Clutch Replacement

[mightymac]

Hello again,

I had my Avensis (2.0 D4D 91K, 54 plate) in to Mr. T on Monday to have them look at my sqeal which has been coming from the front wheel. Couldn't find a fault, but the squeal has now vanished!

Anyway, when I was in, I asked them to look at my clutch as its been creaking for the last few months (indicating slave cylinder in need of replacement). I've also noticed what I think to be the clutch slipping (sudden accelleration in certain gears). I was told by Mr. T that my clutch plate was very worn. I asked them if they thought I should wait for it all to go before replacing (as considered just replacing slave cylinder) and they said 'yes'.

My question for you Toyota buffs is though, when is the best time to replace a clutch? Is it:

a) Before it goes completely?

B) Wait till the whole thing goes before changing? (i.e. cant get into gear)

I'm concerned that if I leave it till the whole clutch goes completely, that I may also damage the DMF, leading to a bigger bill.

So, is it better to replace it now or later?

Also, had a few quotes for a new clutch:

Mr Clutch - £313 (but Mr. Clutch has many many complaints and don't trust them)

Nationwide - £580 for whole new clutch (think it even inc. replacing DMF with new flywheel - don't quote me)

I only have a price from Mr. T for new clutch and DMF which was around the £1300 mark. Anyone have any ideas how much just to replace the clutch?

I'd also like to know in your opinion, who I can trust (other than Mr. T) to replace my clutch with good, reliable parts and with good warranty.

Appreciate your help and comments as always.

Mac

[Aamir2892]

If you find the clutch is starting to slip or you get a crunch when changing from reverse in 1st that means that the clutch is on its way out and needs to be replaced.

[Beagh1958]

To mightymac,

With respect to yourself (Toyota say wait till completely gone?) if you wait till clutch has gone completely , how do you propose to drive your car to garage for clutch renewal as you will have no drive to front wheels. You will leave youself with one option only, to have car recovered to workshop which will not be free.

Regards, Beagh.

PS: As to price, always best to use original. But remember all the leading brands ie: Borg & Beck as one example all sell these clutch/DMF kits now at much lower price than Toyota. Just don't buy any cheap rubbish of eBay.

[Q.S.]

To mightymac,

With respect to yourself (Toyota say wait till completely gone?) if you wait till clutch has gone completely , how do you propose to drive your car to garage for clutch renewal as you will have no drive to front wheels. You will leave youself with one option only, to have car recovered to workshop which will not be free.

Regards, Beagh.

PS: As to price, always best to use original. But remember all the leading brands ie: Borg & Beck as one example all sell these clutch/DMF kits now at much lower price than Toyota. Just don't buy any cheap rubbish of ebay.

Once again I am in full agreement with Beagh on this one. If the clutch is starting to slip, get it done straight away. You don't want it to give up the ghost when you are in the middle of nowhere. As for clutch kits, Borg & beck (as Beagh suggests), Sachs or maybe Valeo, not a non descript that no one has heard of or a 'remanufactured' or 'reconditioned' unit.

If you have a local garage that you have heard to be good, give them a try for a price. Personally, I would stay clear of Quickfit, Halfords,Motorworld and any supermarket type garage. In my experience they are little better than trained monkeys. (with some few and far between exceptions)

[Aamir2892]

Try blueprint as well. They do very good aftermarket Toyota parts like filters & clutch kits. Installed a blueprint clutch on my corolla. It was perfect had no problem with it.

[JohnYossarian]

Try blueprint as well. They do very good aftermarket Toyota parts like filters & clutch kits. Installed a blueprint clutch on my corolla. It was perfect had no problem with it.

Clutch replacement (accroding to Autodata) takes 6.5 hours. A clutch (depending where it comes from) is in the 200-250 mark.

At Mr. T I had mine changed for £ 650 (at £ 73 per jhour) with three years warranty (and 10% off due to the forum membership:))).

I guess you could find a decent garage at 40?-50? per hour. I do not know whether you would get the three years warranty though.

I am talking form personal experience, do not wait until it is gone. It cost me £ 85 to take the car to the garage.

Q.S. and Beagh are spot on when they talk about getting genuine parts.

One more thing you might want to ask the garage is for them to look at the hydralics. I hade to change recently my master cylinder that set me back with £ 273. Had it been done together I would have saved £ 150 in labour cost.

The choice is yours in the end.

Good luck.

[mightymac]

Thanks for all your advice. I'm probably looking to get it done at the end of the month.

I know I said the cluch was 'slipping', but I've done a bit more reading about this and maybe I was incorrect to suggest slipping. I can say that it is getting difficult to find gears in stationary and tight to put into gear when actually motoring. It does seem to lurch sometimes when giving the gas some welly after change up, but thats probably the turbo. The slave has also been creaking something rotten for a few months and pedal is very stiff. - Sorry for my none technical diagnosis!

I can get a full clutch system fitted from Nationwide for £580 (discounted due to my AA membership). I'm pretty sure these guys all use Valeo parts as seen their stockpile last time I was in there. This comes with a 2 year warranty. Hopefully, these don't come under the same bracket as the 'Monkeys' described by Q.S!!

John Yoassarian - For £650 you must have just had the clutch replaced. Thats £300 cheaper than Mr. T quoted me for the same job! Little puzzled though. I thought when you have a clutch changed, the cylinder is changed at the same time?? Excuse my naivity if not.

Thanks again