Replacement Of Clutch At 22,000 Miles

[Guest Peter Robinson]

I have experienced some clutch judder in reverse gear and less occasionally in first gear during most of the five years I have owned the car from new (Hdi SX 1400), but I put it down to my driving. I have done about 22K miles which is less than half the average.

 

However, the car went in for service on Wednesday. Later that day I was informed that the clutch had almost worn out which was a big surprise. The point is they must have been on the look out for a worn clutch because I had not told them about the juddering, and I am told it is not possible to see unusual wear during a normal service check.

 

Talking to a taxi driver this morning was illuminating. He says it could be a design problem with too much load upsetting the alignment so that the clutch does its job without slipping but grinding away part of it. He said Citroen probably know about the design fault but do not want to make a recall.

 

It is costing me £670 and I will be writing to Citroen. Any help gratefully appreciated.

 

Peter

[iannez]

unbelivable, taxi drivers know everything. bet he has a pilots licence lives in a mansion drives a bentley and only drives taxis as a hobbie. the clutch does not wear out because of the amount of miles you do. its the amount of times you change gear and how you pull away. for example a school run and shopping car may have 2 clutches by the time it reaches 70k. a reps car with 120k motorway miles will still be on its first clutch and still going strong. you dont need to see a clutch to tell if its worn. you just need to test drive the car which the mechanic will have done after he serviced the car. dont get me wrong. the clutches on these cars are crap due to the pressure plate being to weak but please ask some one for advice other than a know it all taxi driver. if he knows so mutch about cars why is he driving a taxi. there the best drivers in the world you know.

[kfk]

For many years i've been servicing a taxi drivers car, he's a great bloke, if it needs doing......we just do it.......trust is a wonderfull thing.

 

Having said that i did have a situation with him and his clutch a Xantia. I realised after i had spoken to him that he seemed a bit upset at having to replace his clutch at 180,000 miles, so upset in fact that he made several calls to me asking what the reason was for its failure!.....much discusion ensued and i really wasnt making him any happier so having pointed out that some would have been on there 4th clutch by now and he's done really well i had to ask him out right what was bugging him. His answer..........'well my clutch in the last xantia lasted 280,000 miles!'.......and he was right it had....so he was being short changed by 100,000.....but somehow i couldnt quite see it the way he was.