Clutches

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FREE COURTESTY CAR
2 YEAR "ANYWHERE IN THE UK MAINLAND GUARANTEE"

Because a clutch can take up to two days to fit we can offer a courtesy car free of charge until the job is completed.

We only fit Unipart or original equipment clutches with a two year guarantee, this includes the excellent “Anywhere in the mainland UK guarantee”, because we are a Unipart care centre.

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How clutches work

I will try to keep things as simple as possible and will add a link to a more in depth publication, called the car bible. Your clutch disconnects the gearbox from the engine when the clutch pedal is pressed, this action enables you change gears when driving, and also stop the car without stalling the engine. In other words the clutch gives you a way of disconnecting the continuously running engine and the gearbox. The clutch is generally made of three parts although more modern type clutches are being used that have more parts , these are called duel-mass flywheels, but for this page I will keep things simple. The three main parts are the fly-wheel,pressure plate and clutch plate. A more in depth explanation can be found in the link that I have given you.

What would make your “clutches” go

The most common cause for clutches to go is “Burning your clutch out”. This when many drivers including myself hold the car on a hill or incline by the clutch. Your foot lets off the clutch until the “biting” point can be felt and allows the car to be at standstill on a hill holding your car “on the clutch”. I fear that this is a bad habit of older drivers, but this practise will burn out your clutch prematurely. You should always hold your car on the handbrake and not the clutch. Another term you may have heard of is “slipping theclutch”. This is mainly caused by a mechanical problem, due to a broken or faulty clutchplate. You can feel all sorts of problems when driving, your car wont change gears properly and you get get bad smells from the slipping clutch. Another small point we have found is that older drivers who are deaf can not hear the clutch slipping and will often burn out the clutch because they can not hear what’s happening when driving. These customers always come back in six months time with another burned out clutch.

To find out more about clutches visit Car Bibles