away from where I live.
Any advice on my best course of action?
|
Yup, had a new clutch on my Alfa 156 JTD at Xmas an its 7.7 Hours @ £45 PH. They offered me either a new or remanufactured clutch and I went for the remanufactured one @ around £ 100. If it goes wrong in a reasonable time I regard it as their problem and thats why I didn't try to source my own.
Note that certainly ALfas have had problems with seized slave cylinders so that could be a possibility. Where abouts are you?
Jim
|
Hello Jim
The brake centre mechanic thought the springs in the new clutch might be too weak, no one has a given a thought about a seized slave cylinder. I will have a word with the Fiat garage again about this.
I am base near Gravesend in Kent and use the Fiat dealer in the Medway towns. This garage I have used for about 12 years, they were originally a Nissan dealer and hence my choice of a Fiat to replace my old Nissan. The closing of this dealership will mean I will have to start having to build a relationship with another garage.
Roger Clark
|
Roger, give Medway Alfa a ring on +44 (01634) 388887 they are in Rainham between Rainham & Sittingbourne talk to Dan Childs and tell him Jim Hearnden sent you. They are actually Merc service & Brabus dealer and Alfa main dealer but your 2.4 sounds pretty similar to the Alfa. They go highly recommended and do a straight job as well as being £ 45PH which is cheaper than other Alfa dealers. If not try Pipers in Maidstone, I wasn't impressed as an Alfa dealer but they are a Fiat main dealer and they did sort their life out (and the car) after I threw Teddy outa the pram!
PS Must admit I was astonished how light the clutch was when it came back!
Jim
|
Jim
Thanks for the advice about Medway Alfa. The clutch kit was also for an Alfa 145 and 146, so they must be very similar engines and gearboxes.
The situation is very weird. Yesterday afternoon I decided to go to the local express parts centre to find the cost of a new slave cylinder. Well the car drove perfectly normally. When I exlpained the situation they could not suggest an answer. The only difference was the temperature had risen from well below freezing to several degrees above. I cannot possibly see what this should have on the car, unless something had moisture on it that froze or there was moisture in the hydraulic fluid.
As a precaution this morning I decided to check the car earlier than I normally use it - no problems at all.
I am unsure if this is just a fluke event or whether there is anything wrong. It is always nice to know exactly what the problem was, what caused it and what needs to be done to stop it happening again. It may just be something that happens once in a while and I will just have to live with.
Roger
|
|
|
|
Hello again Jim
Had a long conversation with the Fiat workshop manager and he agrees with you that it is most likely that the slave cylinder on the clutch housing is causing the slipping clutch. Because they are close about 20 March there is a rush of jobs to do and they cannot fix my car so I shall be forced to use another garage to change the slave cylinder.
If any one else has any thoughts, especially the legal position, if the slave cylinder is not at fault and a new clutch has to be fitted.
Roger
|
|
Its always a mistake to do the "I supply the parts you fit it" trick. There is always a grey area around about who is responsible in the event of failure. This will cloud and complicate your legal options.
|
One reason why most garages will not do.Customer supply parts/Garage fit..Can get complicated if things go wrong
--
Steve
|
As others have said the problem with supplying the part fort a garage to fit is that the part supplier will blame the garage and the garage will blame the part supplier.
It will be difficult to work out who is to blame, and even more difficult to get them to pay for the remidial work.
|
|
|
|
|
