Yes. A clutch adjustment is free at MotorCar Doctors, and so is the inspection that tells us whether an adjustment is what your car actually needs. It’s the right first stop when the clutch has started to feel different: it catches higher or lower than it used to, there’s more slack at the top of the pedal, or gears have started to grind going in. Allow 60 to 90 minutes. The adjustment itself is a few minutes of that; the rest is the check beforehand and a test drive afterward.
Is the Free Clutch Adjustment Really Free?
Yes. Not free with a service, not free with conditions: free, and it stays free whether or not you go ahead with anything else. There’s no bill for having looked.
From the Shop Floor: A $0 Clutch Check on a Corolla
A 2013 Toyota Corolla with 68,412 miles came in this July because the clutch didn’t feel right. The bill was $0. Senior technician Rob Lamont found the floor mat bunched up under the clutch pedal, so the pedal couldn’t go all the way down.
A pedal that stops short can keep the clutch from fully releasing, and that can feel a lot like a clutch on its way out. With the mat out of the way, the pedal went all the way down again. No parts, no repair and no charge.
That is the point of a free clutch check. Before anyone talks about a new clutch, we look at the simple things first, and sometimes the simple thing is the whole answer. If your floor mat has clips or hooks, keep them fastened.
What Does the Free Clutch Adjustment Include?
“Free” is only worth something if the work is real. Here’s what we check:
- Pedal free play: the slack at the top of the pedal travel, and whether it’s within the manufacturer’s specification.
- The engagement point: where the clutch takes up, and whether it has crept.
- A slip test: with the parking brake on and the car in third gear, the technician lets the clutch out. A healthy clutch would stall the engine; we don’t let it get that far, but we can tell whether it would. It’s a shop test, not one for the driveway.
- A release test: clutch pedal down, a 30-second wait so the transmission coasts to a stop, then reverse. Reverse isn’t synchronized, so if it grinds going in, the clutch isn’t fully releasing.
- The hydraulics: the master and slave cylinders, and the fluid’s level and condition.
- The cable or linkage, depending on how your vehicle operates its clutch.
- Leaks and general condition: anything visibly wrong while we’re under there.
- A test drive, so you know the adjustment did what it should.
If the adjustment is the answer, we make it and you’re on your way. How free play works, and why it drifts, is on our clutch adjustment page.
When Is a Free Clutch Adjustment Worth It?
Whenever the pedal starts behaving differently. “Out of adjustment” is a cause in two columns of our clutch diagnostic chart, and these are the usual reasons people come in:
- The engagement point has moved: the clutch catches much higher or lower than it did.
- More dead travel at the top of the pedal than there used to be.
- Gears grinding or fighting you because the clutch isn’t fully releasing.
- A clutch that has started to slip: revs rising without the car speeding up to match.
Don’t sit on the last one. On the chart, a clutch left out of adjustment is one of the ways a pressure plate and flywheel end up heat-damaged, and by then an adjustment is no longer the fix.
What If It Needs More Than an Adjustment?
Then we’ll show you, and you decide. You’ll see photos of your own car in the Digital Vehicle Inspection and get a written, itemized estimate. Nothing gets done without your approval, and you won’t be asked to decide on the spot.
The usual next stops are the clutch hydraulics, worn linkage, or the clutch itself. When the picture isn’t simple, a full clutch diagnosis sorts out which one it is.
The Six-Month Visit That Keeps a Clutch Kit Warranty Active
If we installed your clutch kit, the Lifetime Clutch Parts Warranty on that kit stays in force with a free clutch inspection and adjustment every six months: no mileage condition, just the visit. It’s also our chance to catch a leak, a tired hydraulic part or an adjustment drifting before it costs you a clutch. The full terms are on our warranty page.
Why Is the Clutch Adjustment Free?
Because we’d rather have you as a customer for years than bill you for a few minutes of a technician’s time. We’ve specialized in clutches in Beaverton since 1995, and the shop has lasted that long on people coming back: for an oil change, for brakes, for the next car. An adjustment that costs us very little and might save you a repair bill is a reasonable way to start.
How Do I Book the Free Clutch Adjustment?
Call 503-626-4810 and say you’d like the free clutch adjustment, and allow 60 to 90 minutes. It isn’t the only thing we do for nothing: brake inspections are free, and so is the first 15 minutes of a check engine light visit, code pull included. They’re all on our promotions page.
Our technicians are ASE-certified. MotorCar Doctors Auto Repair, 13203 SW Canyon Rd, Ste C, Beaverton, Oregon 97005 · 503-626-4810