[Closed] Car mechanics - some advice....

If the pressure plate was that damaged then you wouldn't get it in gear or have drive to the wheels.

It's possible to have one jammed on but then gear selection would be down to good technique of rev matching and speed

I am not a professional mechanic.
Having said that, I don’t see how if the pressure plate had ‘exploded’ it would allow any engagement/ disengagement of the drive.
Secondly, I don’t see how even if the pressure plate had disintegrated it would do anything to the gearbox directly. It might damage the flywheel or bell housing but the gearbox? No.
Sounds very fishy to me. Also, I would question their suggestion that a clutch would be £1.2K on top of the gearbox unless the flywheel was also replaced. I would ask for more details

I drove my Mini 17 miles to the garage with this hole in the gearbox caused by a loose bolt on the clutch. Felt absolutely fine to drive. I’d thought the main oil seal had let go, hence the dump of what I thought was engine oil but was actually gearbox oil.
The guys at the garage were really surprised to find this!

No oil leaking from the car when taken to the garage...

Probably worth having it looked at at another garage

Could be that the pressure plate failed in some way, the gearbox input shaft got scored and now the release bearing isn't sliding up and down it like it should which is what is causing it to stick.

Assumes that talk of putting a hole in the gearbox is Chinese whispers based on "pressure plate has disintegrated at 5000rpm and wrecked it".

You can lose a few fingers off the plate and it still feel perfectly fine. Alternatively, I wonder if you could lose most of them and it barely have enough ooomph to return the clutch pedal.

Either way there are definitely ways you could have a clutch die and take the gearbox with it.

Depends on the garage, parts availability, and the gearbox's design, but I would have thought a new input shaft would be cost effective in that case? If not then perhaps look for a gearbox from a breakers, it'll be considerably cheaper as there's not much demand for gearboxes and they generally last a lot longer than the lifetime of the car.

A very quick google suggests that the problem could be clutch slave cylinder failure and not uncommon.

Thanks all - useful before a visit to see car on ramp in the morning....

A mate had similar, several of the "fingers" in the middle of the pressure plate gave up and did considerable damage rattling around. There were enough still working to get home though. I think he managed to fix it with a new bellhousing and possibly some chemical metal. Modern engine could all be one casting, so that may not be an option.

I also would expect a gearbox with no oil in to fail gradualy, driving gently to a garage a mile away you might not have noticed the problem.

I'd say it's possible he's been unlucky. Has he seen the damage? As above, I'd guess there are plenty of 5-year old cars written off in accidents with perfectly servicable gearboxes sat in breakers yards.

I'm always suspicious about things like this from a garage. Mate skidded on ice years ago but a truck came along to take it to the garage so he drove it onto the back of the truck and waited to hear. Turns out the big lump of an engine in the front of his A8 was destroyed according to the garage. After speaking to the garage for a bit and seeing how deep a hole they would dig asked if the engine was knackered how did he manage to drive it onto the truck. Turns out the messed up replacing the timing belt and wanted to claim it on his insurance.

I also would expect a gearbox with no oil in to fail gradualy

I had a gearbox that was a bit noisy and had some vibration. A top-up of gearbox oil sorted it mostly. So I would expect a gearbox with low or no oil to be very noisy.

I had a gearbox that was a bit noisy and had some vibration. A top-up of gearbox oil sawdust when I sold it sorted it

FTFY

A top-up of gearbox oil sorted it mostly. So I would expect a gearbox with low or no oil to be very noisy.

Given the average number of ****s given by the average car user on the road today. The back of the car could be on fire and no heed would be paid....

A bit of noise.... Amateur hour. Car still moves they ain't gonna stop.

I would assume its a basic description of the fault for the customer. (obviously it could also be a total cowboy garage)

Worth politely asking for a photo or to see so the customer understands whats going on?

Perfectly possible to have a damaged pressure plate, damage to the bell housing, input shaft etc whilst still partly functional. The garage would want to fix it properly, not JB weld the bell housing etc.

Worth pointing out its not always just a bell housing swap on some boxes. The casting on a Touran box looks like it also has an output shaft and diff housing, more like a 1/2 case. A lot of normal garages will not do gearbox repair, just fit new or recon. Also ties up space if you drop the box and take it to a specialist for repair then refit

Personally I would fit a second hand box and a new clutch (and possibly fly wheel if duel mass) if DIY for me. If I was doing it for a paying customer I would want it to be a 100% OEM fix.

You would need to speak to the garage doing the work if they are willing to fit second hand parts, as it can open up a world of pain when the second hand box does not work, or fails after a short period of time etc. The "warranty" on the second hand box only covers supply of another second hand box, not the labour to remove and refit twice.

Also check very carefully any running changes/compatibility etc.

There is a 50k 2014 6 speed Touran diesel box on ebay for £600, 90 day guarantee.

80k for £500

I don’t think it is the slave cylinder as mentioned above. I had a slave cylinder go on an old Passat, the clutch pedal was on the floor and never returned (went floppy) but I could not get any gear/drive. If it is only the slave cylinder though it’s a cheap enough fix.

A very quick google suggests that the problem could be clutch slave cylinder failure and not uncommon.

Parts cost around £50 if gold plated, replacement labour another 3 to 500! A wise person would change the clutch at the same time while it's all apart (unless it's a very expensive DMF unit then you may want to skip that part).

I've had a slave cylinder go and it meant the clutch pedal would stick down and need a kick to get it back up. It made driving good fun but didn't cost much to replace. This was on a Fiat Panda.

It's plausible depending what's punched a hole where.

I've seen the release bearing be pushed through the fingers before.

Also dropped boxes out that have random holes in the bellhouses.

Once had a wagon blow the bell housing apart as it had dropped a pressure plate bolt out and fired it through the housing. That drove in!

I'd need to see it really

Stick down pedal can also be the slave punching though the clutch fork. Seen that.

101 ways for the vagueas**** original post car to not be worth the tires it rolled in on.

If something has cracked/holed the bellhousing, it's possible that just the bellhousing may not be available as a separate part, and you may not be able to buy it without buying a whole new gearbox.

Manufacturers do odd things like this sometimes. I remember a certain part of the inlet pipework on a Nissan 200sx being in the region of 3k, as you had to buy the entire intake assembly (including pipework, intercooler, recirc valve etc) as one unit.

A colleagues car had clutch pedal sticking down, it required some persuasion to return. Other than that car drove just fine to the garage.

Garage called and said it is not clutch as suggested, it is the pressure plate exploded and gone through the gearbox, destroying the gearbox. New gearbox £3k and clutch at £1.2k….

Manual Touran 2.0tdi of 2015 vintage.

My 2015 2.0 Passat had the pedal stick down, garage thought it would be the slave cylinder but prepared me it could be the clutch, it did end up needing the cluth and flywheel replacing, but this cost me £1,100 last week not the huge amounts the OP has stated.

Our 2011 Golf TDI had the clutch pedal stick down a few weeks ago - new clutch, slave and master cylinders fitted by our local garage..... £810

Thanks for the advice all, a refurb unit has been agreed. £2k saved.

What has been said:

The gearbox wasn't ruptured but the pressure plate had broke and a spike had gouged out a nice ring out of the gearbox making it weak needing replaced along with clutch, flywheel and slave valve.