I am in a little mess right now. FYI, I just got the car 1 month back (05 WRX 41k miles). The previous owner replace the OEM clutch with an aftermarket clutch which is all burned out now. I took it in to capitol subaru in San Jose for a clutch replacement with the OEM.

Capitol subaru took it apart and told me that the previous owner who installed the clutch did a poor job. It used wrong bolt (allen bolt) and a few bolts are stripped. They are charging me 2 additional hours on top of the clutch repair. sigh

Did anyone had experience with Capitol Subaru previously? How can I verify the claims that Capitol Subaru is telling me?

Their initial quote for the clutch repair was $1271 out the door which includes a new fly wheel.

Now they want to charge me 2 additional hours @ $135 / hour

 

Are they already working on it? If not tell them to hold back on the service nd get quotes from other shops such as AutoHQ, Garage1Auto nd SpeedElement. Find out what their prices are. You can probably get it done cheaper.

 

yes, they have already started working on it.

Capitol Subaru claim that the 6 bolts that is holding the clutch was installed incorrectly from the previous owner. The previous owner installed allen bolts (not sure if it is the right term, that is what I understood from the phone conversation). And since the 6 bolts are on too tight, they are charging me additional 2 hours for it. Capitol Subaru mechanics claims that it need to drill, cut, and heat up the bolts in order to remove it. And they claim that so far, it took them 1 hour to remove the first bolt.

Believable? Or am I getting duped?

btw, total for clutch job now increased from $1271 to $1500+

 

Get out of there asap man

 

Go down and LOOK at it with them. Nobody here is the one working on the car, its between you and the dealer. Your sample audience on here will only be useful for two things :

1) Calling you a dummy for not having the car inspected before purchase
2) Questioning how a clutch got burned out so fast
3) Hating on a dealership they likely haven't ever been to.

 

yes, I will be going down to the dealership to look at the specific stripped bolts at 730AM. (that is when the dealership opens)

thanks tho. I guess you are right, no one here will know for sure.

Just couldnt believe that it takes 1 hour to remove 1 bolt. Even if it is stripped. -.-

 

I had a similar experience with Capitol subaru, and it turned out me coughing up 182 dollars for their time...

 

Why are they being cautious with it if you are getting a new flywheel?

It sounds like the tech doesn't have the right tools for the job. All you need is a drill and a sharp bit, and drill out the bolt heads.

I would of told them to stop work until I could inspect the vehicle.

 

and a lot of aftermarket clutches came with allen bolt types on the flywheel, even the legacy flywheel came with those oem.

 

please tell me quick because my car is kind of held hostage by them right now.

they are claiming that the allen bolts are too tight, and if they try to take it out, the bolts are too tight and is getting stripped by the bolt's thread. (not the bolt head).

they are charging me 2 additional hours just to remove the 6 bolts.

How should I respond?

 

Tell them if you could take a look at it yourself. You want to see what the problem is. Really, you're kinda screwed since you took it in so quickly. Just take a look and make sure that their claims are true, not much else you can do at this point since it would probably near impossible to drive it elsewhere.

 

i did went in this morning at about 8am

he showed me the first bolt that was taken out. it was indeed allen type head bolt, and the threads was stripped.

but I thought to myself, so what if it is stripped? Just take the bolt out. They claim that it is too tight. But still, that is why there are drills and machines right? So what if its tight? The machine can still unbolt it.

Just new a new bolt when re-installing after the clutch job??

 

Stand around while the tech does the job. Make sure it takes him 2 hours to drill 6 bolts.

A set of vice grips will stop the bolt from spinning while the tech drills the center out.

I vote the tech is a moron and I hope he reads this.

 

anymore input guys?

Thanks

 

It could take the tech 30 min to do all six, or 6 hour to do all six. It just depends on how bad it is. When bolts get striped out you both get f***ed. The tech and the customer. most likly he works flat rate and is going to loose money on doing the job. Even with the right tools. Just tell them to take there time so they do it right and ask about the female side of the threads to make sure there is no damage to the crank. And make sure to ask how there going to repair ( timeserts etc..) the crank if those threads are damaged also