New clutch & DMF "just" out of warranty

**Glenjh** · 20th September 2009, 15:04

just been told that the clutch & dmf need replacing on my 1.9CDTI SRI 150 est at a cost of £1500! The car is 2 weeks out of warranty - has anyone had any luck in getting a contribution from Vauxhall. I have done 50K on a 56 plate. I don't feel it can be down to poor driving as my previous Vectra hit 120K without any problems, and I was doing the same journey every day as I am now. Any help would be appreciated

**Diet1985** · 20th September 2009, 15:05

You contacted Vx directly yet? if not, its prob worth giving them a bell...

Say u were noticing probs about 4 weeks ago or something but didnt have time to bring it in for a check up

**Glenjh** · 20th September 2009, 15:11

Diet 1985 - not yet, only got the the diagnosis yesterday - the VX dealer will be contacting them tomorrow to see what they will offer.

**lesj** · 20th September 2009, 21:10

I got a letter from Vx when I complained about the reliability of my 05 CDTI. Their response was that they would consider claims during the 4th year provided full service history and reasonable mileage etc. Got to be worth a punt.
Good luck

**Glenjh** · 29th September 2009, 21:43

Update on contribution from Vauxhall - they initially told dealer they would contribute £330. I wasn't happy with this so contacted VX direct and eventually got them to stump up just over £600, again with some help from the dealer. Although I am not happy at paying £960, it is much better than £1550. I guess the lesson is to keep pushing VX till they offer a decent amount. BTW, the dealer was extremely helpful on this occasion, especially as it is the first time I have used them.

**scott_vectra** · 30th September 2009, 10:51

Glenjh, ive just replaced clutch, consentric slave cylinder & dual mass

flywheel on my vectra..... just over £500 for parts and £130 for

somebody to fit.... euro car parts supply the same make of parts as

vauxhall..... just thought id mention this as it could save you a few quid

without the help of vauxhall

**jimboy26** · 2nd October 2009, 03:56

scott vectra, i would be interested to know where you got your clutch and dmf etc fitted for £130 labour. had mine done recently in prestwick and labour was almost £325

**scott_vectra** · 3rd October 2009, 17:13

jimboy26, i got it done in a local garage in kilmarnock....

£325 for labour

ill send you the garage details in a pm......

**neilrj** · 8th October 2009, 12:15

Originally Posted by Glenjh

just been told that the clutch & dmf need replacing on my 1.9CDTI SRI 150 est at a cost of £1500! The car is 2 weeks out of warranty - has anyone had any luck in getting a contribution from Vauxhall. I have done 50K on a 56 plate. I don't feel it can be down to poor driving as my previous Vectra hit 120K without any problems, and I was doing the same journey every day as I am now. Any help would be appreciated

Hi Glenjh

I am rather luckier than you in that I am getting my DMF replaced a day before the warranty ends!
The $tealers are still trying to decide if the clutch needs replacing, does anyone know if vauxhall
always/sometimes/never pay for this as I can't afford it - I guess if the clutch plate has rivet bites
its down to them but otherwise I'm expected to cough up?

A possible tip from my experience for early diagnosis is to sit in the car with no radio on and listen out
for the DMF at the first cold start-up. I only heard it last week for the first time when I had Dad in my
car (so no radio - he goes mad if it is ) and only from cold (very! Scotland!) when the engine was warm
or the radio switched on it couldn't be heard.
It is sometimes just possible to get it to rumble when warm by riding the clutch a tiny, tiny bit, then any
full clutch action make the DMF rumble a bit - it wont rumble from a normal clutch action without the
little clutch riding first (well not yet anyway

) again only with no background noise is it ever audible
at the moment.

Car has only done 36K, my last Signum had 60K and if anything had a harder life towing and the like...

**bygumlad** · 8th October 2009, 18:40

You can challenge the fact that it has gone just out of the warrenty period as you would expect merchantable goods should last for a reasonable length of time past the end of the warranty period, 2 weeks in anyones book is not a reasonable length of time, its been ok for 3 years, you would expect a couple more years not weeks. They never tell you it going to break down just outside the warrenty period do they?
A colleague at work bought a fridge freezer from one of the high street electrical stores and that too packed up just outside the guarantee period and he took the company to court and won based on the fact it should last a reasonable length of time after the guarantee has ended as described above. The high cost of repairs makes it even more important when it comes to cars, poor engineering of the dmf has led to its failure so why should the customer pay. I changed mine myself and stripped my old one down to find out why it failed which it due to a plastic ring disintigrating, I posted pictures on this forum of it. We are supposed to be in a world of long life engines that have minimal maintenance, in this case its not, flywheels very rarely use to fail as they were just a solid mass. Anyhow I'm sure there's some legislation about goods lasting a reasonable length of time post end of guarantee period and worth investigating.