M6 clutch not Disengaging - Dealer told me to drive it in?

[toasterfires]

I have a 2010 2LT/RS with the M6 (AY6) transmission. I have been noticing in colder weather that the clutch engagement point moved to the very bottom of the pedal range. Up until recently I wrote it off as an oddity due to the cold weather. Last thursday however I was barely able to get the car home from work, every shift required considerable force to change gears and i had to basically stomp the clutch pedal into the floor as hard as possible to even get it to do that. I called onstar but of course they told me that they could tow it to the nearest dealer but the service dept wouldnt be open until Monday due to the holidays. I told them not to bother as I would rather it sit in my driveway than at the dealer for days.

Great. So Today I call my dealer (which is in Fitchburg) and explain the issue. I explain what the car is doing, that it is extremely hard to shift it and that it requires multiple tries sometimes to get it into a gear. I explained that most of the time to get it from neutral to first i have to shut the car off put it in gear and start it back up, at which point the car rolls very slowly and eventually makes a burning clutch smell. At first the person I spoke with tried to tell me there is a TSB regarding cold weather and it being more difficult to shift. I again reiterated that my clutch should never smell like its burning when stopped, and my car should NOT move when i have the clutch pushed all the way to the floor on level ground. The person I spoke with agreed that it should be looked at but said that they cant get the car towed to them because its not the closest dealer to me, but I should have them look at it because they are the people I bought the car from. I reiterated how hard the car is to drive and how bad it seems to be for the clutch/transmission and the person from the service department insisted that it should be okay to drive to them. This is about a 25 mile drive, all back roads. It seems like I could be doing serious damage to the transmission itself by shifting it while partially engaged, not to mention further frying the clutch (Which I would hope they would replace if this issue caused it to burn up?). Does it seem right that they are telling me to drive the car to them in this state? Also they couldn't take me until Wednesday so I guess I get to continue to bum rides to work until then as the Camaro is my only vehicle and I don't feel that it is in a drivable state.

I am not new to car repairs at all, however I am totally new to having someone else do repairs. Just trying to gauge whether this experience is normal or not. Honestly I have always worked on my own stuff (which of course was never under warranty) so I have no idea the normal process / response for something like this.

[mad@gm]

Screw it! Burn up the clutch and trans, and then remind your dealer they told you to drive it in and that they could not tow it.

[Rock-It Man]

You shouldn't drive it.

Why not take the On Star offer of a tow? Warranty work can be done by any dealer.

[SC2150]

Originally Posted by Rock-It Man

You shouldn't drive it.

Why not take the On Star offer of a tow? Warranty work can be done by any dealer.

Best advice. I am willing to bet they did not understand the issue you have or wouldn't want you to wreck it. Now, if you can depress the pedal so it will start in 1st (make sure your pointed in the right direction!) and rev match (heel/toe) and shist w/out issue....but only if you have say driven a 16 wheeler, etc. where you only use the clutch to start from a dead stop. When you come to a stop you will need to slip it into neutral before coming to a stop and then turn the car off & do it all over agin. This is NOT reccomended, and would only do this in an emergency where your life or someone elses was at stake and you had to get somewhere.

[chopss]

Try to see if your dealer can cover tow under warrenty. Mine did this on my second clutch issue.

[toasterfires]

I could have it towed to the local dealer I suppose, I was always under the impression that you get lousy service from the dealer if you didn't purchase the car there. I guess I will give the local dealer a call and see if they sound willing to help.

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[toasterfires]

Originally Posted by chopss

Try to see if your dealer can cover tow under warrenty. Mine did this on my second clutch issue.

I will give my dealer a call later and ask. They seemed pretty unwilling to do any sort of towing yesterday though.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

[DarkneSS]

I do all my service on my car from a dealer I didn't buy from. They are all just honestly happy to have the business and I don't think they will be angry that you didn't buy there.

And damn sorry about the problem. I'm no expert at all on this but maybe the clutch fluid level is low?

[Rock-It Man]

Isn't McMulkin like, less than 10 miles up the road from you. Why wouldn't they come get your car for a warranty repair?

You shouldn't have to schlep it all the way to Fitchburg!

[toasterfires]

Originally Posted by Rock-It Man

Isn't McMulkin like, less than 10 miles up the road from you. Why wouldn't they come get your car for a warranty repair?

You shouldn't have to schlep it all the way to Fitchburg!

Yes they are, I just got off the phone with them and they sounded much more accommodating and caring than my own dealer did. I am going to be bringing it in tomorrow morning. Its about 3 miles from my house so I am just going to carefully drive it...

Also @DarkneSS - I the clutch/brake fluid level was one of the first things I looked at when I noticed the issue, unfortunately it wasn't that easy .

[toasterfires]

So an update here -- I brought it to MacMulkin this morning and explained my issue. They checked it out and called me and informed me that I blew the clutch and the flywheel, neither were covered since it was considered maintenance, and it would be $1700 for just the parts. The gentleman I spoke with told me that I must’ve been riding the clutch which would cause it to wear out immediately. I explained that a worn clutch should slip (which mine doesn’t) but he insisted that in these cars when the clutches wear out the engagement point gets closer and closer to the floor until you can no longer disengage them fully. I nicely asked him to check for a TSB involving the clutch pressure plate which describes exactly what is happening with my car. He called me back and confirmed that the pressure plate TSB exists and that it could possibly apply to my car but they won’t know until they take it apart. Guess that means they just guessed on the “Blown clutch” due to riding it statement (as they admitted they hadn’t even had it on a lift yet). Anyway they ordered a “Clutch Kit” which apparently is the whole clutch assembly + the pressure plate.

I am pretty sure that I am correct in saying that a blown clutch acts exactly the opposite way that mine is acting (Engagement point gets higher with a worn clutch, not lower). It would be great if someone could confirm that point for me. I am just hoping that I don’t have to fight to get this thing fixed under warranty because I know for a fact I have never ridden the clutch in this car. Has anyone else had this issue?

[shazam]

They screwed me with my last car from gm like that, I even had extended warranty! Make sure they don't charge you for 'inspecting' it, since it sounds like they came to some conclusion without actually dropping the tranny to see what was happening. The only problem is that if they drop the tranny, take a look and say it's your fault they will want some money to put it back together regardless of if you fix it at the dealer for twice the price.

how many clicks do you have on your car?

[mad@gm]

Originally Posted by toasterfires

So an update here -- I brought it to MacMulkin this morning and explained my issue. They checked it out and called me and informed me that I blew the clutch and the flywheel, neither were covered since it was considered maintenance, and it would be $1700 for just the parts. The gentleman I spoke with told me that I must’ve been riding the clutch which would cause it to wear out immediately. I explained that a worn clutch should slip (which mine doesn’t) but he insisted that in these cars when the clutches wear out the engagement point gets closer and closer to the floor until you can no longer disengage them fully. I nicely asked him to check for a TSB involving the clutch pressure plate which describes exactly what is happening with my car. He called me back and confirmed that the pressure plate TSB exists and that it could possibly apply to my car but they won’t know until they take it apart. Guess that means they just guessed on the “Blown clutch” due to riding it statement (as they admitted they hadn’t even had it on a lift yet). Anyway they ordered a “Clutch Kit” which apparently is the whole clutch assembly + the pressure plate.

I am pretty sure that I am correct in saying that a blown clutch acts exactly the opposite way that mine is acting (Engagement point gets higher with a worn clutch, not lower). It would be great if someone could confirm that point for me. I am just hoping that I don’t have to fight to get this thing fixed under warranty because I know for a fact I have never ridden the clutch in this car. Has anyone else had this issue?

You are correct, if a disk burns out the engagement point is high, when hydraulics fail the clutch will engage off the floor, however if your pressure plate is collapsed then you will not be able to disengage the disk at all, or very little, if the pressure plate is bad that should be considered a defective part, that is not a commonly failed part in a clutch, and if your under 36k ask your dealer what happened to the 3-36 bumper to bumper warr. good luck with your repair.

[toasterfires]

Originally Posted by shazam

They screwed me with my last car from gm like that, I even had extended warranty! Make sure they don't charge you for 'inspecting' it, since it sounds like they came to some conclusion without actually dropping the tranny to see what was happening. The only problem is that if they drop the tranny, take a look and say it's your fault they will want some money to put it back together regardless of if you fix it at the dealer for twice the price.

how many clicks do you have on your car?

I've got just over 14,000mi on the car, and ironically the car became undrivable exactly 8 months from the day I bought it. I love how willing they were to tell me that I don't know how to drive without even cracking the thing open.

Originally Posted by mad@gm

You are correct, if a disk burns out the engagement point is high, when hydraulics fail the clutch will engage off the floor, however if your pressure plate is collapsed then you will not be able to disengage the disk at all, or very little, if the pressure plate is bad that should be considered a defective part, that is not a commonly failed part in a clutch, and if your under 36k ask your dealer what happened to the 3-36 bumper to bumper warr. good luck with your repair.

The parts arrive tomorrow supposedly, so we shall see what they say when they drop the tranny. I am 100% confident that this is a defect in the car, not my driving style. Its good to hear someone else confirm exactly what I thought regarding clutch engagement point too.

For the sake of convenience I really hope they just follow the TSB for the pressure plate and don't give me a hard time. Of course if they try and continue to tell me that its my fault I am totally prepared for war . I will update here again when I hear back tomorrow. I almost feel like they were trying to take advantage of me because I am young. I may be new to dealing with garages/dealers, but thats only because I normally do all of my own work.