Hi all,

My clutch pedal has startet sticking at the upper position now and then, and now I am suspecting the worst sooner or later. Car now @ 162500 miles on original clutch.
How much work is involved in a clutch change? Do the subframe need to come down?
I am a pretty competent DIY and have done a few clutch changes on smaller FWD cars earler. How many hours do the garages typical charge for this job?

I can't tell you the hours, but done by the book the subframe does come down, along with various disassembly of the suspension, steering, etc.

Had mine done last year.
Took 11 Hours at a Toyota Dealership due to seized bolts.
I know the guys there and they are good mechanics.
They were expecting 6 Hours as this was the time given by LR.

Just had mine done 2 weeks ago as slave gave up and pedal hit the floor.

5.5 hours labour charged, new clutch kit and DMF came in at £995  Current: FL2 TD4 2008 HSE

Previous: FL1 TD4 2002 // FL2 TD4 2008 // FL1 TD4 2003 // TD5 Disco 2003 // 300TDi Disco 1994

5.5 hours is not bad. A DIY clutch change might be possible within a day if thoroughly preparations is done.

Hi all,

my car @ 170kmiles now. Clutch sticking a bit more frequent. I am getting closer to my plannes DIY clutch change operation and has acquired a good used DMF with clutch that has done approx 60kmiles. DMF are looking good and are well within the service specifications. The clutch friction plate looks more or less unused and the wear surface on the DMF and pressure plate also. The self-adjuster on the pressure plate are close to its initial position so this clutch may have a lot less mileage than its donor car. I know its not a good practice, but I am tempted to re-use the complete clutch. Just need to acquire a new slave cylinder.
So, to my questions:
The manual states that the flywheel bolts and sub-frame bolts need to be renewed during the process. Is it really necessary to replace the sub frame bolts?
There is a pipe/bleed valve fitted to the slave cylinder inside the bell housing. Is this just a "dumb" pipe with a bleed nipple on the outside, or do this have some kind of valve functionality? Is it advisable to replace this one during the job or do you just re-use it?

Anyone with experience regarding this?

Some clutch problems are not down to wear on the plate but to the pressure plate not gripping hard enough. The problem is that you can't really test a pressure plate. It's always been good practice to replace everything especially with something like a FL2 given the cost of taking it all apart.
Gone are the days when I could change a clutch on a Ford Escort on a couple of ramps out on the drive with my wife sitting in the car pulling on a piece of wood attached to binder cord coming up through the gear lever hole. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. A good point you are clearing out there regarding the pressure of the pressure plate, so a new friction plate and pressure plate will then be on the list.

The pressure plate on this clutch has a self adjusting feature. If this for some reason seize, the pressure will probably be less when the friction plate wear down.

Clutch change performed today. Just some finalizing needed before I can put it down to the ground for testing, probably tomorrow. Old DMF and Slave was more or less shot, but old friction plate and pressure plate seemed fine.

Well done that man.

If anyone is interested there is a mobile mechanic has a vid on YouTube on a clutch change on a Freelander 2 done on the customers drive.

Worth a look for future reference.  Now at the point when I learn something new something old is lost out the other side !
Now retired so it doesn't matter anymore.
Freelander now gone.

Yes, that video + this has been my inspiration: https://pmmonline.co.uk/technical/how-to-f...reelander/ + the haynes manual.
My procedure was something in between those three. I left the PTU in place and also the steering rack.

It's never as simple as they make it look though, is it.  Now at the point when I learn something new something old is lost out the other side !
Now retired so it doesn't matter anymore.
Freelander now gone.

It was not to bad. A timeconsuming task with many bits that had to came of, but it went quite well. Most important thing is to plan well and do things in a systematic manner. I had more or less no issues during the process. Just a sligth struggle to get the lower ball joints separated and missed a seal on the clutch pipe towards the valve tube at the that was stuck in the old valve tube. the clutch pedal and gear changes are now beautiful!! And the drive take-up is a lot firmer as the old DMF was pretty worn. The whole operation took me 10-11 effective hours. Some pictures of the process:

 Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

^^^^^What he said!!!!!!!!