Evening all

My dad has had his 2016 qashqai 1.6l petrol since new and last week the clutch destroyed itself inside about 1/4 mile.. he had my mam and daughter in the car and luckily managed to limp off A1 and into a safe stopping place.

He had it towed to the Nissan dealer where he always gets it serviced and they’ve called him with a cost to replace clutch, DMF and slave cylinder. £2,400. He’s haggled with them and played on the FSH with them etc. and he’s got it down to £1,900.

It’s still a massive chunk of cash in my view and I said he should try ringing around some of the National chains to get some idea of cost there as a barometer. Added complication of it being at the dealer and would need towing anywhere else.

No clutch judder or slipping at all (nor should there be at that mileage!) before the breakdown.. it just went pop and lost drive. He’s going to ring them back in the morning.

Any thoughts/advice welcomed.

Cheers

That sounds like a lot of money for a clutch and slave cylinder. I paid £600 for a Mondeo slave cylinder, dmf and clutch about 4 years ago (independent garage).

The independent Merc specialist that I use for my Vito said it is 1k to change in the van (clutch & dmf only) because the parts are so expensive. Still half of your dad’s quote

I’d of thought it would be just a solid flywheel on a petrol. Slave cylinder is a concentric job so you’d be foolish not to do that.

Also be questioning if a DMF why it needs changing. Once the box is out and its checked it may be ok…. HOWEVER till box is out you can’t tell.

From memory they’re frame down to do but not a huge job.

Whats the split parts vs labour

Aye it’s big money isn’t it, even for main stealers! Thanks for sharing cost on your mondeo, that’s useful

He hasn’t got a breakdown, just a phone call at this point.. they investigated it today so it may already be in bits 😐

Does he know how to use a clutch? Seems like a very new car for a lunched clutch. Maybe get an auto for his next car? Or are clutches made of cheese these days?

Transporter here just paid a grand for dmf and clutch, vw indy mechanic

Its possibly just been the slave cylinder: popped, contaminated the clutch plate and DMF.

Unusual to go instantly unless something else has failed internally
Either an oil seal on a hydraulic part or engine output side
I would not trust any main dealer, the dmf probably would be fine and not need changing, unless hes deaf, in his late 70s, and rides the clutch every journey
There used to be a quote me service online, where you fill a form and garages reply with a price, try that ir Mr clutch for a guide price only, as they are tge kwik fit of the clutch world

Ballache of highest order, but they will take him for a ride fo shure.

If the box is already out. Dont authorize any more work straight away…

Ask them for plate thickness, flywheel back lash. Images of blueing on the pressure plate.

Be a pain in the arse so it kills the ramp and then start hassling customer services.

That way the dealers going to be desperate to get the ramp back and may be more amiable to discount etc.

You used to get a goodwill voucher as a dealer straight from Nissan which is what I think they have done. I doubt theres a case on with customer service

Tbf not all dealers are shisters

2.4 grand? They are taking the pee pee.

Few years ago got my boxster clutch and dmf done. That required pretty much 8 hrs labour to take the rear of the car off. And it was less than what you are being quoted. It was done at an Indy though

Also got my saab dmf and clutch done for around 800 quid.

Thank you for the responses all, some really helpful stuff up there ^^^. I hadn’t considered the point about his car taking up valuable space (and therefore money) on one of their ramps. Good strategy on asking for more information, I mean they’re asking for 2 grand so a bit of info in the other direction isn’t too much to ask! I’ve just spoken with my Dad and apparently they took a video that they were meant to send but didn’t.. FFS.

Tbh it’s not realistic to compare indy prices to a dealer. They’re what, £120+/hr? If the clutch is a PITA then labour alone will rocket.
I’m not defending it, just trying to explain it.

The goodwill gesture seems of the amount that maybe it’s within their budget, but hasn’t been through Nissan UK. I’d try them rather than through the dealer. What’s the warranty period on the car? If it’s 5 years that will help.
I’d be asking for a diagnosis of why it went. If it’s wear and tear then if say unfortunately it needs doing (but would be cheaper at an indy) but if there’s a failure involved I’d really be pushing the HQ. Full main dealer history will really play on your side here.

I am not in the trade, but this is stuff fromy wife, who has about 15 years of being involved in after sales stuff for multiple manufacturers

Clutch on wife’s Tiguan went suddenly. Bearing seal had been leaking and clutch plate disintegrated. Dealer said we were lucky it failed when it did, any longer and debris would have chewed through casing. No noise or sign of anything happening until failure.
£1500 at main dealer.

Clutch went on my mum’s 2016 CRV, honda charged £1400 to replace including new dmf. It had only done 34k but honda clutches are notoriously poor.

I would not trust any main dealer

Pretty much this in my experience. I would never use a main dealer unless it was for a recall. I don’t have cars new enough to need to keep a warranty alive though. At nearly 5 years old I’d be taking it to an indy but I guess he’s stuck with the dealer now.

Dealer rate are high cos its expensive to be in a marque.

They dont pay you for a badge you buy it from them.

Everything’s considered and controlled by the manufacturer.

Floor tiles, chairs, light fittings and you have to buy through them. Thens theres hours of CSI paper work, special tools for dealer standards, training courses etc.

It’s like brewery beer sales to landlords. Vs 4xcans from the offy.

Likely that a dealer will quote for a full clutch kit including hydraulic slave and DMF.
Once they inspect they may find single component failure but will still advise replacement of all parts due to cost of labour to access and lower risk of comeback if everything is replaced.
Dealer parts prices can be high , much higher than even OEM independent prices.
So for the QQ 1.6 petrol :
1/ Its not unknown for the clutches to let go early/suddenly – google qashqai 1.6 digt clutch problem.
2/ Its not clear what actually fails , that is which component – plate/cover/dmf/release mech.
3/ Aftermarket parts are available Luk clutch kit around £230 , DMF £500 ish.
That is not cheap , but they are not so common so comparison with very common clutch/dmf is not valid.
Difficult to go to non dealer once they have it apart so the advice above about getting full details of what has failed – pics etc is very good as not changing the dmf for example could save a chunk of money , or if it is broken it is questionable that it should be covered as goodwill.
Lastly folks need to get up to speed about petrol drive trains having a dmf , its very common now and BMW pioneered it years ago , and just to update the particulate filter is now common on new petrol cars too so don`t assume anything .

Clutch and flywheel replacement for my Mini were £1200 at an independent. £600 parts, 8 hours labour, VAT.

The entire front clip (bumper, lights, rad, crossmember, inter cooler) and the right side front suspension (strut, wishbones, sway bar, etc) had to come off to do it.

I would tell them to fix it but it’s my intention to go to the small claims court.
A clutch should last for approximately 100k miles and it wouldn’t be hard to convince a county court of this fact.

I would tell them to fix it but it’s my intention to go to the small claims court.
A clutch should last for approximately 100k miles and it wouldn’t be hard to convince a county court of this fact.

Utter rubbish, and would just waste more time and money.

At 32k and 5-6 years old I’m guessing the car does lots of short journeys (urban too?) and no court would have a clue how well/badly your Dad drives. Get it fixed (either there or somewhere else) and move on.

Agreed , but a dual mass failure is usually preceeded by a mettallic rattling that can go on for thousands of miles. Often starts at idle only , and stops , or goes on but un-noticed under normal driving conditions
As I understand it a dual mass is a harmonic anti vibration dampening aid , plus a driving aid, with weights moving from inboard to outboard to provide different levels of inertia
This device is bolted to the engine output shaft and the clutch rides on this
Drive is ( or isnt) transferred through the pressure plate , which wears through engagement with spinning metal things.
One componant , most likely the pressure plate has failed leading to slow and probably smelly trip to the main stealers.

options.-
Fit new pressure plate , sell car
Trade in car with main dealer , for electric one. Main dealer will repair at cost and sell on. Dad gets environmently friendly cheap runaround
Or sell on ebay. Someone is always on the lookout for repairables and dont value their time so its a cost of parts only exercise to the and a home mechanic can spend 2 weekends swapping a clutch and they can sell it on.

A clutch should last for approximately 100k miles and it wouldn’t be hard to convince a county court of this fact.

how would you convince them it had been driven with mechanical sympathy ? and not slipped at high revs every time it had been stopped ?

mmmmm…….

Thank you for the continued advice and comments all. Much appreciated.

@Simon – not sure what you’re getting at. I’ve come onto a general discussion forum and asked for some advice on a topic and have received some very helpful replies.

I don’t think you’d stand any chance in the small claims court. If it’d happened in the first couple of thousand miles, maybe.

Change to an automatic would be my advice, who wants to stir their own gears these days?

Tbf not all dealers are shisters

Agreed.

They’re very system driven, if a car comes in with a fault they will generally follow the manufactures procedure, an Indie might look at it and say “you’ll get away without a new DMF”, dealers won’t, too much come back for them.

I often find that for routine stuff they’re cheaper.

My car is going in for a DSG oil service next week, it’s a fixed price with Skoda, £189.

The local gearbox specialist quoted me £315. He was going to use the correct VW oil, he moaned about it enough, but he didn’t have all the tools that Skoda will use, it might be silly, it might not be, but to change the oil on the gearbox you have to warm it to 35c.

Save for servicing, a 20k mile service is £159 at Skoda, it’s £190 at the local place.

A main dealer should have a price sheet for every service and major repairs detailing what should be done and how long it should take. ask to see this

My guess would be that its replace every possible thing that could be worn in the entire assembly and a more comnplex removal process ie not remove one engine mount and jack the mortor up but remove entire unit sort of thing

The clutch failed in our 2015 Focus at 12k miles. The clutch plate broke up and the debris damaged the bellhousing. This happened shortly after joining a motorway with a short slip road and uphill gradient, ie, full torque. It was accepted as a warranty repair without questioning our driving style, but the dealer wouldn’t comment on the cause.

A year later there was a recall on the car. The engine management software was updated to detect clutch slip (based on engine revs, gear and road speed) and reduce torque to prevent slip. Apparently the clutch was prone to slipping and overheating resulting in the failure we had. So it must have been undersized for the engine, or otherwise badly designed – if it had happened before the days of engine software it would have required a redesigned clutch.

I don’t know to what degree clutch designs are ‘bought in’ or a manufacturer specific, but the same kind of issue might apply to the OP’s dad’s Qashqai.

There are some excellent clutch technology documents published by LUK , quite a few so
if you google “luk clutch course pdf” there are plenty of links.
The clutch technology is both bought in and manufacturer specific , ie they collaborate on power train design and that company will get the contract to manufacture the clutch components.
It would be interesting to know which component failed in the OP case , unfortunately it will be expensive to fix due to the costs involved – not many ways to get round that unless you DIY the clutch job and doing any clutch swap for the first time on a different vehicle type takes ages , once you have done one you can save hours on the next one as you know all the tricks and wiggles needed , doing it the second time first is the best way , but not all of us are time lords…

Change to an automatic would be my advice

But not a Qashqai auto – that box is horrendous. My in-laws have one and I cringe when I am a passenger in it just listening to the god-awful while it makes whilst simultaneously not appearing to go anywhere quickly.

But not a Qashqai auto – that box is horrendous

Almost certainly a CVT – strictly speaking not a traditional auto with a torque converter.
Very few good ones around. A few years ago they were supposed to be the future, even Mercedes were talking about fitting them to the whole range but it never happened.

Any update

Yes, he rang them yesterday morning first thing and asked a lot of pointed questions from the advice above re. plate thickness, bluing etc. and probably did kill the ramp for a bit. But they weren’t interested and wouldn’t budge on the price. It’s fixed now and he has his car back but logged a complaint with Nissan uk and has all the knackered bits in his boot to have a look at. Will be interesting to have a look when I get round next.

Thank you for the advice all.

Sorry I couldn’t be more assistance.

Bang some pics up of the bits if you want. I’ll see if I can see anything obvious though its doubtful

No worries at all, some great advice from you above and I learned a thing or two myself. Thanks.