What wears out a clutch in Perth?
Mostly habits and traffic, not hills. Perth sits on the flat Swan Coastal Plain, so the average commute asks little of a clutch on gradients. RAC WA names the two habits that do the damage anywhere: resting your foot on the pedal while driving, which partly disengages the clutch, and slipping it to hold the car on a slope.
Weight is the other factor. A loaded ute, a trailer or a caravan makes the clutch work harder every time you move off, and more so on a hill.
Where Perth clutches wear fastest
The morning peak
Weekday mornings are when Perth traffic regularly slows to almost half the speed limit and sometimes stops. In a manual, that's constant first-gear creeping, and every crawl is clutch wear.
The Hills
East of the coastal plain, the suburbs near Midland and Kalamunda sit up on the Darling Scarp and are known as the Perth Hills. Hill starts are part of every trip there. Use the handbrake to hold the car instead of the clutch.
Utes that tow
Some diesel utes have a dual-mass flywheel, a two-piece flywheel that smooths out engine vibration. CarsGuide reports that on the D40 Navara, replacing the clutch meant replacing the dual-mass flywheel too, and that owners who tow heavy loads often switch to a single-mass one. Ask what your model needs.
Signs the clutch is on its way out
- The revs rise but the car doesn't speed up to match, especially in a high gear or on a hill.
- A judder or shudder as you move off.
- The clutch bites near the top of the pedal travel.
- Gears that are notchy or hard to select, which can mean the clutch isn't fully disengaging.
- A shrill whine when you press the pedal, which can be a worn release bearing.
- A burning smell after a hill start or a tow.
What goes into a clutch quote?
The gearbox comes out to reach the clutch, so the labour is the same whether the parts are small or large. The usual parts are the clutch plate, the pressure plate and the release bearing (the bearing that pushes the clutch apart when you press the pedal), plus the flywheel, which is either resurfaced or replaced.
On a car with a hydraulic clutch, the system shares the brake fluid, so a leaking master or slave cylinder shows up as a soft or sinking pedal. Ask for the estimate to list every part, and to say whether the flywheel is being resurfaced or replaced.
Our take
We'd get a slipping clutch seen to early. Once it slips it gets hot, and heat can damage the flywheel and turn a clutch job into a bigger one. While the gearbox is out, we'd also ask the mechanic what else is worth doing at the same time, so nobody pays to pull it out twice.