On almost every forum folk are moaning about the cost of clutch replacement on not just freelanders but most make of cars specialy dual mass, 10 days ago i had the clutch slip symptoms, it did not concern me car was still usable short term and when i rang the local landrover specialist and was quoted 560 quid all in my first reaction was ...not bad that, car was in within 4 days and is now happily providing me with trouble free motoring.
Cars done 80k and if we divide that by clutch cost its about 145 mile a quid equate that to 8 mile per quid of fuel and clearly the clutch is cheap fix.
The clutch is a consumable item and 80k to me is a good run, so ive paid my money quite happily knowing the clutch will last my life time of keeping the car job done.
Now the big question ...how many moaners then go and spend more on ..alloys...ice....ans bolt on extras and think nothing of it,..for benefit of tony ..whos cars off road as he cant afford the...incredulous cost but as some very nice alloys and extras purchased few months ago...lol
All about priorities....

I can't see your point in comparing to the cost of fuel? Surely everything is "cheap" when it comes to comparing to fuel. Maybe if you add all the other costs of running, maintaining, parking and keeping a car legal... then fuel may become "cheap".

Given the cost of parts and labour needed for a clutch change, yes its going to be a big bill. Doesn't mean people are over the moon with happiness when it comes along though. Especially if you've just had another big bill such as tyres or mods you've chosen to make to the car.

BTW, people are happy to name and shame a garage when a job's done bad. You should put the name of the place up if you think they've done a good job at a fair price.

GrumpyGel said:

I can't see your point in comparing to the cost of fuel? Surely everything is "cheap" when it comes to comparing to fuel. Maybe if you add all the other costs of running, maintaining, parking and keeping a car legal... then fuel may become "cheap".

Given the cost of parts and labour needed for a clutch change, yes its going to be a big bill. Doesn't mean people are over the moon with happiness when it comes along though. Especially if you've just had another big bill such as tyres or mods you've chosen to make to the car.

BTW, people are happy to name and shame a garage when a job's done bad. You should put the name of the place up if you think they've done a good job at a fair price.

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Last time i named a garage i was happy with it was followed by a slanging match of happy and unhappy customers and gave the garage a lot of undeserved coverage for wrong reason, im happy with the job and price. While i agree people are not happy with big bills you only need look at your cars mileage to realise that bill is on the way...

I prefer an auto so there's no clutch to worry about anyway. Obviously fluid changes are more expensive than the manual gearbox but it's all representative.

Nodge68 said:

I prefer an auto so there's no clutch to worry about anyway. Obviously fluid changes are more expensive than the manual gearbox but it's all representative.

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spose a torque converter is a kind of fluid clutch...what do they cost to replace

Not many reports of torque converters going wrong, but plenty of auto boxes given a lot of grief and expense!

I got a mate who is a farmer he has a freelander 2 and believe me this works for a living it tows big cattle trailers across fields up hill and down dale , i think the only clean bit on the car is where the windscreen wipers clear ,his clutch has just gone at about 120,000 miles right at the top of the multi storey car park ,he had to push it all the way out to get it on the tow truck , ha ha .

freelanderoig said:

spose a torque converter is a kind of fluid clutch...what do they cost to replace

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Torque converters don't as a rule wear out in the same way that a manual box clutch does. However if the fluid is allowed to leak out, then damage can occur. They are about £300 plus the labour and fluid to change.

GrumpyGel said:

Not many reports of torque converters going wrong, but plenty of auto boxes given a lot of grief and expense!

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Not as much as you think GG. Yes we get posters coming on here saying my auto this or my auto that has gone bang. In reality, the Jatco gearbox is pretty good in reliability. It does suffer the odd dodgy soloniod valve or bad connection in the multi plugs. Most internal problems can be traced back to infrequent or nonexistent fluid checks or changes. From my experience with them. If they get the necessary maintenance, 250K miles is about the service life of them, but I've seen them do over 300K miles. That's 3 to 4 TD4 clutches at £550+ per go. A reconditioned Jatco is about £1300 so it can be better value to have the auto box and it's better to drive off road or when towing.