Intermittent free-pedalling and free hub replacement

[assarabbiya]

Good evening guys -
Seeing that the hills of my commute is too much for my 21 gear Avanti, I bought a old-ish 2008 Giant Farrago with 27 Deore gears.
It was all good until one day the pedal seemed disengaged from the rear wheel (i.e. me pedaling, rear wheel not turning) as I was sprinting away from a red light, resulting in rather embarrassing and painful sight..
I initially thought the chain was slipping but I later found out I could not hear the clicking sounds as the wheel free spins, pointing towards problems in the freewheel / free hub.
I'm NOT an expert in bicycle mechanics in any way, but am I guessing the source of the problem correctly?
Does anyone have any experience in getting this fixed at any LBS? how much did it cost?

Thanks for reading through -

[Stuey]

Very easy fix. A new freehub takes about 1/2hr to fit. Probably cost about $80 fitted by an LBS, for a basic Shimano freehub + labour. It's probably not worth repairing the old one even if you could.

[assarabbiya]

Thank you Stuey - I should just take it to LBS then, I found some stuff online saying drenching the freehub in WD40 and what not..
Thanks again-

[Stuey]

It could be just a lubrication problem where the WD40 trick might work, but commonly the pawls (ratchet parts) inside come adrift. Have a go at the WD40 trick to see - doesn't cost much.

[ironhanglider]

It could be just a lubrication problem where the WD40 trick might work, but commonly the pawls (ratchet parts) inside come adrift. Have a go at the WD40 trick to see - doesn't cost much.

+1 Do the easy and cheap things first. If it works then you're ahead, if not then you haven't lost much out of the exercise.

Cheers,

Cameron