[grantp]

When you wrote that the garage replaced the clutch - was that ALL of it or just the pressure friction plate?

Many years ago I had a Ford Sierra that, from time to time about every 20k miles would start to become very difficult to get into first gear. I was doing quite a few miles in those days. From memeory the first occurrence resulted in a "clutch change" under warrant. It was a company provided car so I did not pay too much attention to the details of the work done.

At about 80+K miles and the 4th instance of the problem a gearbox fault was "identified" and a reconditioned gearbox was fitted (by then it was an old car and my mileage had reduced considerably.) When the car came back it was worse than before the box swap. However clutchless changes seemed to be ok still.

I asked if they had fitted a new clutch. They said they had fitted a new friction plate, but not the pressure plate. I suggested that they fit a new pressure plate and a new friction plate. It transpired that the pressure plate was the original, not even changed during the early warranty work, and it was faulty.

For various reasons I ended up buying the car and ran it for about another 30k miles with no gearbox or clutch problems at all, despite my continued practice of clutchless gear changes - just in case I even needed them again!

 

[grantp]

You mention the car is under warranty.

Original Kia warranty or Used car third party?

Either way it would be wise to ensure that, if you do get the clutch replacement work re-done, the warranty is not negatively affected in any way. Especially if it is the Kia warranty.