New to this forum so apologise if this query has been already discussed
My 2003 2wd Tribute gave me terrible clutch judder problems from newgetting progressivly worse around 12000 miles. At this stage the vehicle was still under warranty. Mazda denied that there was a problem with the clutch but changed the link arms? this nearly resolved the problem apart from when executing a hill start when if not careful the problem would appear. Mazda refused point blank to change the clutch unless I was prepared to pay for the work and only if they deemed the clutch faulty would they pick up the tab I decided not to go down this "avenue" but now, out of warranty, and 22,000 on the clock, the problem has returned with avengence
The problem might well be these "link arms" but surely they should last for more than 10000 odd miles especially on a vehicle that is never taken "off road" so should the problem be these link arms does anyone know if there is a redesigned / tougher unit manufactured or can someone give me "chapter and verse" on how to resolvethis problem.
Graham G

 

I'm not 100% sure what you mean by judder, but if you mean the clutch pedal pulsates it sound like you warped your fly wheel or pressure plate. I don't know if the fly wheel is machinable but the pressure plate and clutch should be replaced as a pair.

 

Thanks for your input Jamesthe warped flywheel clutch plate/coverhad crossed my mind however living on the other side of the "pond" where stick shifts have been, and still are, more common place I have never experienced a clutch with this type of problem being intermittent
As old age has crept up on me and I have to rely on my local garage to carry out this type of work it is alot of money to spend if it that aintthe problem(approx $8/900 )
Obviously, by the lack of replies, it is not a common problem so it looks as if I am just going to have to throw money at it and then part with "big blue"

 

Less than 2 years ago my 2003 Tribute problems with shuddering or chattering on takeoff and frequently going into 2nd and 3rd gear. Since it as still under warranty I took it to the dealer. Claimed it was a bad pressure plate and throwout bearing, and I think they may have claimed to havemachined the flywheel. Now the problem is starting up again, with less than 15K miles since the repair. Less than 60K miles total and I am already having clutch problems for the second time. Has anyone heard of there being design problems or defects in the Tribute or Ford Escape clutches?

 

Hi -

I, too, have experienced this clutch judder (shudder or stuttering) on my 2004 Mazda Tribute DX 4 cyl / 5-speed manual. It happened when going from 0-10 mph and was worse on slight inclines. Surprisingly, it only seemed to occur on 50% of the starts from stop. This began occurring (to the best of my wife and my recollection) sometime in the 20-30,000 mile area. We thought it was just an oddity with the clutch/gas give-and-take, but after a while, no matter how much gas we gave it, we would experience the judder. We finally took it in at ~38,000 miles and the local dealership did some work down in the clutch area (I had to lift my foot much higher in the vehicle to press the clutch ) that they classified as warranty, but the problem returned within a few days.

After bringing it in again, they replaced the clutch assembly (cost was $1,000: ~$300 for parts and ~$700 labor) and saved the part for me. The problem turned out to be two broken damper springs on the clutch plate(?). I think it's important to note that each damper spring appears to actually be two springs, with one small springon the interior of a larger one. The large springs were fine. The interior springs were the ones that were broken. There was no evidence of abnormal clutch plate friction material wear and tear (and hence no evidence of aggressive driving or riding the clutch). The was some evidence of higher than normal heat on the (forgive me because I don't know the name of it) metal piece of the clutch plate immediately behind the friction lining.

Of course, since clutch assemblies are warranted only to 12,000 miles, the dealership that did the work refused to even argue that this should be covered under warranty. After conferring with the Mazda Customer phone representative, I took it to a completely different Mazda dealer for their (hopefully) independent opinion. This second dealer took a look at the damper springs and immediately said "defective part...those springs should never break without additional evidence of serious abuse on the friction liningor assembly, in general...the overheating is likely a result of you driving the vehicle with the judder for so long".

I was then able to meet with the district customer support manager. Basically, he took one look at the back of the vehicle, saw that I had a trailer hitch and decided that this was a result of "heavy loading". Despite talking with him for another 10 minutes about this, he just wasn't going to budge. I talked with my wife later that night about how much we had used the Tribute to tow anything. We came up with4 times all of them involving either putting in (2 times) or taking out (2 times) her father's 15-foot ski boat and pulling it for less than two miles each way to their winter storage location.

So, I have to say that I'm extremely disappointed that Mazda is taking this stance. It appears (from various forums) that there is a small section of Escape/Tribute 5-speed vehicle owners that have experienced similar issues with juddering (although I haven't seen anyone else that has traced it to those interior damper springs) which leads me to believe that there is either something wrong with the way this small group of people are using their vehicles, or else there is something wrong with the assembly. I suppose that only Mazda / Ford knows the true number of clutch assemblies that have had to be replaced and at what mileage, but I suspect that only a handful of us are irritated by it enough to ask additional questions. So, I'd speculate that if someone at Mazda / Ford looked at those numbers, they just might see a pattern.

(Just to get this off my chest...) I do have to do say though that I'm not exactly thrilled that the final decision on this came from a customer support manager rather than an expert in the area of clutch assemblies. In fact, my first question to the customer support manager was "how many of these clutch assemblies for my particular vehicle type have you seen before?" His response was "...none for a DX 4 cyl/5 speed, but I've looked at similar ones...". I'd have hoped his answer to be, "I've seen a few" or even better "I brought a new one with me to compare for you..."

Anyhow, my question to the forum is:
1) Is it possible that Mazda / Ford have used a clutch assembly that is insufficient for what most people would consider normal usage of the vehicle?
2) Are there more people who have had this issue that are not talking about it?
3) Has anyone else had success in pursuing issues beyond the district manager? And how did you do it?

Thanks in advance for any comments/answers!