dik56

I bought the disco on 36k mileage , and did about 8.5k between January and August, THe clutch was giving no indication of slipping, and until the gear stick linkage went approaching a set of traffice lights I had no idea anything was up. When the car was being fixed for the linkage problem they had to open up the gearbox for some reason and they offered to change the clutch and other bits at the same time. Seemed strange to me at the time as I have had to fight hard to get the dealer to do anything under the warranty, but I didn't question it at the time, I have tried to take it up with the dealer but they dn't want to know, and Landrover wont do anything til I have it indeprndently assessed. I've done this but the assessor says short of taking the car apart again he can't pin down exactly what was wrong, but feels that there could gave either have been a problem with the clutch plate bonding failing or possibly the master cylinder jamming. Many thanks for the help

As a relative newbie to modern landrovers, (the last one I drove regurlarly being a Series II 30 years ago) I bought a '05 Disco 3 back in January 2008, and during the warranty I had a gear box linkage failure, where the local LR Dealer (Stratstones of Swansea) also replaced my clutch, thrust bearing and fly wheel etc as it was still under warranty. (approx. August 08). However after 4300 miles of poodling up and down tarmac roads, none of which being off road, and only 150 of which were used for towing a brand new horse box with a single small horse in it, the clutch has burnt out again whilst towing the horse box up a long climb, with no warning apart from the 1st gear starting to making a clunk when changing down about 2 days before the clutch totally failed. When Stratstones replaced the clutch again, this time with me having to pay for everything despite the landy still being under warranty, I asked for all of the parts as I am unhappy about the previous repair, and can see that they are all LUK parts. (Chinese?) The clutch drive plate has completely worn down to the metal rivets on the clutch housing, whilst being comparatively untouched on the fly wheel side. The metal has turned blue so there was excessive heat, but this may have been just at the last bits of life in the clutch. There is some dust where the clutch has been burnt away but also large amount of fibres where it looks like the clutch lining has just disintegrated, or been ripped apart. Reading on the forums I see various comments on the LUK plate having a excessive play on the shaft, and prone to failure, and also that Land rover have had various problems with the replacement Clutch kits recently. The questions I want answered are:- Are LUK parts considered genuine FORD replacement parts? Has anybody else suffered a similar total failure of a clutch with no warning? Is this clutch failure a well known issue, as the dealership have pushed it back onto me saying it was "driver abuse", and that it's up to me to prove otherwise. (I have been driving 4x4 for the last 5 years, and have been on various courses with my work, so I am not completely ignorant on how to use a 4x4) Am I able to complain to anyone, and get Land Rover interested in this issue? I have attached some of the photos of the various bits of kit I was given after the 2nd replacement of the clutch. Help anyone!