7 replies to this topic

[ping1958]

In April of this year my clutch failed and had to be recovered by RAC. They told me hydraulic clutch gone. 53 Reg. manual.
Had car collected by local garage and they replaced clutch and also master cylinder. Since then have had trouble selecting first and reverse gears when cold. Took it back to garage who said they had found two problems with gear selection - had corrected first gear but reverse crunched every time.
They said if problem persisted after a month to take it to Ford dealer. Have today taken car to Dagenham Motors for service and MOT. They have phoned me to say need new tyre (budget tyre for £41) offside suspension arm moving (rubber split) £168 and also, leaking gear box oil on the driveshaft. Total bill £400 plus, following £604 for clutch in April at other garage!!!!!

Am I correct in thinking that the gear box had to be removed to replace the clutch? If this is the case then I feel the gear box leak, etc. will be down to first garage - I hope.

Does a split rubber on the suspension arm cost £168 to replace or am I being seen off?

I have told them to put it in for its MOT and see if it fails.

PLEASE HELP URGENTLY.

Thank you so much someone who knows anything about cars.

[mintalkin]

split rubbers on the lower arm are a common fault, the bushes have to be pressed out and in so they are charging you for this. i have often found it cheaper to buy a complete new arm and will be about 45min to fit so could be a better option .
your right in thinking the gearbok would have to come off for the clutch it sounds like the garage who fitted the clutch damaged the oil seal when refitting

[ping1958]

In April of this year my clutch failed and had to be recovered by RAC. They told me hydraulic clutch gone. 53 Reg. manual.
Had car collected by local garage and they replaced clutch and also master cylinder. Since then have had trouble selecting first and reverse gears when cold. Took it back to garage who said they had found two problems with gear selection - had corrected first gear but reverse crunched every time.
They said if problem persisted after a month to take it to Ford dealer. Have today taken car to Dagenham Motors for service and MOT. They have phoned me to say need new tyre (budget tyre for £41) offside suspension arm moving (rubber split) £168 and also, leaking gear box oil on the driveshaft. Total bill £400 plus, following £604 for clutch in April at other garage!!!!!

Am I correct in thinking that the gear box had to be removed to replace the clutch? If this is the case then I feel the gear box leak, etc. will be down to first garage - I hope.

Does a split rubber on the suspension arm cost £168 to replace or am I being seen off?

I have told them to put it in for its MOT and see if it fails.

PLEASE HELP URGENTLY.

Thank you so much someone who knows anything about cars.

[ping1958]

Would you believe my car passed it's MOT with no problems!!! Getting another garage to check out what Dagenham Motors claimed needed doing.

[Russ]

Would you believe my car passed it's MOT with no problems!!! Getting another garage to check out what Dagenham Motors claimed needed doing.

the only thing that should have failed the MOT would be the rubber bush on the arm and the tyre ( if both are bad enough ) obviously they aren't ! ) With regards to a bush costing £168 that's excessive. The whole arm will cost a fraction of that and as previous poster has said will take 45 mins to fit. ( i used to buy a new lower arm every MOT for a cavalier and the total cost for arm and fitting was £70, somehow can't see a fiesta arm costing £168 !)

[fosh100]

i think a new complete lower arm for my mk5 fiesta only cost me around £83 and that was direct from a ford dealership, you can get non ford ones which do the job and cost around half the price

[vinnyvangough]

I was buying PAIRS of lower arms for my Escort van for about £43 and fitting them myself.

[ping1958]

Got car back from local garage yesterday - they advise no problem at all with lower suspension arm or rubber. Also, no problem with tyre dealership claimed needed changing as being close to minimum.
They have also put in thinner gear box oil to help my gear selection problem (when car cold couldn't select first gear) - done under warranty as they changed the clutch back in April.
Dealership wanted to charge me exhorbitant amount of money to fix what wasn't broken - local garage charged me £28.49 to replace my brake fluid. RESULT!!