That said, to increase the length of the fight, should we be investing in the extended warranty before we hit 36,000 miles? The car is only 15 months old! But if the clutch is not covered, as a "normal wear item."(sharpening my claws as we speak.)Dawn We never went to the dealers for service, and now I remember why, vividly. Our guy worked on our Honda (CRX, 18 years old and 265k miles when I sold it for this lemon) and our Toyota Previa (1991, which will hit 300,000 miles on this next tank - thanks to the Vibe being out of use for the last two weeks) and our cars have never failed us. There wasn't much use in trying to move the car closer to home (Sierra Auto is at least 40 miles from our home, on the other side of L.A.)Pontiac made getting parts such an issue with my regular, Toyota-certified independent mechanic that we all agreed there was no choice but to go to a Pontiac dealer.I am unhappy. The clutch had gone so far, pulling out into traffic was a frightening experience, akin to a slo-mo replay. Since Sierra had to pull apart the transmission/clutch to determine the problem, I felt I had no choice but to tell them to fix it, and that we'll fight out the warranty issue after-the-fact. There's no way I can afford to keep a car, no matter how fun, that's going to need $1000+ every 30,000 miles (or less?) just to keep it on the road. With at stake, this is for the life of the car. It will likely take major intervention to get this clutch covered under warranty (as it should be). scored real bad." Which sounds like he's trying to tell me that he's not going to try for warranty coverage, despite round-about agreeing that it sounds rather unusual for it to wear out at this point, that it seems like wear and not a warranty issue.So maybe I don't feel so bad about calling directly to Detroit :-]We discussed the fact that we've driven a CRX for 18 years, and prior to that, had driven an Accord (also with hydraulic clutch, which lasted 100+K miles each). Apologies to all, and I won't do it again.To update on the puppy that started this thread - Jack at Sierra tells me something like "my transmission tech is sending the flywheel out, it's really worn. I picked up the number and called immediately last week. The bigger question has to be has it been corrected for the 04 model year? Anyone with a 04 GT or XRS have these issues? My dad used to work at GM and he seems to think that if enough folks complain to GM and Toyota that they might issue a recall for it and get it fixed. The clutch would be fine if the pressure plate was beefed up. They didn't think to compensate for that weight distance/rolling diameter with our cars. The GTS is signifigantly lighter, and has smaller wheels to move stock than the GT/XRS. I personnally think the main reason for this is that they have the exact same set-up on the GT/XRS as the Celica GTS. I have been driving sticks for 14 years and have NEVER done this, not even when I was learning to drive! When I went to visit the parents earlier this year I was talking to my Dad about it and he seems to think that there is absolutely no way this should happen, he said he has never smelt a burnt clutch in his lifetime. I seem to smell the clutch at least once a day, nothing extreme or anything just a quick whiff. And without parts available anywhere (for them or our regular mechanic), I feel like we're over a barrel. And we're having to pay for a rental if this isn't under warranty, on top of the initial $700 they're quoting to tear the car down. usually) The dealership AND the Pontiac "help" line are both telling us that it is likely "normal" wear for a hydraulic clutch to croak inside the warranty period! They're taking the car apart now (had it since Wednesday), and of course don't have any Vibe transmission parts, so the best we can hope for is to get it back maybe Monday. (BTW, we're longtime stick drivers, and as parents don't tend to drive like maniacs. Even he indicated it seemed kind of early.We have about 32K miles on this basically year-old car. The trans guy at the dealership says something about the disk in the hydraulic clutch being worn down. The misery continued through all six gears. I could let the clutch all the way out in first, and juuussstt inch out into traffic. ![]() How long do you all expect a GT's hydraulic clutch to last under "normal wear?" Anyone else experiencing prematurely deceased clutches?We just took our 03 Vibe GT in for dealer (what we hope is warranty) repair for what can best be described as a "slipping clutch" by our regular Toyota-based mechanic.
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