Clutch gone...no warning...no slipping...
Discussion
People
Wonder if anyone else has had this..
I was having a nice drive on my favorite sunny Sunday morning route (A272) over to the PH meet at RR. Then it was spoilt by a M&S 18 Wheeler with 3 cars behind, just the one spot to overtake such a convoy on this stretch of road, so I knocked her into second and sprinted past, on the change to 3rd the gear was difficult to select then when I tried to grab 4th it would not go in, so there I was drifting along trying to get any suitable gear with an 18 wheeler catching me up on a twisty spot with nowhere to stop...(not a nice situ!). Eventually found bit of verge that was not too high and beached her on it, luckily very safely with no damage.
So she went to Harwoods on a flat bed. They say the clutch has gone. This seems a little weird to me as I would expect some slipping, a high biting point or some other warning sign, not just sudden failure. What has other people experiences been?
She is coming up to about 30,000 and I do 'use' her, so I am guessing it was to be expected soon.
James
Wonder if anyone else has had this..
I was having a nice drive on my favorite sunny Sunday morning route (A272) over to the PH meet at RR. Then it was spoilt by a M&S 18 Wheeler with 3 cars behind, just the one spot to overtake such a convoy on this stretch of road, so I knocked her into second and sprinted past, on the change to 3rd the gear was difficult to select then when I tried to grab 4th it would not go in, so there I was drifting along trying to get any suitable gear with an 18 wheeler catching me up on a twisty spot with nowhere to stop...(not a nice situ!). Eventually found bit of verge that was not too high and beached her on it, luckily very safely with no damage.
So she went to Harwoods on a flat bed. They say the clutch has gone. This seems a little weird to me as I would expect some slipping, a high biting point or some other warning sign, not just sudden failure. What has other people experiences been?
She is coming up to about 30,000 and I do 'use' her, so I am guessing it was to be expected soon.
James
Cannot speak for the V8V but in my experience with other motors this has been a clutch master cylinder or CMC seal failure - no pressure, no clutch. Typically accompanied by clutch pedal stuck on floor and not recovering to normal position.
Probably something totally different and more expensive to fix, though - good luck either way.
Keep us posted!
Probably something totally different and more expensive to fix, though - good luck either way.
Keep us posted!
sadlerj said:
Pedal felt ok, no difference really, anyhow fingers crossed!
ah ok, I read the reply above mentioning "no pressure, Clutch pedal stuck to the floor and not recovering to normal position" as a reply of yours..sorry Jamesaye fingers crossed here too
Edited by y2blade on Monday 25th July 21:44
That sounds like what mine was doing, except the car wouldnt let me select 5th & 6th.....
The first time mine did this was the clutch gone, the second time mine did this was a mixture of badly fitted clutch, and the slace cylinder needed bleeding plus a few other things.
Hope it all works out to be the cheaper items that need dealing with.
The first time mine did this was the clutch gone, the second time mine did this was a mixture of badly fitted clutch, and the slace cylinder needed bleeding plus a few other things.
Hope it all works out to be the cheaper items that need dealing with.
I think whilst clutches normally give some signs before they go (usually slipping), it's not impossible for them to just give up.
The one in my Caterham let go catastrophically like this on track once. When it was removed, the clutch plates looked like they'd exploded - think they were getting very low, and the heat/stress on it just caused immediate failure rather than any of the usual signs.
FWIW, I don't think the V8V will show a high bite point as I believe the pedal adjusts itself (think this may be a factor of the hydraulic clutch).
Assuming it is just the clutch, at least it's a known cost fix, albeit an eye watering one!
The one in my Caterham let go catastrophically like this on track once. When it was removed, the clutch plates looked like they'd exploded - think they were getting very low, and the heat/stress on it just caused immediate failure rather than any of the usual signs.
FWIW, I don't think the V8V will show a high bite point as I believe the pedal adjusts itself (think this may be a factor of the hydraulic clutch).
Assuming it is just the clutch, at least it's a known cost fix, albeit an eye watering one!
Good Soil said:
Didn't someone post something similar about their LeMans trip?....rings a bell to me, chap hit road signs and all sorts and the cherry on top was clutch going? (Does my aging brain recall it correctly?)
Ah yer this guy http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0..., seems very similar to me. Mine is just clutch, nothing more nothing less apparently, so new clutch and flywheel on its way in. Just weird it did not let me know, I am very glad it was not when I was down at Le Mans and was only 20 miles from home. So new disks and pads all round and new clutch in the same year, one expensive year for my Aston ownership, I told the wife it would be better to sell mine and get a V12V, but she was not playing ball. I guess £4K on keeping the car on the road this year is just a little bit cheaper than the £60k delta V8V to V12V.
sadlerj said:
Ah yer this guy http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0..., seems very similar to me.
Mine is just clutch, nothing more nothing less apparently, so new clutch and flywheel on its way in. Just weird it did not let me know, I am very glad it was not when I was down at Le Mans and was only 20 miles from home. So new disks and pads all round and new clutch in the same year, one expensive year for my Aston ownership, I told the wife it would be better to sell mine and get a V12V, but she was not playing ball. I guess £4K on keeping the car on the road this year is just a little bit cheaper than the £60k delta V8V to V12V.
Yep that was me. I've just got back from Spain so missed this thread or would have piped up. Your symptons sound exactly like mine. DO you have a warranty on the car? May be worth you PM'ing me with an email address to discuss.Mine is just clutch, nothing more nothing less apparently, so new clutch and flywheel on its way in. Just weird it did not let me know, I am very glad it was not when I was down at Le Mans and was only 20 miles from home. So new disks and pads all round and new clutch in the same year, one expensive year for my Aston ownership, I told the wife it would be better to sell mine and get a V12V, but she was not playing ball. I guess £4K on keeping the car on the road this year is just a little bit cheaper than the £60k delta V8V to V12V.
sadlerj said:
... Quite glad it was not more £££... 2k all in.
Comes to something when we use phrases like that about a 2k cost! My F355 cost 800 quid tops for a clutch change. I wonder what it would have involved to tweak the V8V drivetrain design to simplify the procedure and drop the cost to sensible levels.
I often wonder stuff like this about car design. Like what it would cost to ensure the car only uses a bare minimum of different fastener designs/sizes, electrical connectors etc. It often looks like they deliberately do the opposite. Or to make all the obvious service routines really, really straightforward (swapping out the starter, alternator, oil filters etc etc etc).
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