Slave cylinder failure, what are the chances?

[J.B. Welding]

So went down to Mcr airport this morning in the Sharan to pick up the mum in law from her travels, 5.00am start all nice and quiet lovely time of day. Picked her up and after the hugs we left the carpark to venture home. At the first roundabout I got to the clutch pedal stuck to the floor so flicked it up with my foot and dabbed it again, all well. Stopped at the airport petrol station for a quick coffee and tried the clutch again-nothing. Checked the fluid level and she had plenty so had a look under the old girl and she was p!ssin fluid out from the bell housing in a bad way. mmmm. Remembered for the last 15 years I had been paying for breakdown cover through my insurance so with the idea of a free ride home and a nap I called them up "with you in half an hour". 5 minutes later the RAC chap called me up "Where you heading to?"...."Scotland" .. "your only covered for 20 miles towing you know" "$%^^&^&%$£$" When he arrived he told us he had called a few garages and one could fix it for £700 or a tow home would cost £500. Mmmmmmm. So having experience of driving with no clutch I cruised her back home using the rev matching technique not even 1 crunch. Now here is the weird bit- It is EXACTLY one year to the day since I drove it out of a local garage with a brand new Sachs DMF kit fitted. What are the chances??

 

[octo0072000]

sounds about right 1 day out of warranty
most breakdown from insurance company is not full recovery or at home only basic cover i got wise to that years ago

 

[J.B. Welding]

I now consider myself wisened.. and looking forward to saving big bucks on my premium with another company(stupid loyalty why would anyone be bethered with that). An emergency toolkit has seen me right since I first hit the road (and helped other stranded plonkers like me too), but pulling the gearbox oot on a forecourt seemed a bit cheeky. Really puzzling why it failed and I wish I had checked the 'box temperature at the time as excess heat might have been the cause of the seal failure now I have thought about it-what do you recon?

 

[anto44]

this is a very common problem on all cars that system. it seems to be down to poor quality parts

 

[J.B. Welding]

Even OEM parts? Could be time to fit a retro lever and cable system me thinks . At least then a couple of sets of vice grips and a bit of rope can get it working again (remembering my Transit clutch cable failure)

 

[anto44]

Yeah its been an ongoin problem for a while now. 2 litre tdci mondeos are known for it too

 

[J.B. Welding]

I saw on a, I think, '06 Audi 2.0tdi it had a chain driven oil pump. The chain was still around the lower sprocket but the reason the turbo had failed was because all of the teeth on the sprocket had worn away-not even a ripple left. Lovely VW stamp on the sprocket too. Now that scares the out of me.

 

[the snooper]

Go back to the garage and let them sort it trading standards will be on your side, for it to last just a year us no time at all

 

[J.B. Welding]

Go back to the garage and let them sort it trading standards will be on your side, for it to last just a year us no time at all

Lets just say that's 'on-going' at the moment..

 

[anto44]

I saw on a, I think, '06 Audi 2.0tdi it had a chain driven oil pump. The chain was still around the lower sprocket but the reason the turbo had failed was because all of the teeth on the sprocket had worn away-not even a ripple left. Lovely VW stamp on the sprocket too. Now that scares the out of me.

Thats another very common problem with them 2.0tdi engines, i recommend to my customers the sump be removed to check the oil pump drive every 50k miles

 

[eSCHEn]

That is a complete bugger mate.

So having experience of driving with no clutch I cruised her back home using the rev matching technique not even 1 crunch.

^^^ This is why I practice when I can. You never know when you'll need it! Good job on getting back the distance you had to, especially on the wee roads.

 

[dunk]

crash boxes in hgv`s, they were fun to drive till you missed the gear

 

[octo0072000]

crash boxes in hgv`s, they were fun to drive till you missed the gear

nothing like a old David brown crash box with downhill overdrive
no wonder i like older cars

 

[awemawson]

Drove my Sunbeam S8 with my then girlfriend as pillion all the way from Skye to the Kyle of Tongue with no clutch, rev matching - took the engine out at Tongue YH and replaced the clutch release bearing. Hardest part was getting clean afterwards in cold Youth Hostel water !!!!

 

[J.B. Welding]

Riding scramblers as a teen made me realise that using the clutch is just wasting valuably 'power time'. My wee brothers Cagiva clutch didn't work at all till the bike had warmed up, somebody said "that's normal" so it was never really a problem-we always bumped it to start anyway.

 

[Cobbler]

Regarding the 20 mile tow, someone I know got caught with that, broken fan belt on a Voyager in the middle of he night, had cover with his insurance, so he thought. They took him to the main dealers at 3 o'clock in the morning & dumped him. He was told a maximum of 20 miles to a place of safety or the nearest main dealer, which ever was closer. He tried to get the cover upgraded with the recovery service, but was refused.

I came home one afternoon to find a car across the drive entrance, a lady had a flat tyre. I offered to change it, but was told the AA was coming in half an hour. I left it for a while & went out to make sure she was ok, th AA was there with a flat bed recovery truck, telling her "I'm not allowed to change a wheel, I can only take you to a place of safety" it turns out that the lady had cover with her insurance policy, or do she thought.

I ended up changing the wheel for her with the AA man looking on. The AA man said he had changed hundreds of wheels in the past, but rules had changed & he was considered untrained to do it. The AA knew she had a flat, so sent a recovery vehicle knowing he couldn't help her. A lack of common sense I think!

 

[J.B. Welding]

All that BS is to do with the integrity of the spare, as its not part of the MOT anymore-insurance liabilities of fitting a dodgy wheel. I really worry sometimes (when I completely run out of things to dream about so not for long) about where the country will end up in 20 years or so. With any luck by then robots will be running the show and they are still allowed to employ logic in their decision making.

 

[tomsutton529]

Sounds like this roadside assistance through your insurance is a let down. We have cover on our car with the AA, not through the insurance. When the cam belt went in scotland we got towed to the nearest filling station as the road we broke down on was a bit of a hairy situation.. they were limited to how far they could tow as the TT has the quatro system. However once at the petrol station it was easier to have and he confirmed ti was the cambelt. he then sorted everything out, offered us a hotel, hire car, a lift to the campsite, a truck to get our car back to the garage in wigan.

all in all top service.

 

[rikrobson]

the roadside cover that the insurance companies supply is the bobby basic usually, i.e the £39 "get me off the motorway" cover. Its about £10 a month for the RAC all singing all dancing "get me home now" policy. thene there are serveral upgrades, spare wheel and runout of fuel cover for a few pence more. I also get the wife covered and this year they sent me key ring return service included.