I just got a new clutch about 2 weeks ago and soon as I left the shop the check engine soon light was on. For 2 days it was running really smooth and then the clutch started to stick really bad where every time I switched gears, after I pushed the clutch down, I would then have to lift it back up with my foot. Then it started to have trouble going into first and also reverse. I brought it in the other day to the shop and they told me they'd have to keep it for another day to figure out whats wrong and when I went back the transmission was on the floor so obviously I wasnt getting it back that day. I'm not good with all the part names and I'm a girl so I dont know if they are taking advantage of that but they said the pivot ball broke off which they said is common so they need to replace that and also the part that it goes into so it'd be a few days and that it has nothing to do with them replacing the clutch earlier so they have to charge me $400. Does that sound right?

 

 

sounds like they F'd up something in the install and want you to pay for it

edit: I guess I should have asked the few obvious questions like 1) What was wrong with it when you brought it to the shop originally, and 2) Do you know these mechanics from a good reference or personal experience, or did you just pick a random shop?

 

Not necessarily. Pivot ***** do break from time to time. I would just ask them for the broken parts and take some pics of them, post em up here and we can verify that they are indeed the parts they say need replacing. If that's the case and they really are broken, not much they could have done (excluding pure sabotage) wrong to make them fail.

 

I'm probably going to stop by the shop today and take some pictures to put up here.
And when I originally got the new clutch it was kind of done on an emergency basis so I brought it to the shop closest to me so I guess it's my fault for not doing research before hand.

 

Could be the install or the clutch line, I had my clutch line replaced from rubber to stainless steel and I havent had a problem.

 

the clutch pivot ball breaking right after a clutch install seems odd, makes me wonder if they didnt seat the fork back onto the ball correctly and then that caused it to break......

regardless, it sounds as if they are pulling a fast one on you and that they need to gaurantee their work........if you had issues from the moment you left, then they did ish all wrong..

post pics...
-J

 

If the pivot ball breaks, how can the clutch start working when you pull the pedal back up? There's no way you could push the throwout bearing far enough to release the clutch.

Could they have damaged the pivot ball by not adjusting the clutch correctly during the installation?