XC40 Failure Volvo UK Unhelpful

[XC90Mk1]

Originally Posted by The Thong

How much is a dual mass clutch assembly these days? That an outrageous amount of money for a clutch replacement.

TT

It does vary quite a lot, but a clutch kit is in the region of 300-400. The dual mass flywheel is several hundred pounds (neither fitted). And with the complexity etc most places don’t fit the clutch without the DMF. That’s 350-550 in parts additionally, another £200 to fit, and a £600 clutch change is now £1,300.

Ancilliaries etc and something like a fiesta will be £1,000. A Volvo decent sized could easy easy push 2k.

[baggy798]

I'd think a dmf is between £600-800.

[Fizzy]

Originally Posted by XC90Mk1

It does vary quite a lot, but a clutch kit is in the region of 300-400. The dual mass flywheel is several hundred pounds (neither fitted). And with the complexity etc most places don’t fit the clutch without the DMF. That’s 350-550 in parts additionally, another £200 to fit, and a £600 clutch change is now £1,300.

Ancilliaries etc and something like a fiesta will be £1,000. A Volvo decent sized could easy easy push 2k.

Yeah £1600 for main dealer rates sounds about right, if not slightly on the cheaper side. For my C-Max it's around £650 just or the clutch kit and DMF and that's from ECP, not from the main dealer

[rowdy]

Few years ago now, maybe five at a push, my Volvo v50 clutch kit, dual mass flywheel and clutch slave cylinder was £350 for Luk kit.
Paid around the same again for fitting (not main dealer) It was my slave cylinder that went, some are covered by a recall, mine wasn’t. Go figure!

OP what mileage has your xc40 covered? There are sale of goods acts that, if the mileage is low, would be on your side regarding the vehicle not being fit for purpose, and not lasting an acceptable amount of time. Maybe a bit difficult with a clutch as you might have been inadvertently resting your foot on the clutch pedal, causing slight wear, which would be hard to prove or disprove, but I would be going ape sh!t at them if they were charging me £1600 for a dangerous fault like that.

Edit: just re read. 10,000mls. I would be contacting someone like the What Car help desk. Especially if it is known for clutches to be going at low mileage. Definitely not fit for purpose. Get it out in the press, or I would at least be telling Volvo that is what will be happening, unless the reimburse the £1600 for the obviously faulty clutch fitted to your car that could have caused a fatal incident.

[baggy798]

So what's to stop it going again in another 10k? Have they updated the design, and if so doesn't that imply there is an inherent flaw and they should foot most of the bill?

[Ulrikas PA]

Am I missing something ? Do Volvo in the UK not operate a goodwill scheme, irrespective of the principle of whether a key component should be failing at low mileage?

I had 5 years at Daimler UK's head office, and quality / bad press / customer expectations meant there was a constant churn of goodwill requests.

I'd ask to see the dealer principal when the car is towed into their workshop. Get some of your money back at least for the first new clutch, as a result of there clearly still being an issue with the clutch.

Good luck and try another brand or 2 for the next 10 years if they are not interested.

[rowdy]

Originally Posted by baggy798

So what's to stop it going again in another 10k? Have they updated the design, and if so doesn't that imply there is an inherent flaw and they should foot most of the bill?

As the op says he clutch pedal is now only releasing half way then nothing will stop it going again in 10k.

As I said, seriously consider emailing What Car or Auto Express, they have help desks specifically to help readers with this kind of problem, and they will reply to you and be as helpful as they can. I did it in the past and they did get back to me but my issue was more trivial. A clutch on a relatively new car with so little mileage, causing a dangerous failure and known issues with other owners, I'm sure they would be all over this, and would be happy to chase it up. Many times I’ve read owners having to pay out, and after the magazine has got in touch with head office the cost of repair has been reimbursed.

Personally, I have no faith in Volvo uk. I complained about my slave cylinder to them, as it is a recall on my model but had no recall notice and mine failed. Needing it repaired quickly I paid around £800 but Volvo asked for my vin number and just got the response of my car not being one of the vin numbers listed so they were not liable.
I also complained about the sunroof drains being badly designed and not up to the job as intended, having dumped rain water down the back of my dashboard and rendering the car undriveable. Their response was to book it into a main dealer so they can determine if the sunroof drains are a bad design or not.
Im more inclined to scrap the piece of crap than pay Volvo to tell me there is nothing wrong with the design.

[XC40VolvoProblem]

Hi Everyone, a further update on this issue you are not going to believe it! The clutch replacement was a misdiagnosis (SHOCK!) there was a mechanical failure which inherently caused the clutch to fail originally. Due to the original Volvo garage not being able to detect this issue the entire engine needs replacement!!! Yes you read that correctly the entire engine!! Covered by warranty this time and care more about the customer then the profit and loss account.

Wish me luck on getting a refund / compensation being batted around by Volvo customer care / dealerships / Volvo financial services.

Absolute shambles thinking of doing a YouTube video will post the link when its done.

Note. Current dealership is actually very good and are looking after me.

[Ulrikas PA]

Glad there's some good in the midst of this. (ref my post above!)

[Cull06]

My experience of Volvo U.K. is they are frankly (and anecdotally of course) useless and act like the corporate entity they have sadly become rather than looking at resolving the issue amicably for both parties.

It’s the dealers that sort this sort of thing out, as you have found. The good dealers at least.

This is why buying a car as a financial product can be a huge help with this sort of thing. It’s only when I got the ombudsman involved that Volvo U.K. took notice and took the car back off me.

Glad to hear you seem to be getting some progress on this 👍

Happy to say that the current car has been fault-free. Other than popping suspension that neither I nor the dealer can get to the bottom of… 😬