Got my car back today from the mechanics after he replaced my clutch... allegdely.

The car wouldnt select gears easily and when you take your foot off the pedal (5mm) then the car starts to move... and grinded going into reverse.

$600 later the car selects gears now.. however still grinds into reverse and still moves when the pedal is about 5-10mm off the floor.

His excuse is the master/slave (whatever) cylinder is faulty and needs repairing (not enuff pressure or some crap), also there is a small rod that is pushed into it that is activated by the pedal.. he says its bent and isnt getting engaging far enuff.... does this sound right people... or is it complete nonsense and ive just wasted my money... the car feels not much better then when i dropped it off... feeling REAL disapointed and pissed off.

Im not mechanically minded really so i cant challenge him... what do you guys think?

yeah in the master cyl there is a rod that goes from the pedal but it could be bent/couldnt be bent

did u say $600 to replace just the master and slave cyls? or was that the clutch too

yeah in the master cyl there is a rod that goes from the pedal but it could be bent/couldnt be bent

did u say $600 to replace just the master and slave cyls? or was that the clutch too

$600 replaced the clutch, changed the gearbox oil, replaced the clutch fluid and fixed a leak somewhere (shrugs)

Well, if it's a new clutch in there and it's not synchros then yeah it'll be a hydraulic issue causing your car to crunch into gears, basically the master cylinder isn't pushing the slave cylinder far enough to properly engage/disengage the clutch, could be for numerous reasons any of which he mentioned. The question now is - is it the hydraulics or the synchos, the fact that your clutch it taking up at 5/10mm travel means there is a new one in there, old friction material wouldnt grab that early - I take it the gears weren't crunching before the clutch ?

Sorry gotta keep going, being in the auto industry while not a mechanic I gotta have a gripe of my own having read your W.A post.
So he replaced your clutch as requested, and the car crunches into gears but the clutch itself is engaging as it should and not slipping.
Ok lets assume he seeing this hydraulic problem fixed it while he was there and you turn up to pick up your car, see the bill and go OMGWTFBBQ a thousand dollars, why the hell did you fix the master/slave cylinder/hydraulic pushrod there was nothing wrong with them before.

Alternatively he did as he has, fixed the clutch as requested and informed you of the issues your car has - you can now take him at his word and get it fixed or head elsewhere and get a second opinion.

In his shoes which would you choose ? Admittedly in his place I would have given you a call saying x is stuffed, do you want me to fix it or do you want to go elsewhere, it will be a pig to drive until x is fixed, doesn't matter which way you go about it the customer gets huffy and starts shouting, it's a lose lose situation and we deal with them allllllllll the time :(

Wish I could trade jobs with people for a week so they can see the other side of the picture, like I'm sure most people feel about their jobs(restekpa to the poor retail christmas people)

Matthius

P.S: All this is assuming he's a reasonable person - theres plenty of dodgy ****s like there is in any industry

I take it the gears weren't crunching before the clutch ?

Matthius

Nope... just hard to change gears.... sometimes reverse would crunch tho.

Its also a new (second hand box) they changed them while the car was having the clutch done as the input shaft on the old one was heavily worn.

And the new box was supposely good.

yeah in the master cyl there is a rod that goes from the pedal but it could be bent/couldnt be bent



I just looked up that part in my service manual... then went and had a look on the car.

The pushrod is definately bent... not sure how bad on the inside... but is it enuff to hinder everything??

These might help...
http://members.westnet.com.au/wu/pedal1.jpg
http://members.westnet.com.au/wu/pedal2.jpg

Nope... just hard to change gears.... sometimes reverse would crunch tho.
if you want to stop this put it in 2nd then reverse, i was told this lines up the syncros??
any way it works for me everytime

Make sense. Thats what we do in the old F100 at work for 1st and reverse.

Thanks guys

By the sounds of it what the mec is telling you is right if your clutch isnt disengagaing properly it would cause those symptoms.I would suggest getting your master and slave cylinders repaired and still see if you still have this prob.Also i am not sure on hydraulic system but on a mechincal setup there is travel adjustment on the fork arm.If this is presnt then it may be possible to adjust it if it hasnt ran out of travel. :D

Ok, ive replaced the clutch master cylinder, clutch and master cylinder pushrod (because it was bent) and the problem is still there.

Speaking to the mechanic at Magnawreck yesterday... he said what a common prob with the Magna's is that where the Clutch release lever (inside the bellhousing) sits on the pivot bolt. It wears away causing you to loose leverage. (see pic)

The solution is to drop the gear box out again, remove the pivot bolt and put a 2-5mm (depending on how much wear) spring washer behind it, bringing the pivot bolt out more creating more leverage. sounds good in theory... but dammit.. now to remove the gearbox again :(

Yep we do that everytime we do a clutch job on a manuel model TM - TS magna without a doubt. THis increases the pivot arm and improves shifting.

Yep we do that everytime we do a clutch job on a manuel model TM - TS magna without a doubt. THis increases the pivot arm and improves shifting.

Wish my mechanic thought of that... :rant: