Car Broke down at walmart. I don’t have any money to get the car maintenance by a professional. This is going to be my first clutch job and I’m going to have to do it right in the Walmart parking lot. The parking lot that I man is kind of off to the side so it’s not where everybody’s at immediately although there is a main road that passes by that a lot of cars drive by on So needless to say I’m trying to get this done as quickly as possible I don’t have money to get the car towed and this is going to be difficult. I knew that my clutch is going to give me problems so I’ve been studying on the topic for a while and I’ve done some decent-sized repairs before but nothing on this level, so I kind of know what I’m doing I have a repair manual as well.
So what I’m going to do is split up the task and doing it in four different phases. Not all at once but do the unnoticeble stuff like removing air filter, breaking bolts, at sperate time, then closing the hoodvandvrelaxing, then the stuff that causes attrans will be fone all at once but i want to prepare so this phase is quick as possible (break bolts remove what i can early then sit car back down then when its time i can just do the rans all at once) on like jacking up the car removing trans This is as far as the removal. But my question is is that on the last fa
Phase which is that the actual removal of the transmission and the drive shafts I wanted to prepare so that it’ll happen very quickly because of the doing this at like 4 in the morning when there’s nobody around. And it’s still dark… I want to remove the crossmember and the stabilizer ahead of time so that when I jack up the car and have it Jack for a long time that I can hurry up and get the everything done. My question is if i take out the cross member and stabalizers then lower the car back down with the wheels on, no jacks or jackstands just bolt the wheels back on will this damage the suspension or cause the trans or engine to fall out? Ill be letting it sit like this for hours
Are you nuts? They are going to call the police when they see you doing this a 4 in the morning and most likely they will have your vehicle towed because they don’t want the liability problems. A tow to your home will be about 100.00 but if it impounded the cost will be in the hundreds.
I sleep in my car and the car is parked in a parking lot that is separate from the main parking lot so if i can get trans off and clutch in under a hour and half people wont notice. Im going to be doing everything else (draining trans, disconnecting brackets, wiring to trans ect.) outside of the drive shafts and trans removal at a different time
While I have no idea what led you to such a situation I feel certain that poor judgement on your part has been a significant factor and attempting to replace your clutch in Wal-Mart’s parking lot will likely result in sliding even deeper into financial oblivion.
Alright so which part of the job makes you so sure ill get caught?
My son showed me some pictures/video of Wal-Mart customers that he found online somewhere. It takes all kinds I guess…
I’m not at all computer savvy, but isn’t there some kind of a “Go fund me” site that you could tap? I’m sure people would want to invest in your clutch job. Money would probably pour in and you could even get some TV coverage.
Perhaps you’d get enough money to buy a wrecker to lift the car or be able to put in a car hoist in the parking lot to make the job go a little quicker. 
CSA
So this isn’t going anywhere Im no longer checking this thread but ill come back to tell you how long it took
All I can say is best of luck. I’ve done some parking lot things but I wouldn’t attempt this in daylight, much less at night.
The engine will need to be supported in some way, so…???
You do realize that Wal Mart monitors their outdoor security cameras I hope. Someone inside might get a bit curious about what is going on and call the cops.
RickyRobert had an earlier post about his Lancer having steam coming out from under the hood. Apparently he replaced the radiator and all is well in that department.a
I.wonder if his car really needs a clutch or if the master cylinder or slave cylinder is bad if that is the type of clutch control system that Mitsubishi uses.
I see the OP has caused some frustration both for posters and the OP. I think if the question was asked as “How do I do this clutch change” with specifics about the job and filtering out the Wal-mart parking lot part would have been more productive. At any rate, everybody wants to do the job at hand as fast as possible.
When I was almost broke, I have changed oil in apt parking lots many times where by definition it was illegal. You just have to be a bit quiet, dressed and groomed well and usually nobody complains. Also, once had to redo the waterpump job on my friend’s Corolla in a supermarket lot where he was stranded. It was thanksgiving night, -20 degree chill factor, but I really wanted them to make it to our house for the dinner. You can not plan everything in life.
Just saying I need to do this job on flat pavement would have been sufficient.
I know, in Florida, there were “impromptu mechanics” that work out of the local auto parts store. The AP store kinda looks the other way (generally) because these guys are buying the parts there.
Ah, Tampa. Can’t say I miss it!
Its the slave cylinder and i have one that’s inside of the transmission l. Its all one part the slave cylinder and the release bearing. I decided to just replace that part to save time but i will change the whole clutch later (in a storage unit). Although it does need to be changed now.
Right now the clutch pedal has no resistance and i saw brake fluid dripping from between the bell housing and engine. I inspected hoses and there is no leak so it has to be the slave cylinder/release bearing but unfortunately it’s inside the transaxle.
I figure if i can get all bolts broken and parts removed that will get in the way of the trans remove prior ill get it off and back on in under an hour. The problem is having the car raised which will catch everyones attention.
Also the parking lot I’m in is far away from cameras. Im just worried about a cop rolling hy on his own, something going wrong in the repair or a worker noticing me do it because they are getting off at the end of their shift.
I’m going to support it with a jack
I have done some parking lot repairs worst being a fuel pump in a napa parking lot, 4:00 on a Saturday afternoon at 18 degrees, glad they were open till 4:30. Maybe I am too old world, but agree with above that 4 am in the dark will raise a lot more eyebrows than 8 am in the light, not to mention the flashlight would probably attract attention. I guess I can not imagine anyone being anal enough not to cut a guy a break, so he can drive away. I never did a clutch, so only moral support, not technical.
If i take out the stabalizers and cross member could i put the wheels back on lower the car and wait till later to do the rest or will this affect the suspension because of the weight resting more on parts that it shouldn’t be? Will the transaxle fall out if i remove cross member?
I don’t know how old this lancer is and what shape it is in, but you will likely run into problems with frozen bolts or nood a tool that you don’t have on hand.
And as someone mentioned…if the car is towed and impounded…with no money to pay the storage fees you will not have a car to sleep in.
I suspect that hammering and the lights under the car will draw a lot of attention. As @VOLVO_V70 said the store will not allow this because of the liability. But then that might be to your favor.
Young man tries to do clutch job in Wal Mart parking lot…car falls and crushes young mans legs and spine.
Young man sues Wal Mart for letting him do such a foolish endeavor in their lot. Young man is awarded millions from suit and now lives a care free life at St. Phillips home for the bed ridden and eats all his meals through a tube and wears an adult diaper. Young man meets Fi Fi a stripper that tells fortunes on the side. Fi Fi poisons young man and runs off with all the money to the French Riviera.
There are too many unknowns doing a job like this and many of your statements show that you really don’t know what you are doing. The tranny does not to be drained and why… for a clutch job would you remove the air cleaner.
If you do try this, at least buy a repair manual…or find one at the library. This way you will have a step by step procedure to follow.
All the Walmarts I’ve seen have security guys driving around. There are lots of empty lots in my town you could probably get away with doing a clutch job before you got run off. A guy rents spots in his lot for $10/month, usually for parking a car; he may allow work done.
If everything goes right, it will probably take you 8 hours to replace the release bearing, with another 30 minutes work you could do the clutch.
It makes no sense to do one without doing the other at the same time.
Why not drive the car home?
Unplug the clutch pedal interlock switch and insert a jumper in the wire.
Place the transmission in first gear and hit the key.
The starter will get the vehicle moving forward while at the same time start the engine.
When you go to shift into the next gear, lift off the gas pedal and slowly move the shifter until the synchros allow the gear change.
If you have to stop, place the transmission in neutral and shut off the engine.
Place the transmission in first gear, and when it’s time to go, hit the key again to get going.
That’s what I did when the clutch master cylinder failed in my truck.
Tester