January 4, 2013

Clutch Murder in the Second Degree

As long as I've been married, I've told my husband that he needs to quit sitting on the clutch of our standard-shift truck at the stoplights. It is not that hard to shift it to neutral and hold the foot brake, and it's not like Florida has a ton of hills where he has to worry about rolling backwards.

My husband's response has always been: "I've driven tons of stick-shifts and I've never worn out the clutch."

I say: "My dad is a mechanic and he says it wears it out faster."

He says: "Whatever, I'm not changing the way I drive because I don't think that's true."
 
So... not only today did I get to tell him "I told you so." But so did the transmission mechanic as he handed us a bill for $730 dollars. (Clutch and slave chamber replacement.)  The icing on the cake though... is that this is the same guy we just paid $2000 dollars two days prior to rebuild the transmission on our 05 Taurus because that failed on my way home from picking my brother up at the airport at 1 am.

!!TWO FREAKING TRANSMISSIONS IN ONE WEEK?!!

I see you removed my transmission, now can you  put it back where you found it?
 (For the record:  both vehicles are Fords. The Taurus is an automatic and has 75k. The tranny problem was inherited from the manufacturer because Ford used cheap metal to make the torque converter. The truck is an 03 Ranger at 90k, and I do take regular and good care of all our cars.)
Clutch disc worn down to the rivets.


Today's lesson is: It is much cheaper to replace your brakes than to pay someone $85 an hour to take out the transmission and replace the clutch. 

It is also cheaper to replace a clutch than to rebuild an automatic transmission. 

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2009/11/28/1074502_save-your-clutch-be-neutral.html#storylink=cpy

DON'T SIT ON THE CLUTCH AT RED LIGHTS, AND DON'T SAY I DIDN'T TELL YOU SO!

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2009/11/28/1074502_save-your-clutch-be-neutral.html#storylink=cpy
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7 comments:

  1. Alex J. CavanaughJanuary 4, 2013 at 7:31 PM

    Trust me, I don't! Sorry about two transmissions in one week.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lydia KangJanuary 4, 2013 at 8:58 PM

    This is the ultimate "I told ya so."

    Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Susan Flett SwiderskiJanuary 4, 2013 at 11:20 PM

    OUCH! Not a fun way to start the new year, eh? (Except for that brief moment of "told ya so" pleasure.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Golden EagleJanuary 6, 2013 at 6:11 PM

    I'm sorry to hear about your vehicle trouble!

    Hope the rest of the year doesn't have any more nasty breakdowns in store.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJanuary 8, 2013 at 9:28 AM

    I've only blown one clutch in my entire driving career, and that's because I used a Jeep Wrangler to help pull a FedEx truck out of a ditch. Don't ask.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Connie KellerJanuary 9, 2013 at 12:00 PM

    So sorry to hear about your car troubles!

    When my dad taught me to drive a stick, he told me never, ever ride the clutch and never hold it down when you're stopped. I guess he was right.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dawn M. HamsherMarch 31, 2013 at 2:08 PM

    Did you recently call into Car Talks on NPR? This story sounds so familiar. Sorry for your repair bills! Ouch! We had a stone hit our windshield two days ago and had to have that fixed quick (before the crack spread). I hate bills.

    The Write Soil

    ReplyDelete

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