$2500 for a clutch? Did I get ripped?

Tweaksta

Tweaksta

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2008
Messages
615
Location
McMahons Point, Sydney
Car Year
2000
Transmission
5MT
Howdy peoples;

Longish post here but I need to convey a fair bit of info....

After 150,000km (9 years) of reliable motoring, my Subie finally left me high & dry at the side of the road last weekend and needed to be towed.

I bought the car with 78,000km on the odo, the logs showed it'd had it's OEM clutch replaced with a heavy duty one at 70,000km. I have towed a boat and been in offroad situations where I've needed to slip at high RPM and the HD clutch has taken the abuse well.

At 200,000km it began to feel lighter to press but really started to feel like I couldn't quite push it enough to fully be able to change gears smoothly, I started to push it into the firewall so hard it cut up my floor mats. A few weeks ago the clutch started to stay stuck in after pressing it which required a quick placement of the foot under the clutch to flick it back up.

Last Monday on the public holiday, whilst on an expressway with no shoulder, the clutch pedal just stayed in and wouldn't come back up and I couldn't get the gear stick out of 1st.

With cars beeping and me doing 25km/h in an 80 zone, I luckily came to a breakdown bay and phoned the NRMA. After an hour of phone calls and waiting we finally saw the tow truck coming. My regular mechanic doesn't do transmission stuff so I didn't know where to tow it to, so I (stupidly) asked for a recommendation to which they naturally pointed me to an NRMA Motorserve. I said ok.

I get a call the next day and they said the clutch was worn out & needed replacement.

They removed wheels, driveshafts, starter, wiring loom and clutch cables from box. Disconnected and removed manual gearbox and checked for wear on input shaft. Removed and replaced clutch kit assembly and flywheel spigot bearing. Remove & replace clutch fork. Replace clutch release bearing. Machine flywheel to manufacturer spec. Reassembled gearbox, reassembled clutch cables, loom, starter, driveshafts and wheels. Topped up / replaced gearbox oil. Remove & replace master cylinder. Remove and replace slave cylinder hose. Fluid flush and bleed.

While they had it apart I asked them to fix the oil leak which required a new rear main oil seal. Total labour came to $1049. Then there was parts.

Level CP = $180
Spr clu-rel lvr = $12
Hose clutch master = $69.99
Metric ball bearings = $15
HD Dot 3 Fluid = $10
Seal oil = $88
Environmental Levy = $10
Exhaust Flange Gasket = $15
Machine flywheel = $110
Putty-P/Plus Muffler = $15
Clutch kit = $910
Workshop consumables = $15
TOTAL = $1450
+ LABOUR = $2500

So, looks like I'm back to a standard clutch. It's so light it feels like those old arcade Sega or Atari games. I hope it lasts. No idea why they needed muffler putty...

So, the question is - did I get ripped off at $2500 for a standard duty clutch and oil leak repair?

Is 150,000 kms a good life for the old heavy duty or is it possible the clutch was fine and the linkages were all that failed? I soooo don't trust mechanics.

Sorry for the long post.

Tweaksta
 
Yep 150k is about right but the price was a bit steep imo, Im sure I paid under $1,500 some time ago, I and a lot of sf owners have had to replace the hydraulic clutch hose as this just goes without warning but their not dear to replace or the slave cylinders, but then they did do some work on the gearbox but hmm very pricey, you've gotta love your sf at that price, their getting so cheap to pick up 2nd hand nowadays.
 
Why did they reassemble the gearbox?

And where did they find clutch cables?

I'm dubious about the need to do all that work - or get a whole clutch kit. If there was nothing wrong with the pressure plate (which 90% of the time they're fine) there's really no need for a whole clutch kit, especially if you've got a HD setup already. That's just more $$$s to the bill.

Rear main was a good idea, I recommend this to anyone doing a clutch replacement.

What's this stuff? "Spr clu-rel lvr = $12"

And I wonder what other seals they replaced while they had the box out - $88 for the rear main seal only is expensive! But if you add in diff seals and gearbox rear output seal it sounds more realistic.

Cheers

Bennie
 
yes/no

Firstly - its hard to know if the clutch was actually gone -- the symptoms are of a leaky hose or slave cylinder (air in the line) rather than a worn clutch; which is why they replaced the slave hose (and they should have really replaced the slave cylinder, too). If it wasn't slipping, I doubt it was worn.

That aside - $1000 is probably about right for labour (unfortunately), parts prices look reasonable except maybe for the clutch - though that's probably what Subaru parts will charge you.

There's no way they spent $10 of brake fluid, $15 of putty, and $15 of consumables (a squirt of RTV and a couple of shop rags). It does annoy me that they overcharge for this random stuff -- its like solicitors charging $4/page for photocopying.

If you want to feel bad about it - its a job that can be done in your driveway by your average backyard mechanic and a clutch kit can be had for less than $300.

As an aside - any idea what the $180 'Level CP' is ?

(ps: don't be too surprised if you still have the problem -- it'll be the slave cylinder).
 
btw -- forget much of this language. You don't have a clutch cable and the gearbox wasn't 'disassembled' and 'reassembled'.
 
You didn't ask for a quote so your buggered.
I had my head gaskets, timing belt, water pump and clutch done for $2400 by Volksbaru, Subaru quoted $4,700 just for the head gasket !
 
One good thing is that the work has warrantee! I use NRMA MotorServe sometimes and while not the cheapest they do a good job.
 
It appears to be a fairly good job. I guess there is no way of knowing how stuffed the old clutch was and whether so much needed to be replaced. The clutch cable seems like a straight out lie, and gearbox disassembly and reassembly was probably just pulling it out and whacking it back in.

Seems like a slight shafting they gave me, hidden under what appears to be fairly quality work. Slave cylinder wasn't done (would've taken the cost up to $3500) so I still need to do it soonish.....
 
Slave cylinder can be had for less than $100. Unbolt, replace, bleed, done. You need to pull off the TMIC, but it should take less than an hour.

If you still have issues (clutch dropping to floor) - I'd take it up with them, if no satisfaction - then NRMA. Tell them you expect it should cost parts + an hour of labour.

Part of being an NRMA approved repairer is that they have someone (NRMA) to answer to. They'll be keen to keep you satisfied, I think.
 
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