I'm having a dispute with a high street car repair chain about a replacement clutch which failed at 900 miles. The lining on the pressure plate side of the clutch disk disintegrated. The garage has refused to replace it under their warranty citing 'vehicle abuse'.
I know that misuse of a clutch resulting in overheating will cause the lining to carbonise, become brittle and shatter. This tends to happen on the pressure plate side because the pressure plate is a less effective heat sink than the flywheel. However I am not aware of any misuse of the clutch. Moreover, the lining on the flywheel side of the disk is barely worn and there is no discolouration of the pressure plate that overheating might have caused. The clutch had been checked by the garage at 500 miles and no problem reported.
Is there anyone with experience of clutches who can answer these questions:
i) What sort of misuse would be required to heat the lining to the point that it carbonises and fails?
ii) Would this failure be immediate or subsequent to the misuse?
iii) Does the lack of wear on the other side of the clutch and lack of any sign of the pressure plate being overheated indicate that the failure is more likely to be the result of a faulty part than misuse?
iv) What other reasons are there for a failure of this sort than overheating? I've heard that damage to the clutch plate in transit or during fitting can be a cause.
This in fact was the second replacement clutch. The release bearing of the first replacement failed after 3,000 miles. The garage did replace this but are now saying that they only did that out of goodwill and are suggesting that misuse may have been the cause of that.
The original clutch had done 80,000 miles.
Thanks in advance for any help.
I know that misuse of a clutch resulting in overheating will cause the lining to carbonise, become brittle and shatter. This tends to happen on the pressure plate side because the pressure plate is a less effective heat sink than the flywheel. However I am not aware of any misuse of the clutch. Moreover, the lining on the flywheel side of the disk is barely worn and there is no discolouration of the pressure plate that overheating might have caused. The clutch had been checked by the garage at 500 miles and no problem reported.
Is there anyone with experience of clutches who can answer these questions:
i) What sort of misuse would be required to heat the lining to the point that it carbonises and fails?
ii) Would this failure be immediate or subsequent to the misuse?
iii) Does the lack of wear on the other side of the clutch and lack of any sign of the pressure plate being overheated indicate that the failure is more likely to be the result of a faulty part than misuse?
iv) What other reasons are there for a failure of this sort than overheating? I've heard that damage to the clutch plate in transit or during fitting can be a cause.
This in fact was the second replacement clutch. The release bearing of the first replacement failed after 3,000 miles. The garage did replace this but are now saying that they only did that out of goodwill and are suggesting that misuse may have been the cause of that.
The original clutch had done 80,000 miles.
Thanks in advance for any help.