Quote:
Originally Posted by Ducati750cc
...........who was doing them as a special deal for £350.............
............The car had 140,000 on the clock ............
............where the mechanic opened the bleed pipe and let out some air and said that should do it..................
...........The car was with the chap for three weeks................
.............and eventually told me he had traced the problem to a faulty slave cylinder.........
Alarm bells should have rung loud and clear when the price for a clutch on a 140,000 mile, 18 year old car, was £350.
You didn't mention exactly what it was he replaced, nor the make or quality of the parts and I would be surprised if he offered the old units to see any wear.
But any good mechanic worth his salt would have suggested at least a friction plate, pressure plate and slave cylinder and guide as a minimum, and mention that a new master cyl would be a good idea, also he should have shown you the results of measuring the dual mass flywheel play, to ensure you should get another 140,000 out of the new clutch.
I know this may sound harsh, but the phrase " Buy cheap buy twice. " still stands the test of time.
As well as the initial cost, if you add in the time to return the car several times, have a master cyl fitted and being without the car for 3 + weeks, the costs to you have potentially doubled and reading through your post, it appears the saga hasn't ended yet !
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Many thanks for your response, Ducati.
The full story!!
I was intending giving my tourer to my grand daughter but had some reservations about the state of the clutch as mentioned above. I called Apple MG my local Rover specialist near me in Kent. They wanted £750 - I didn't want to lumber my impecunious GD and just happened to mention this to another Rover Tourer driver I met. He told me a chap did his clutch a few weeks previously and charged £350 - I then found one or two reports that owners on this Forum which I have not been able to find gave glowing referrals for Marshall Performance based near Burton on Trent so I contacted them. As the business was about 40 miles from my daughter in Kimberley Notts I combined this with a couple of days stay.
The rest is as above.
Alarm bells!! I should have followed my instincts on arrival at the premises. This was a converted cow shed with two ramps with vehicles already receiving attention. There were parts and tools scattered on the ground and I have always had the view that the best mechanics were fastidiously tidy and as clean as possible. But I'd already paid for the part (£150) and he came well recommended so left the vehicle to be collected the day after.
What with all the subsequent too-ing and fro-ing the price Apple quoted would have been the better option. To add more misery to this, my grand daughter decided she didn't want a "granddad" car so I've still got it and my issues haven't gone away.
I did write a follow up as mentioned above but somehow it disappeared.
The car works ok from cold but after a half hour, 12 miles or so it becomes increasingly difficult to shift gears in particular manoeuvering into a parking space when it is reluctant to go into reverse..
If it is left for a while it improves and seems to be better after a few pumps of the pedal though there isn't much free pedal apparent.
I am about to have yet another go at bleeding the clutch but from what's been said above I wonder if the clutch itself is the culprit when it is up to temperature.
To further add to my woes last week the side of the car was damaged by a passing heavy vehicle whilst it was parked outside my house ripping the mirror off and putting grooves in both nearside doors. I haven't been able to track down the culprit, the most obvious being a refuse truck but the local authority say their on board camera's show the mirror already hanging by its wires when they visited the close and invited me to come and see for myself.
So what now! My insurance have told me they won't pay out what could be £2000 to put right and will write the car off.
I've already managed to find another mirror and installed it. If I can't fix the clutch by bleeding it and I'm faced with paying a fortune to have the job done properly - I suspect Apple will say take it back to your chap in Burton!
I see he is still in business now moved premises in Burton and advertising specialist repairs for MG Rover vehicles.
Insurance is due next month and I'm faced with the possible inevitable conclusion that I'm going to have to scrap it before throwing more money at it Very sad, been mine from new and until last week was still quite presentable.
If I do decide to scrap it I might offer it 'as is' to anyone on this Forum on a come and get it basis.