Recent Best of Car Talk podcast, listener’s car is (IIRC) a 1980’s Chrysler Voyager, a sort of mini-van. Manual transmission. Clutch has been replaced twice, both times fairly recently , and now mechanics are saying it needs to be replaced again. Listener is asking Tom and Ray for ways to keep the clutch working. Ray asks about the symptoms leading to the prior replacements. Grinding sounds when shifting into Reverse, & generally hard to get into R. Replacing the clutch seemed to help, but symptoms quickly returned . Same symptoms now, leading to third suggested clutch replacement. Ray suggests that replacing the clutch isn’t the proper solution for these symptoms, and the problem is more likely that the clutch isn’t fully disengaging. Clutch linkage cable may be stretching. This makes sense. But then why would the listener’s mechanics keep suggesting to replace the clutch every time this symptom occurs? Is it something about that particular car, or its clutch design?
Sounds like the owner needs to find a new mechanic/shop…
What if the driver was just hard on clutches? Some folks are.
Or possibly the driver has short legs and is not getting the clutch fully depressed. That would burn up clutches.
I had a friend that had that problem. I told her to scoot the seat closer so her legs would reach. She drove leaning forward, too so she had to lean back a bit.
Floor mat under the pedal…
But the mechanic should be able to look at the clutch to see if hot spots and or cracks in the flywheel/pressure plate and the condition of the clutch disc itself, if the floor mat is crumpled up from sliding under the pedal, was the flywheel even turned/machined or replaced with the clutch job?? Back to finding a better mechanic/shop…
1989 Plymputh Voyager, the manual transmission was somewhat rare and more likely to have been ordered with the Turbocharged engine. Same clutch as other K-Car based Chrysler products but the clutch cable is specific to the vans at least on Rock Auto. We had a 1988 Grand Voyager with the V6 and 3spd auto that had it’s own transmission problems (only reverse worked)
Maybe the optimum configuration for that vehicle is to install two transmissions inline, automatic + manual , only way to get all of the gears… lol …
Good question. Tom & Ray asked the listener, who replied both she and her hubby had owned numerous manual-trans cars, even some classics, MG, Triumph, etc, and never needed to replace the clutch in any of them. T&R didn’t ask if the techs had mentioned the clutch disc appeared worn out or not, would be easy to see when doing the replacement. I presume if the techs had seen obvious signs clutch material degradation, they’d have shown the removed clutch to the Voyager’s owner.
I gave you the sol’n, seems closest of the theories presented, but if the problem is an incompetent shop, it still remains why or how that could happen, time and time again? I can see it happening once, maybe the tech who was given the job was new, but the same what seems to be an obvious mistake occuring over and over again? Hard to understand, unless there is something unusual about this particular trans and clutch.
It lost drive on a major road at the light. Was driven in reverse back to the shop that did a brake job with a Aamco next door. Thier work lasted from 1995-2012 with no furthet trand problems.