2021 MT with 38K dealer says I need new short block?

My 2021 OR MT started leaking at the rear main seal really badly. Took it in to the dealer to have them repair under warranty thinking it was odd with only 38,000 miles. Today I get a call from the service guy and claims the reason for the leak is that holding the clutch and leaving it in gear at red lights has warn down the engine block to the point where they cannot repair the rear main and that I need a new engine. He said they were reaching out to corporate to try and get them to cover the repairs under warranty but would not grantee they would, indicating that it was my fault. I have been driving manuals my whole life and never heard of such a thing. I normally pop it out of gear sitting at a light, who wants to hold down a clutch sitting waiting for the green. Does this make any sense, any ideas how I should deal with the dealer?
Thanks!

 

That sounds like pure nonsense to me.

 

Apples to oranges but I have 95K miles on my manual 2019 WRX and zero oil leaks from simply using my clutch.

Sounds like a complete load of bogus to me, using the clutch damaged the block???

 

Just when I think I have heard it all! Wow!

Thank God for forums! I think almost everyone here will call total BS on that.

Time to find a honest mechanic.

 

Have a nice conversation with the General Manager, where you imply that you're sympathetic because he can only hire @#$%ing morons. Further, give him or her your assurances that you'd be perfectly happy to settle everything at their level, but any stalling will have you unload the burning dogs of war on corporate, social media, and the courts if need be. (Okay, don't tell them the last part yet.)

 

That is not that far fetched of a reason for a problem, IF the clutch is indeed held at lights. It shouldn’t be a problem if you don’t hold it at lights. But what happens is the pressure from the clutch can wear out the thrust bearing and usually if that happens the block doesn’t live through it very well. I would think at that mileage it was a faulty block/thrust bearing before I’d blame how much the driver uses the clutch. 38K shouldn’t have enough clutch time to really matter either way.

 

I've seen bad throw-out bearings, and I've seen worn-out thrust bearings but I've never heard of pushing in the clutch too long causing an oil leak. Unless the trust play was so excessive its bending the lip of the rear crank seal but at that point I feel the whole thrust bearing would be gone. At 38k I believe there's nothing you can do to create a leak like that, especially considering the clutch throwout bearing and pressure plate are fine indicating proper clutch use.

 

What? That isn't something I've ever seen or heard.

Manual transmissions can wear the thrust bearings in the engine with repeated engagement of the clutch.
Even worse if you dump the clutch or drop the pedal hard between shifts.
That's only way I can see the the rear main bearing wearing????

 

Flag on the play. BS flag. Take it to someone else.

 

I mean I'd wait and see. If they give you a free engine it's no biggie. If they don't cover it take it somewhere else.

 

A short block is a LOT of labor hours.
The dealership doesn't make a lot on warranty work.
The technician makes even less.

Implying you're at fault sets you up taking on some of the "expense".
May the difference in book hour/warranty hours?

Am I saying this is what is happening? NO....not at all.
I don't know what is worn, or how it was worn.
But I can't see how the damage occurred by their explanation.
I'd be wanting a better explanation of what occurred, and exactly how I caused it.

 

So as stated above, holding the clutch (or overheating an automatic which will balloon the torque converter) can ruin the thrust bearing. However, typically if it's that bad the engine wouldn't crank with the clutch depressed, the engine might stall when you step on the clutch, it'll be hard to shift, both your main seals will be leaking, among a few things...The last generation corvettes were bad for thrust bearings.

A big oil leak alone though I don't feel is your thrust bearing being worn. It's possible and i'm not looking at the engine so who knows. Maybe they're right and we're all wrong but I feel maybe they're over analyzing and this one should just get chalked up to "freak accident" unless something more obvious pops up

 

Your dealer's second business is sucking septic tanks and I think they forgot what business was what.

TOTAL BS.

Can you find another dealer? They'd probably get a Yota engine, toss in a quickie rear main seal and make themselves a new engine sale to someone else and XXX hours from yota to boot to ''install it.''

 

Honestly I think I was so caught off guard and upset that I didn’t push harder for a better explanation. Tomorrow for sure!

 

Is the name of the thread, "bad engine"? I searched and did not see it but I would love to read it!

 

what’s the name of this dealer? They’re smoking crack people who need to know who these idiots are

there’s absolutely no part that could cause this kind of issue. Nothing with a clutch could get to the point and contact the rear main seal area. It’s physically mechanically impossible this year stupidity of this idea is until now unimaginable