ST205 who can afford a 14 hour clutch job?

[Ironchief]

I hate to break it to you but you guys are all wrong. 14 hours is an UNDER-ESTIMATE to do a 185 or 205 clutch. The transaxle and transmission are one solid unit weighing about 300 pounds (no joke). You have to first remove the engine and transaxle as one unit, then change the clutch, and to mate the transaxle and engine again, I had to flip the engine on its side, and drop the transaxle in from above using a hoist. This is known as the missle silo method, don't believe me? Check out this thread http://www.alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewto...23761&start=60

Removing the transaxle with the engine in the car has been done but by very few people do it due to its weight and the fact that the engine and transaxle are similar to an elephant and a rhinoceros, they simply don't want to mate, you must force it upon them with all your might, which usually ends up as you dropping the transaxle from above.

I know all this because I own a CDM st185, I changed the clutch a few months ago. Car was down for over a month total.

[jdmvip]

Wow, this is really crazy, the hours keep getting higher with each post lol.
You might as well swap the engine and transmission while you're in there lol, it may be easier!

Does anyone know how much shops charge and how many hours they normally quote? Of course to be reliable it would have to be a shop that has done these cars before.

This is one thing that probably makes knowledgeable buyers stay away, I know I would never own an ST205 for this reason unless maybe there's proof of a new clutch lol.

[Ironchief]

If they know the car and what it takes, approx. 20 hours would be their estimate.

[Speed Stick]

Ya I remember calling and asking about my ST185 GTFOUR RC clutch job and the shops said it was a 15.6 hour job but they said they couldn't even do it in that time.... Toyota was cheapest at 10 hours flat rate.

[jdmvip]

10 hours is more reasonable, I bet Toyota may have a special system worked out and even tools that make it quicker. There's no way they'd quote 10 hours if the job couldn't be done in that timeframe.

[Jeebus]

Hey folks, so my clutch blew just a few days before New Years 2015 after around 169k km, one year of ownership for myself (around 6k of driving).

I ended up sourcing all the replacement parts myself, buying off eBay, kijiji, some shops in Toronto, and my brother buying a few parts off of Yahoo Auctions Japan and sending it to me.

I printed off all 3 service manuals for my ST205 that I have in english.

My two options were:

Garage 5 in Richmond, BC, whom quoted me 20hrs @ $85/hr ($1700 total in labour). They told me that they had worked on a GT-Four only a few weeks prior for the exact same job.

Granville Toyota (SW Marine & Fraser St), whom quoted me 16hrs @ $110/hr.

My car was toast and Granville Toyota was within towing distance from my house, plus their quoted hours seemed promising. I met the mechanic, who had not worked on a GT-Four before, but has been around long enough to "figure things out". Needless to say, I chose Granville Toyota due distance and quoted hours.

I figured 2 days would get her done. With each passing hour, I got more nervous as I knew the total bill was adding up and I had a budget set aside. During the process, I was called to be informed that my cam shaft seals needed replacement (added to my bill), my turbo was leaking oil (left that alone), and my left outboard CV boot was ripped (left alone).

I finally got my car back after 3 days in the garage, and was billed $3k.

Parts that I provided:
Clutch kit (throw-out bearing, clutch, pressure plate)
C-One discontinued lightweight flywheel
water-pump
timing belt & v-belt set

Parts purchased during repairs:
camshaft oil seals x 2

Overall, the service was great. Doug, the service manager, understood my financial position, was always "We'll try not to make things expensive for you" , and always kept me updated via text messages and phone calls. When the whole process was done, he gave me a $100 giftcard for any future services. When I picked up my car (on a weekend), the receptionist told me that they had in fact given me a $200 gift card.

Things that were "broken" when I got my car back:
- hood latch would not work properly
- the DRLs that I installed were not working.

I didn't bother taking my car back to get those issues fixed since I immediately took my car to Integra Custom Collision to get my fender replaced from my fender bender in Sept. The folks at Integra were awesome enough to fix my hood latch issue, plus pop out a dent that was not related to my ICBC claim. As far as my DRL issue goes, I didn't bother with Toyota since it was something that I installed, and I figured that they wouldn't repair a custom installation item. I later got my dad to diagnose the problem, so no problem here.

So, yes, I should have gone with Garage 5 to install my new clutch, someone who has experience with GT-Fours instead of handing 3 service manuals to a tech who hasn't worked on my type of car before. I probably would have saved a few bucks in the end, and I would have rather supported Garage 5.

I forget how many hours Toyota worked on my car for, maybe 23, but they also did an hour or two of free service as well.

That was my experience.

PS - It was a job where they required the engine to be taken out.

[Slowboi]

Wow, my brother has a GT-4. Im going to let him know about this thread, great info. It would be worth taking his car to a shop that has done this job before obviously.....

[Jeebus]

Quick update:

My dad and I investigated my DRLs (he is a retired electronics technician), and we found that my Bosch 5 pin relay I installed for the DRL kit may be at fault, and not the dealership.