car broke down, towed to MAZDA

[marksoden]

Just a little comedy for the group here...driving in Toronto (thankfully not on the highway, I was downtown) and put her into first gear and then swoosh, no more gears. I was just a couple kilometres from mazda, so they towed it there. Got the call 30 minutes ago...needs a new clutch and flywheel. $1500. I just was revived by a co-worker. Other than "YOU'RE GETTING SCREWED!", your thoughts?

[TsiMiata]

Stock clutch is $100-$150. Labor runs ~$300 give or take. You definitley don't need a new flywheel. Thats all in US dollars.

Bring your car to a regular shop.

[mx3TT]

If you ran it down that much you prob need a new master cylinder and all that good stuff along with it. And yeah you dont need a new flywheel, just resurface your old one.

[curtklze]

just a little info

a stock clutch assembly from mazda in CDN dollars
is around $550-600 for just the parts.

even after market stock replacement clutches are
around 350-450.

what to do? I dont know, if you need your car then you have to pay, if you can wait then I would say shop around and find the cheapest clutch you can also tell them to send out the fly wheel to be resurfaced.

also, if you can take it to another shop that charges less, but you may pay alot to have it towed there, then you lost all the money you were gonna save.

<small>[ September 23, 2003, 10:24 AM: Message edited by: curtklze ]</small>

[marksoden]

All great advice...thanks. Now comes the REAL good part. I got a call last night from the mazda shop. get this...the mechanic said magically the clutch and flywheel were NOT to blame...???! It was the driveshaft that needs replacing (then threw in the fact that the driver's side coil in the wheel area had to be replaced or I'd die and also some leak which I told him to forget about. New total - $700 plus tax.

question: how does someone determine a clutch fails and needs to be replaced, then tell me hours later that it is a driveshaft? If my car didn't die so close to mazda, I would never have towed it there...baaaaad things happen there.

[curtklze]

you can get an axle from UAP NAPA, they are around $108.00 + core charge(you get the core charge back, when you bring them the old broken axle back) = 236.00

[Guest]

anyone know where i can get an aftermarket driveshafts....