Clutch problem on 62 plate Seat Ibiza 1.2 Ecomotive

stefano

A question about cars. Is it possible to burn out a clutch in 4 months, after having a brand new one fitted?
The garage, a Seat dealer is blaming the driver for burning out a clutch.

BeenThroughItAll

stefano wrote: »

A question about cars. Is it possible to burn out a clutch in 4 months, after having a brand new one fitted?
The garage, a Seat dealer is blaming the driver for burning out a clutch.

Yes, it is perfectly possible.

forgotmyname

My sisters ex MIL burnt a brand new clutch out in less than 7000 miles.

The rev counter bouncing off the top of the dial as she reversed off the drive every morning.

This was after burning out the clutch that was in the car when she bought it. 2 clutches in a short space of time.

Have you seen the person drive? Over rev it? Slipping the clutch? Hold the biting point on a hill on the way home each day?

Spends over 10 minutes reversing that should take 30 seconds tops?

stefano

Even if the driver has had previous cars and never had a clutch problem in 12 years of ownership?
This particular car had a total clutch failure in September and clutch assembly and plate was replaced under warranty.

stefano

forgotmyname wrote: »

My sisters ex MIL burnt a brand new clutch out in less than 7000 miles.

The rev counter bouncing off the top of the dial as she reversed off the drive every morning.

This was after burning out the clutch that was in the car when she bought it. 2 clutches in a short space of time.

Have you seen the person drive? Over rev it? Slipping the clutch? Hold the biting point on a hill on the way home each day?

Spends over 10 minutes reversing that should take 30 seconds tops?

My wife drove her first car, a Vauxhall corsa for 12 years, and never had an issue. I have seen her drive, and she does not ride her clutch.

bigjl

Could this be their first car with a hydraulic clutch?

Some cars have very different bite points so a driver could be riding the clutch in one car and it has very little effect to clutch life.

But with another car rating your foot on the clutch even slightly can be an issue.

Also the type of car and the driving position can be an issUe.

As the clutch and gearbox are likely used in millions of other VAG group cars I doubt it is a problem with the clutch.

What car did they drive before?

Was it larger? Say Mondeo size?

Edit.

Just seen your last post OP.

As far as I am aware the Seat will have a hydraulic clutch, anybody own one and know for sure?

A Corsa that you have owned for 12years would be fairly old and more likely to have a cable clutch.

But without having specific info I couldn't tell you for sure.

We had some Corsa at work and they were seriously abused and the older one, 1.7diesel on a 52 plate I think went through a few gearboxes but never a clutch. But the clutch was fairly heavy which usually means cable operated as hydraulic clutches are pretty light in my experience.

I think Motorguy's dad had a recent Seat Toca and he might be along with some info on wether it has a hydraulic clutch.

mrmot

I've seen one on a 1,000 mile car that has burnt out in 7 miles.

londonTiger

ok everyone assuming it's driver damage, but is it ever conceicable that the mechanic may have not done the clutch properly and left an inherent fault in the clutch causing it to fail?

bigjl

londonTiger wrote: »

ok everyone assuming it's driver damage, but is it ever conceicable that the mechanic may have not done the clutch properly and left an inherent fault in the clutch causing it to fail?

What part of the clutch replacement do you think the mechanic did incorrectly?

A clutch is bolted in position, the only thing you can really do wrong is not centre it correctly causing judder.

And if it was something like that then it wouldn't be fine for several thousand miles would it?

WellKnownSid

bigjl wrote: »

What part of the clutch replacement do you think the mechanic did incorrectly?

I've heard of 3 cylinder engines from different German manufacturers having so much endfloat that the clutch fails within a very small number of miles, sometimes under ten on a brand new car!

Chances are, it will be abuse due to riding the clutch and a very sensitive clutch pedal, but there are sometimes things which may not have been checked that could be contributing.