Clutch noise on my toyota aygo + gear change difficulty. Please help!

jonj123

Hi

Today as I was driving to work I realised it's become more difficult to change gears (as in something stopping the gear from changing). I also noticed a cranking noise coming from the car whenever I press the clutch down. I've not had any problems previously. What could be causing this? Does the clutch / gearbox need replacing? I'm planning on driving to Manchester tonight. Is that too risky?
My car is a 2008 Toyota Aygo 1L with 30k miles.

Thanks in advance for any help

Westmead_Fan

crunching from gearbox could be anything from a clutch component braking inside or the gearbox damaged.

only way to find the fault is someone looking at the motor, driving could cause more damage & cost you more money to fix.

Weird_Nev

Cranking noise? Crunching noise?

It could be something quite simple like the clutch is out of adjustment, or worn. THis stops it disengaging properly as you put the pedal down, and makes it hard to change gear cleanly. However, it's impossible to diagnose over the internet. The car needs to go to a good garage, and don't drive to Manchester tonight in it.


It's unusual, but not impossible, for a gearbox to fail. Depends very much on how it's been used.

jonj123

Thanks. Sorry mistake in original post. Cars done 36k miles. Is it usual for clutch to fail after 36k miles?

Weird_Nev

I could get one to fail in 3 miles.
They're wear and tear items. Sometimes the original clutch lasts the life of a car, (I had a car with 180k miles on it's original clutch), sometimes they fail much earluer than that. I'd expect a clutch to last 60k+ in normal use, but what is normal use? If the car has been used in stop start traffic and short journeys all it's life, or the driver allows the clutch to slip a lot or balanced the car on the clutch at traffic lights routinely, then it will wear out much faster.

There are too many factors to say - we don't even know for sure that your clutch has failed. It could be something in the gear box itself. You need to find a good mechanic and get them to diagnose the problem.

jonj123

Thanks not sure if relevant but the car is a cat d (had an accident a year ago) and since I bought it a few months ago there's always been a sqeeking noise whenever the break pedal is pressed down.

daveyjp

Aygo clutches are the achilles heal of the car. Toyota upgraded the plate to a larger diameter due to premature failures - less than 20,000 miles.

Usual test is to put the car in gear, leave the handbrake on and try and pull away. If the car stalls clutch is OK, if revs rise as though it is trying to pull away it is failing.

stef73

Have you tried to adjust the clutch yourself yet? . My wife has a C1 and i adjust the clutch every few months its dead easy once you have done it once. There are a few tutorials on youtube just search for c1, 107,aygo clutch adjustment.

jonj123

Thanks for all the advice so far. I left the car with a local mechanic who said he'll take a look at the car on Monday on the ramp to see what the problem is and give me a price.

Looking on YouTube I found the following link which is exactly the noise my car makes when the clutch is pressed down. According to the video it's caused by fault in clutch release bearing. Are these things costly to replace? Also does anyone know where I could buy them from at a decent price?

Weird_Nev

your mechanic will be able to get them.
It's not an "easy" job because the clutch sits between the engine and the gearbox, and you have to separate the two to get to it.
That said, any mechanic worth his salt will be well equipped to do the job, and well used to working on Front wheel drive cars with that clutch arrangement.

The clutch release bearing is a small part and not expensive, but it is advisable to change the clutch whilst you're in there to prevent you having to do it again in 10,000 miles. It's the labor getting to it that's expensive.

jonj123

Weird_Nev wrote: »

your mechanic will be able to get them.
It's not an "easy" job because the clutch sits between the engine and the gearbox, and you have to separate the two to get to it.
That said, any mechanic worth his salt will be well equipped to do the job, and well used to working on Front wheel drive cars with that clutch arrangement.

The clutch release bearing is a small part and not expensive, but it is advisable to change the clutch whilst you're in there to prevent you having to do it again in 10,000 miles. It's the labor getting to it that's expensive.

Thanks. Roughly how much is reasonable to get charged for clutch replacement so I know I'm not getting ripped off?