I had a clutch go on my Ford Focus in April 2015. I had a local fitter (Household name company), fit me a new one. It came with a 24 month 24000 mile warranty. I always imagined a clutch should be good for at least 40000 but there you go.
In Feb 2016, after 17000 miles the clutch started acting weirdly. On cold mornings or after rain during the night it was really difficult to get the clutch to engage. (Foot to the floor still can't get into gear, grinding noises and such). After two or three gear changes the clutch began to behave okay but the revs seemed a little high for a few miles.
I took it back to the garage and asked them for their advice. They had it in and gave it back to me with a new clutch and an apology. The clutch had "gone" according to them.
In July this year, after a further 10000 miles all of the above started happening again. Again I returned to the supplier. Their initial reaction was that the original clutch was guaranteed for 24000 mile or 24 months and since that time (15 months) the car has done 26000 mile which means that it is out of warranty. I argued the toss. They agreed to take a look.
I dropped the vehicle off and left it with them for a day. When I went back they told me that they had checked it out and couldn't find anything wrong. On closer questioning they admitted that they checking it out amounted to driving it around the block.
They went on to say that if the vehicle had gone through two clutches so quickly it must mean that the gearbox is the problem and told me to take the vehicle to a gearbox specialist.
Can anyone help me to diagnose this problem? Or suggest a course of action?
I don't feel I can trust the suppliers word in this context and I think if I take it to a gearbox specialist and tell them what has happened they will certainly discover that I need a new gearbox.
Thanks guys.
Fish
In Feb 2016, after 17000 miles the clutch started acting weirdly. On cold mornings or after rain during the night it was really difficult to get the clutch to engage. (Foot to the floor still can't get into gear, grinding noises and such). After two or three gear changes the clutch began to behave okay but the revs seemed a little high for a few miles.
I took it back to the garage and asked them for their advice. They had it in and gave it back to me with a new clutch and an apology. The clutch had "gone" according to them.
In July this year, after a further 10000 miles all of the above started happening again. Again I returned to the supplier. Their initial reaction was that the original clutch was guaranteed for 24000 mile or 24 months and since that time (15 months) the car has done 26000 mile which means that it is out of warranty. I argued the toss. They agreed to take a look.
I dropped the vehicle off and left it with them for a day. When I went back they told me that they had checked it out and couldn't find anything wrong. On closer questioning they admitted that they checking it out amounted to driving it around the block.
They went on to say that if the vehicle had gone through two clutches so quickly it must mean that the gearbox is the problem and told me to take the vehicle to a gearbox specialist.
Can anyone help me to diagnose this problem? Or suggest a course of action?
I don't feel I can trust the suppliers word in this context and I think if I take it to a gearbox specialist and tell them what has happened they will certainly discover that I need a new gearbox.
Thanks guys.
Fish
