First let me state clearly -- though it will be obvious from my posting -- that I am completely ignorant in all relevant areas here. Ahh, that feels better. Now, ...

I have a 1995 850 5-speed Wagon. Love(d) it. I took it in recently to my mechanic, with whom I've generally been quite happy over the years. The car needed replacement of the driver-side seat belt as well as the hand-brake assembly, down to the base bracket.

I ordered and took delivery of the parts, and the mechanic did the real work. But as soon as I took the car from the shop, I began hearing a scraping or grinding sound when the car was idling -- a sound that would stop whenever the clutch pedal was lightly depressed. In addition, when releasing the clutch upon changing gears, the pedal would come up with a tremor. (At first I thought it was a twitch in my left leg, but it was only on this car and only when releasing the clutch pedal.)

I immediately called the mechanic, who stated categorically that none of the recent work had been anywhere near the clutch apparatus, so any problems were a mere coincidence. (I hate when that happens!) Of course, to make things worse, he showed me the schematics of the clutch assembly -- hydraulic, rather than a simple cable, etc. -- and xplained that the repair was a major effort involving engine removal. (I have verified this elsewhere.) In short, at least a $1500 job. On the other hand, he said, while the clutch will deteriorate slowly over time in this state, I'd still have a good number of months on it.

Well, wouldn't you know it. The clutch died completely within a few weeks -- of very little driving, yet. The first problem occurred when I was about 40 minutes from home, when I was unable to move into gear after a stop light. Somehow after about three agonizing minutes blocking traffic, however, it magically made it into gear. From that point on, I kept the driving to within town. And the next issue, apparently more permanent, was a mere mile from the shop. The car is still sitting there, with the mechanic still standing by his story: "Nothing that I did. And remember, I did say that it would go eventually."

So, in short (yes, it's about time), is there anything that the mechanic could conceivably have done, inadvertantly, to damage the clutch system while performing the more routine maintenance described above? And is there then anything he can look at to confirm his error as the primary cause of the problem (e.g., nicked tube or something)? I'm assuming he's honest here, in that he truly doesn't think his team could have caused this problem. And I'm sure he doesn't want to -- nor should he have to -- cover something that's not his doing. I know that things can happen in older cars, and that they will always occur between repairs, often seeming to be just afterwards. But in this case, there was no sound/sensation before the work (and I'm generally pretty perceptive about these things), and then it was quite pronounced even driving it out of the shop. A bit too coincidental, Im afraid.

Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks!