PaPaBear

While doing an engine change, the dealer said my clutch was worn. $476.00 to replace. 33,000 miles on the car.
Anyone out there replace your clutch? At how many miles? What was the cost?

NoTears316

Pretty low mileage for a new clutch. Are you the original owner?

rx8rotary

I just went through this last week. I was told the same thing except they wanted $662 for the clutch. I called Mazda since the engine was being replaced under warranty due to spending over 90 days in the shop and they authorized the clutch be replaced as well so I thought that was pretty decent of them - i.e. no $$ out of my pocket. BTW, my car has 41K miles on it.

Bob

PaPaBear

Yes and wondering why so low mileage. I am not one to drop the clutch from a dead start as the RX-8 is not not made for that. I do particpate in track events but cannot reason this. I do drive in very heavy Miami traffic which could be a part of the reason. I even try to lay back in traffic like this to keep wear down.
I love this car but the if problems continue I will have to look for something else that can straighten curves out as good as the RX-8. I love the car, what can I say!

Rootski

iTrader: (1)

If you're willing to get dirty, regular and high-performance clutches can be had and installed yourself for much cheaper.

Stavesacre21

IMO, that's not all that bad of a price for a clutch with labor from a dealer...not bad at all.

As for miles, that seems awefully early for a clutch to wear. If your one to drop the clutch above 3-4K much, it sounds to be about right. When properly using clutch, i'm usually able to get about 80-100K out of it.

PaPaBear

THe only thing I can think of is it's the daily rush hour Miami traffic or I am getting screwed. I will appeal to Mazda.
Thank you,
Roger

PaPaBear

I contacted my rep this morning and complained about the clutch going so soon and I am not a clutch abuser. He said that the 8 is only warranted for 12,000 miles on the clutch. I have requested all the parts and will take them to Mazda Pros in Miami to take a look at the parts and get their opinion. I am still going to appeal to Mazda on this in principal alone.
Thank you

rx8rotary

I was told the same thing but I also reminded them that my car had been in teh shop for 93 days (and was still in the shop at the time) over the past 5 months and I felt as if a new clutch was warranted if for no other reason to help relieve the agony of being with out my car. They agreed and paid for the clutch. You might not be so lucky unless you have already been unlucky to have spent so much time without your car. Also, I did not accept a rental car during that time since I have a thrid vehicle so I guess they saw that I had saved them enough money that they offered up the clutch replacement - whatever the reason I felt they treated me right.

Bob

valpac

iTrader: (2)

Had trans work done recently and since they were in there, I replaced my clutch too. About the same price you were quoted. My clutch was not worn out however. I had well more than half left at 34K miles.

expo1

I just had my Clutch & Flywheel replaced this week with ones from ACT. I have 86,000 miles and began to hear a squelch noise when I would step on the clutch pedal. I thought 86,000 was a fair lifespan and didn’t feel bad about getting it replaced. I attached photos of what my old clutch & flywheel looked like. I think I could have gotten some more miles out of the clutch plate; the noise must have been from the bearings. By the way the OEM flywheel weighed 16.7 Lbs. I don’t think me getting 86,000 miles out of my clutch makes you feel better, but it going at 41,000 was a bit early.

conedodger

Post some pics. Sounds like they want to make some extra money on the engine swap.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

if the have the motor out of the car show up with any aftermarket clutch and dare them to charge you more than 25 bucks labor..

btw... i had mine changed at 55k mile while the motor was out. it would have gone to 65k miles and was abused...

beers

8is>enuff

Me too. I went with the prolite. Check out mine at ~48K miles. https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/stuck-neutral-108937/page3/

Papabear, When mine went I decided to get a cheaper and stronger clutch. I don't expect this one to go in 48K miles. Replacing the flywheel at the same time is a good option if you think you'd like a lighter one - https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-aftermarket-performance-modifications-23/flywheel-flywheels-flywheels-90143/

Whiteboi2189

squelch noise? hmmm... i have heard a little squeeking noise when i pressed all the way down on the clutch. But i havent heard it recently... Is there any other signs of wear on the clutch or is there something else i should be looking for? Besides that

PaPaBear

The dealer is installing a factory clutch. The car is supposed to be ready today. To late to register for the Chin event in March and I have a new motor to break in. I will come back and let you know how the car runs. Heading for the dragon in the spring.
Thank you.

Astral

hey folks, my clutch has been feeling that it's engaging at a much higher point lately. it's fully engaged almost at the top and the engagement starts earlier too (and doens't feel as "strong" when it starts). definitely not how it's used to be.

Is there any check that I or dealer can do for a worn clutch?

what are the worn cluch failure modes? Does it "give up the ghost" and completely not grip suddenly at some point or does it start slipping a lot and basically give me maybe 50 miles of notice?

I'm fearing that the clutch is being worn out.. I have almost 39K on the car, which seems awfully early for the clutch to go, but this was my first manual transmisison car, and I probably burned a fair amount of clutch in the first 5K-10K miles. I often launch the car at 2.5K PRM for faster launches, but quite rarely as high as 3-4K (only maybe 10-15 times total over the life of the car? needed to get out of the way quickly). After 10K of driving, normal lazy starts I was able to get down to 1.5K. I also do a lot of highway driving, about 60%, and that should help with the wear. I don't powershift or "slam it" into gear (don't chirp tires).

I'm going to be taking it extra easy as I have a 450-mile trip ahead of me, to NYC and back...

longpath

iTrader: (1)

After last week's snow storm and stop and go traffic for four solid hours, it looks like I glazed the clutch because I've noticed three times when accelerating in 6th gear where the clutch doesn't seem to be holding since then. I've never seen any issues with the clutch beforehand; but I do remember what smelled like either burning brake linings or clutch disk during part of that trip. I'd originally thought it was just brakes from the traction control engaging; but now it looks like I'm going to need a new clutch. My RX-8 has just over 41K miles, which I gather is pretty low for needing a new clutch. Do I have any alternatives to replacing the clutch that would rough up the glazed parts? I've never heard of any and my search of forum topics came up rather empty (this was the closest I could find).

cajunrx8

Astral, you prolly need a clutch, if it was your first manual and you slipped it alot at high RPM's yep your clutch is worn I would bet.
As far as signs that the clutch is bad can be slipping in higher gears (read below) to sudden failure where you ain't got nothing. Get a good mechanic to look at it for ya.

Longpath, you too might need a clutch if you are having prob's. Put the car in 5th or 6th gear at 60 mph and stand on the gas. If the engine starts reving faster than the car is accellerating you need to replace the clutch.

A good scuffing of the flywheel, disc and pressure plate might get you some more life but you are already there so just replace the damn stuff.

JeRKy 8 Owner

New factory clutch for less than 500 bucks installed sounds too good to be true. Which dealership down here?

kersh4w

iTrader: (3)

i abuse the hell out of my clutch, it has almost 47k miles on it. its still fine. i should probably change it in under 20k miles though.

but i REALLY abuse my clutch. i mean.. I REALLY abuse my clutch. i feather the clutch out when drag racing. i.e. riding the clutch out of first gear and i start the rpms around 4500 and then they go up as the clutch gets let out.

so... i abuse my clutch. not my tranny though. but im starting to have 2nd gear syncro issues. :/

i really think the dealership is screwing you.

Astral

Long-term update.

My clutch concerns from my earlier post were entirely unwarranted. My clutch lasted to 70K, at which I changed it out because I got a new engine and so the labor to do it was free.

Turns out my clutch was pretty much half-worn. I forget the exact amount of meat left on the clutch disk, but the minimum from rivet-to-meat is 0.18mm and I had something like 1.5-1.7 still left. I don't know what the full clutch thickness is to calculate a true % of wear. If someone knows it, I can look it up the actual measurement I wrote down so I can do the math.

The fact that I did 85% highway driving was a big factor. I also rarely ever dropped the clutch, maybe once in a blue moon. My quick starts were 4.5K clutch slips (rather than drops).

I revmatched every downshift, always stayed in gear (so a lot of shifting), though I used pretty low RPMs creeping back and forth.

The old clutch had some discoloration when it was taken out, but wasn't too bad.

I believe the problem with the feel of the clutch was two-fold:

1) there was a little air in the clutch line, probably from a less-than-spectacular job of flushing the brake system by the previous dealership
2) I compared my car against another RX-8, which had way too much free play in the clutch pedal and thus had an ultra-low clutch engagement point. I thought that was normal, but it was not.

If you feel that your clutch engagement point shifts higher up and the pedal gets stiffer (your free play goes away) as the transmission temperature goes up (e.g. compare cold vs after some city driving), then you have air in the clutch lines and you should have your clutch bled (had to bleed it twice for me after the clutch replacement job).

cptpain

as a matter of fact, the clutch SHOULD be changed when a new engine/rebuild is performed.... on ANY engine.

the dealer was right to suggest a new clutch.

tell the dealer to give you the old clutch as a spare or you can sell it on craigslist, ebay or on the forum.

but if you're ever going to upgrade,(which you shouldn't on near stock power levels); have the dealer replace the clutch, and have you keep the old one. then when you are ready to upgrade, you an keep the old, old one as a spare, and sell the replacement to offset the costs of buying the aftermarket clutch.


PS

there is no sense in going with an aftermarket clutch when your car is at near stock power levels.

clutch applications are rated by torque and never by horsepower, whoever tells you different is wrong.

only when you car is making 2x the amount of torque it originally made at stock/OEM power will a new clutch be better able to handle the new power, and with a much longer service like than putting another OEM clutch assembly. as the extra power will cause the OEM disc to slip or fail in some fantastic manner ie: disintegrate/explode the organic material

longpath

iTrader: (1)

So unless someone is going FI, the OEM clutch is Ok?

XxSaMiRxXS

i just got my act clutch installed, it cost me $200 for the install and the clutch was $335


i