Clutch repair options Lancer

[iceknight]

Hello PA folks!
So my car's clutch (most likely) failed and gears are not engaging since last night on I-70, and I actually got stuck in Frederick MD after getting it towed to a motel lot. I am about 160 mi from home in Central PA.

I have a 2004 Mitshubishi Lancer ES Manual shift car, front wheel drive.

Should I:

1) Get AAA premier membership and get it towed back home. The premier membership is 118/yr and also gives me one car rental for a day, apart from a 200 mile tow once year.

2) Get the car taken to a Pepboys (only thing open Sunday) and get it fixed at whatever price they charge and then drive home while being apprehensive.

3) Leave car here in the motel parking lot, get home somehow and then come back in a few days after figuring out some mechanics in this area and parts cost online etc..

It is ok to tow a car for over 150 miles and not cause any other damage to its suspension.. assuming no other out of order incidents?

Thanks very much for you inputs!

[fast4522]

Donate the car to cars for kids, or some other organization that will let you remove your plates and tow it out of your live. Waste your hard earned moneys on a newer more reliable transportation, at this point this car might be a sinkhole for cash keeping it running per year going forward.

[turninforhome10]

If it is a hydraulic clutch, make sure the fluid is full. Happened to me before and fluid was empty. I was lucky, there was no leak, just gone.

[iceknight]

If it is a hydraulic clutch, make sure the fluid is full. Happened to me before and fluid was empty. I was lucky, there was no leak, just gone.
tnt - Thanks for this tip, will check it.

Fastt... your idea of getting rid of the (now unreliable) car is worth a thought... I was queasy about "donating" an "unreliable" car.. but then I checked their faq (http://www.kars4kids.org/faq.asp) and it seems like they sometimes auction it off or have other ways of handling.

thanks

Also.. it is fitting I am at a motel in Fredrick that is near a RED HORSE restaurant.... :lol:

[Clocker]

It is ok to tow a car for over 150 miles and not cause any other damage to its suspension.. assuming no other out of order incidents?



A "tow" truck these days does not actually tow a car. It has a flat bed that tilts back and down so the car can be pulled on with a winch, then tilts back up flat for the drive. The entire car rides on the flat bed of the truck.

[fast4522]

Taking into consideration cost and projected life expectancy of:

Fuel filter (inside gas tank)
catalytic converter
brakes or any other big ticket items sometimes it pays to put cash elsewhere.

[iceknight]

A "tow" truck these days does not actually tow a car. It has a flat bed that tilts back and down so the car can be pulled on with a winch, then tilts back up flat for the drive. The entire car rides on the flat bed of the truck. Well, I have seen flat beds but last night the truck that towed me 12 miles was the winch type..

Anyhow, I spoke with someone who has lived in the area 30 years and he recommended a good local mechanic so I am going to check it tomorrow and then decide if to move on, or fix it and then have my small business "buy it" and then I can depreciate it or more easily write it off than do it on personal taxes.

[iceknight]

Well, I have seen flat beds but last night the truck that towed me 12 miles was the winch type..

Anyhow, I spoke with someone who has lived in the area 30 years and he recommended a good local mechanic so I am going to check it tomorrow and then decide if to move on, or fix it and then have my small business "buy it" and then I can depreciate it or more easily write it off than do it on personal taxes. In case anybody was even remote curious, the repairs alone cost me $938. (the parts cost $240 and are included in that total). Labor was the bulk of the cost. circa May 2014. Worn clutch (http://i.imgur.com/h9R3UDE.jpg)

http://i.imgur.com/h9R3UDEb.jpg

[Greyfox]

I renew my AAA premier membership every year.
Well worth the value if something goes wrong, especially on the highway.

[HUSKER55]

leave the keys in it and hope somebody steals it and you can collect on your insurance. :D :D

[iceknight]

I renew my AAA premier membership every year.
Well worth the value if something goes wrong, especially on the highway.I had a free tow through my insurance policy. Even the priciest AAA plan would have given me only the 100 mile tow- and I was farther than that from home.
This was just bad luck that it failed far away from home.

HUSKER55 leave the keys in it and hope somebody steals it and you can collect on your insurance. :D :D The car operates on my fingerprint matching, keys wont help anyone else!

[MJC922]

In case anybody was even remote curious, the repairs alone cost me $938. (the parts cost $240 and are included in that total). Labor was the bulk of the cost. circa May 2014. Worn clutch (http://i.imgur.com/h9R3UDE.jpg)

http://i.imgur.com/h9R3UDEb.jpg

Sorry to hear about that, yeah keeping those older cars on the road can dent the hell out of a bankroll. I drove second-hand Fords for the better part of my first 15 years on the road, commuted to and from the track 30 miles each way and broke down too many times to count.

One time I'll never forget was when another fulltime player I knew, well his car was in the shop that day so he called in the morning asking for a ride to and from the track. I said sure man. So we're on the way home and wouldn't you know my piece of s*** broke down too. We ended up calling yet another friend who had tapped out early in the card to drive halfway back to FL to pick us up. Yet another low point in my so-called 'career'. Today I have a never-ending payment (it seems) but those days made me a believer that a warranty is a beautiful thing.

Even if you go cheap let's say a new Hyundai Accent for $250 month payment for 5 years all under warranty, you might be ahead of the game. Keeping those old cars going I remember forking out $700 it seemed like every few months and doing half the work myself.

[green80]

700 labor is too high to replace a clutch.

[HUSKER55]

YOU are beinng strong armed.

Ya know, we bought a new cruse and we bought that policy that covers everything for the next 100k. Now we are over 60, but the up front was $1500 which means for use we get 10 years of full coverage as we only drive around 15K-21K. We do all of our maintenance thru them.

The nice part is that if anything happens GM and our dealer takes are of it. My best guess getting a different car maybe your best bet. That is a lot of money for a clutch. It is almost the down payment.

I have no idea about your area but decent credit $2000 in cash and a some form of a trade in and you are in the $25K range, maybe more.

We put up $3500 cash, $4,000 trade in and got a new cruz, extended warranty, and onstar, with road contruction assistance for two years.

You need to take everyones notes and do some investiging on your own. This might work out to be a blessing in disguise.

Good luck


BTW this is our 6th vehicle from the same dealer, same salesman, Mary's son and his two kids also buy from him and we get great service.

Sit back, take breath...this may turn out to be your day!



(ok-ok...may a little over positive..but I really think you are not that bad off)

[iceknight]

Thank you for the useful tips folks, esp on the warranty angle. Yes, I definitely ended up paying quite a bit more, but my only other option was to sell the car pre-repair in Maryland itself (and I live in Central PA - about 240 mi away) or arrange for it to be towed etc and eventually save about $200 net- if that. \
But knock on wood, it's been going well so far and the car has definitely paid for itself through other ways (and even originally I bought at deep discount on cash and then ran it 25k with any issues).

Edit: I looked through the old bills and I realized that the 940 included a rental car cost that I used for 3 days during the week obtained through that shop's account at enterprise. But still the labor was about 570 -a little high maybe

[Canarsie]

I renew my AAA premier membership every year.
Well worth the value if something goes wrong, especially on the highway.

I do the same exact same thing as you. Once I broke down on the NJ turnpike where only authorized tow vehicles are allowed. Since this wasn't a AAA truck all I had to do was send it a copy of the bill and they reimbursed me 100%.

For those looking to save money I was astonished to learn that AAA and a bunch of others use the same tow services. I'm a chatty type so while talking to the driver he mentioned at least four (Allstate was one of them) that he (in this case his company) independently works for. This was at least five years ago things may have changed since then. Still it would be worthwhile to investigate and even stopping into at least one of their offices and see what companies they do business with.

If you use a non franchised mechanic he would be a great source of information since tow trucks would drop off a bunch of vehicles there.

[Inner Dirt]

700 labor is too high to replace a clutch.

It depends. In my youth I almost enjoyed fixing cars and helped any friend for pretty much beer and pizza. Did a lot of clutch jobs and they have ranged from 30 minutes (Datsun 510) to 12 hours (Nissan 280 ZX). Never did one on a front wheel drive car, I would expect they could take quite a while. $700 could be a fair price for labor if it took all day.