Lol, don't drive your car too much if the clutch is slipping bad

[steevieweevie]

Well I have been saving some money to get my clutch replaced, and I will really did not want to do it myself, I have had to save even more money for someone else to do it. Well my clutch has been slipping pretty badly but I really don't drive it, just sometimes when I go to lunch because its 100+ degrees and it actually has A/C. Well it got to a point where it was unbearable to drive the car so I took it too a shop to have a new clutch put in. Dropped it off on Friday, said it would be ready by Monday.

Well thursday rolls around and I call the dude, and he says he can't take the transmission out its stuck. Well I go over there and its about and inch away from the engine being supported by transmission jack but it won't come out. So me and him with some pry bars to yank it out but that was wasted time. Well apparently me driving with a slipping clutch caused the pilot bearing to seize onto the input spline. :lol Well long story long he had to cut a whole in the transmission to unbolt the flywheel. Then had to take the transmission to a machine shop to have the spline polished because the pilot bearing fucked the shit out of it. Guy did it an amazing job and went the extra mile for only $400.

He put in:
F1 Racing Heavy-Duty Pressure Plate (Sachs HD)
F1 Racing Segmented Kevlar Disc (241 mm, 10 spline)
F1 Lightweight Flywheel
Release Bearing
Pilot Bearing
Rear Main Seal
Clutch Release Fork Pivot Pin
Fork Lever Spring
Polished Spline

Spent $1000 total, but car runs great now, just put in UUC transmission mounts, going to put in new motor mounts, trust arm bushings, and few other worn out bushings. Hopefully car lasts another 5 years without a problem. Hopefully try my luck with a turbo at the end of the year.

[Binjammin]

Ugh, I've had that happen before and sorry to break the news to you, but your mechanic is a hack. All he had to do was unbolt the pressure plate from the clutch and the whole shebang would have come out of the car. Cutting a hole in the transmission is such a terrible way to go about that repair, you might as well roll some stones and chicken bones to pray to the repair gods.


:(

[BavarianFanatic]

Ugh, I've had that happen before and sorry to break the news to you, but your mechanic is a hack. All he had to do was unbolt the pressure plate from the clutch and the whole shebang would have come out of the car. Cutting a hole in the transmission is such a terrible way to go about that repair, you might as well roll some stones and chicken bones to pray to the repair gods.


:(

At least he didn't cut the input shaft. That's where I thought this was going when I first read it...:eyecrazy

[TGreene]

Dude, you only spent $1000? Wow, I was quoted ($1000) for replacing the clutch etc because my throwout bearing is going, and decided to do it myself and switch to the single mass flywheel and clutch kit, and have already spent about $700 in parts alone. ($105 for resurfaced e28 flywheel, $430 for cluttch kit, another $150+ on flex disc, bolts, bushings, tranny mounts, etc)

[steevieweevie]

Ugh, I've had that happen before and sorry to break the news to you, but your mechanic is a hack. All he had to do was unbolt the pressure plate from the clutch and the whole shebang would have come out of the car. Cutting a hole in the transmission is such a terrible way to go about that repair, you might as well roll some stones and chicken bones to pray to the repair gods.


:(

He made a very small hole at the top of the bell housing and then filled it in with epoxy. He has been a BMW and Mercedes mechanic for like 5 years. He called all the dealerships in the area and they said thats what they recommended.



Dude, you only spent $1000? Wow, I was quoted ($1000) for replacing the clutch etc because my throwout bearing is going, and decided to do it myself and switch to the single mass flywheel and clutch kit, and have already spent about $700 in parts alone. ($105 for resurfaced e28 flywheel, $430 for cluttch kit, another $150+ on flex disc, bolts, bushings, tranny mounts, etc)

Add another $150 for uuc mounts/reinforcers and guibo.

[Binjammin]

He made a very small hole at the top of the bell housing and then filled it in with epoxy. He has been a BMW and Mercedes mechanic for like 5 years. He called all the dealerships in the area and they said thats what they recommended.


Bad advice coupled with bad advice is not good advice. If it was that small of a hole he could have used the slave cylinder hole and drilled through the clutch release fork, it's steel and far cheaper to replace than the transmission. Epoxy won't stop your tranny from cracking in the future btw, this just furthers my "hack" claims, a hole like that should have been plugged with an aluminum plug and welded. This whole thread makes me sad, I really hope your car is ok in the future.


One more thing... your pilot bearing very likely didn't seize onto the input shaft due to your clutch wearing, it's more likely it's from rust on the input shaft.