I have a '98 BMW Z3 with 140k miles on it. It is in good shape & well taken care of. I took it in to a new mechanic (my previous mechanic shop closed) for a routine oil change & he found a transmission leak (he showed it to me). He suggested that since he has to take apart the transmission to fix the leak, he would recommend replacing the clutch since it has 140k miles on it. His prices seem ok except that if he has to end up using the “Dual Mass Conversion Kit” he quoted a price of $900 & I can find it on line for $460. Total cost for using the Dual Mass is $2060, if he only has to use the regular clutch kit it’s $1460. He said he won’t know if he’ll need to use the Dual Mass until he pulls the transmission apart to see if the …I forget what it’s called (inset proper term here) is able to be resurfaced & then he could just use the regular clutch kit, but if not then he’d have to use the Dual Mass Kit. So my question is…should I have the clutch replaced & is the price reasonable?
The proper term youre looking for is the flywheel to be resurfaced.
Im not too familiar with bmw but that sounds quite high.
Not all parts are created equal, so make sure the prices youre comparing online are for the same part.
What part of the trans is leaking? I do agree that if the trans has to be removed to fix the leak, and the clutch is high in mileage, it makes good sense to replace it.
If the transmission does in fact have a leak (which he showed you, right?) then it likely has to be removed from the car to be repaired. If the transmission is coming out and the original clutch has 140,000 miles on it, it would seem foolish not to replace the clutch at the same time. You risk having to do the same labor over again when the clutch does wear out, and at 140,000 miles chances are that you’re pretty close to needing one.
If the clutch is still working properly you may not need to do anything to the dual-mass flywheel. It may be perfectly serviceable as is. If it is worn you need to make sure there’s a place your mechanic can take it to be resurfaced. Not all machine shops can resurface those flywheels. Otherwise replacement is the other option.
If you do need to replace the flywheel stay away from the conversion kits. They replace your dual-mass flywheel with a conventional one-piece flywheel. You won’t like it. The car won’t drive like it should and every time you let out the clutch pedal you’ll wish you hadn’t done it.
I’d get a second opinion. First determine just how bad the leak is, if you are not losing a significant amount of oil, and you may not be losing enough to worry about, then you don’t need to have the transmission resealed and you can put off doing a clutch until it is needed. Personally I have never resurfaced a flywheel for a clutch job and have never had an issue.
Always get a second opinion when expensive repairs are recommended. Keep in mind a certain amount of leakage is acceptable on a 15-year old car. If you need your car to be perfect, they do still sell new ones.