Catastrophic clutch failure.

[Dano!]

I have never seen a brand new clutch fail before (less than 100 miles) but i had the unfortunate pleasure of it happening to me in my wife's Kia, I know its not an Ex, but it blew my mind.
The part was defective, my wife decided to buy the cheapo clutch set from the auto parts store and had it installed at her favorite mechanic, two weeks later it failed. i took it to a tranny shop because "it had a brand new clutch"

LESSON TO BE LEARNED//
Don't buy cheapo parts.

New Flywheel

Nothing left on the actual clutch.

Throw out bearing smoothed out and cracked.

Clutch Disintegration

Don't know yet as to the extent of the damage. but i am sure it will be expensive. i hate this car..

-Dano

 

[Blee1099]

Holy hell

 

[Anime]

Had me worried there was an Explorer clutch issue for a second there.

Sucks, but that's what you get for cheap parts alright.

The mechanic isn't at fault because she bought the part and brought it to him to install, but the parts store should cover the clutch under warranty since it's defective. Sometimes those warranties also cover the damage the defective part caused to other parts. You might get compensated for the clutch, flywheel, and anything else that was damaged in the process if you do some legwork. At the very least you should get a refund on the clutch or credit towards a better quality one. Hopefully the parts store has good customer service and will handle this the right way.

What brand was the clutch? Everything was Valeo?

 

[Dano!]

I need to find the receipt, I was able to get a full refund on the clutch under the "limited lifetime warranty" so i was happy about that.

Clutch manufacturer was Sachs, PN: k70409-01

I always knew that the original mechanic could not be held liable even if i wanted to go after them, there is no evidence of foul play and they recommended me to go to a transmission shop instead of doing it there again. concerning the nature in which this clutch disintegrated, i don't know how you could even manage to manipulate that to happen, i don't even know how i managed to do that. i was going from a stop, onto an on ramp to the highway ( on a downward slope )

All i have ever driven is stick.

Thank you for mentioning the idea about the defective parts warranty. there is a little mention of that on the receipt and i will look into that.

 

[wood1]

Counterfeit clutch? Not uncommon to run into counterfeit brake pads etc so I have been told...

 

[PopRichie77]

If the clutch adjustment was incorrect and the clutch was slipping it would over heat, which is what looks like happened. The clutch disk friction material must have had a low melting temp and it came apart. There should be no other damage except the flywheel, clutch disk and the clutch pressure plate and the bearing. A good clean up is needed.

 

[Maniak]

I do t know where you got the parts but both Autozone and Oriellys will pay the labor to have the parts replaced. You wont get full labor cost but it will at least help offset the cost.

~Mark

 

[Dano!]

I picked up the clutch kit from oriley's i am going to head out there and and inquire about the defective parts warranty. I appreciate the information.

Originally my wife was dealing with this on her own. The 2nd mechanic originally said he wasn't sure the clutch was put in right and when i showed up in uniform he changed his mind. I understand how it works in these small towns. I know mechanics don't want to call eachother out. But none of them have a problem as long as i keep feeding them money.

Im going to do some research and head out and try and get some answers. Thank you.

Dano

 

[JK080]

That clutch looks a little oily to me, there are streak marks on the flywheel and the input shaft on the trans looks wet along with the release bearing and pressure plate. If there is oil from the front of the transmission leaking onto the clutch it will cause it will slip, overheat, and come apart like that. I have seen many of those complete clutch failures in the past and they are not vehicle specific, only abuse or contaminated.

Just something the check before your next defective clutch fails.

If it is leaking you should be able to get to the seal be removing the release bearing support on the front of the transmission.

 

[Dano!]

Thanks. The mechanic is going to crack the tranny open and take a look inside tommorow. I will know then if there is any issues. I will ask them to take a look at the seal.

-Dano

 

[waskly]

clutch wasnt engaging fully, improperly installed, you can even see high spots those two shiny rivets where the disc used to be.

 

[Dano!]

Had me worried there was an Explorer clutch issue for a second

What brand was the clutch? Everything was Valeo?

I was wondering what you were talking about and then looked the pics over again. The Valeo throwout bearing looks out of place considering the kit was a different brand. Im heading out to the auto store now to have them pull the kit off the shelf and compare.

I am also going to inquire about their defective parts warrenty. I honestly don't remember if the throwout bearing was in the kit i bought and if that was the case that's what probably failed first.but the kit looks as though it was supposed to come with one when you look it up. Its weird.

- Dano

 

[Anime]

Some clutch kits don't come with a throwout bearing, so the mechanic may have re-used the old one (bad idea, of course), which might have contributed to the prblem, old throwout bearing, new clutch/pressure plate.

If you got it from O'Reilly Auto Parts though, I'm sure they'll cover it. As mentioned you might not get all the labor costs back, but they'll for sure at least replace the clutch kit or give you a full refund.

Sachs is an OEM-quality clutch manufacturer, so I'd be really surprised if the failure was of a Sachs part. I'm suspicious that someone may have bought the clutch kit, taken out the Sachs clutch, put in a cheap one they may have bought off ebay or something, and returned it, and the store just sold it as new.

 

[Dano!]

When i picked up the car the mechanic was real straight with me. He informed me there were bolts missing from the bell housing, power steering, and the rack and pinion. 7 bolts total. I verified that the clutch kit came with a throw out bearing i need to compare it to the pictures i have to make sure its the same clutch.

I don't want to go back the first shop until i verify the parts in the new kit match what was pulled out.

- Dano

 

[rickybobby]

if there were bolts missing from the bellhousing that is most likely the root cause of the failure. Any misalignment of the clutch will cause excessive heat buildup and could melt the friction material. If the rest of the bolts were loose it will cause the clutch to slip, but you should have felt the slippage and heard strange noises before it got that bad

 

[Dano!]

Well i finally got word back from the manufacturer, they said what was mentioned earlier, that the clutch had been contaminated with oil and therefore it is not their fault.

I have never personally felt with the removal and installation of clutches, where would the oil come from, a seal was mentioned in an earlier post. Where is that seal?

Would the fact that there were missing bolts allow a seal to leak? As i said i am unfamiliar with how this part of the car goes together.

If the throw out bearing failed first would that cause things to wobble and bust / loosen a seal?

I am going to be receiving a Letter from the manufacturer with details concerning their rejection, so i will have that and the signed and dated findings from the second mechanic stating bolts were missing.

I know this isn't a legal forum but i am torn about what exactly to do next. I want to find out all the information i can before i start making accusations.

-Dano

 

[rickybobby]

the throwout bearing failure most likely caused the fluid leak. Hard to say what caused the bearing to fail, but the missing bolts sure didnt help things.

 

[broa0915]

That clutch looks a little oily to me, there are streak marks on the flywheel and the input shaft on the trans looks wet along with the release bearing and pressure plate. If there is oil from the front of the transmission leaking onto the clutch it will cause it will slip, overheat, and come apart like that. I have seen many of those complete clutch failures in the past and they are not vehicle specific, only abuse or contaminated.

Just something the check before your next defective clutch fails.

If it is leaking you should be able to get to the seal be removing the release bearing support on the front of the transmission.

 

[broa0915]

That clutch looks a little oily to me, there are streak marks on the flywheel and the input shaft on the trans looks wet along with the release bearing and pressure plate. If there is oil from the front of the transmission leaking onto the clutch it will cause it will slip, overheat, and come apart like that. I have seen many of those complete clutch failures in the past and they are not vehicle specific, only abuse or contaminated.

Just something the check before your next defective clutch fails.

If it is leaking you should be able to get to the seal be removing the release bearing support on the front of the transmission.

Hey you seem like you know your stuff im currently working an a 2006 Acura TL
It got towed into the shop and when we pulled the tranny off the engine by about 6 inches (we did that so we didn't have to pull the rack and pinion and sub frame off) the clutch disk was completely disintegrated. We replaced the flywheel, clutch, throwout bearing, slave cylinder and master cylinder. currently it seems like the clutch is just not engaging all the way. What can cause this and how should i move forward.

-Brody

 

[410Fortune]

Bleed the air out