Clutch slip or clutch fry (which one did I encounter yesterday?)

Yesterday I was sitting in stop and go traffic for about an hour and fifteen minutes going to the giants game (which they won, all hail Tiki Barber!) I was trying to be very gentle on the clutch, but after about an hour, the car started stuttering when I started from a stop, and I could hear this weird rattling sound from near the front of the carr. There wasn't much I could do but keep driving till I got to a spot, as I was in the middle of a line of hundreds of cars, and it got progressively worse until I parked. The car reaks of burnt clutch now. When I left about 4 horus later, the car seemed to be driving fine, but I took it really easy on her anyway. I've driven manual since I learned how to drive (all of my family members owned stickshift cars), and I've never had any clutch problems whatsoever, so I don't think it is my driving. Is this just another example of the less than stellar suby clutch? Sorry for the long post guys.

I am thinking it's just a non-stellar clutch. I've noticed a little clutch smell lately too from hours of stop and go traffic this week. Took 2 hours to get home on Thursday, and I didn't leave 1st gear for over a half hour. I try to just leave more room between myself and the car in front of me so I can just idle slowly in first and not use the clutch as often.

It's hard to say what happened, but if it feels alright now, and doesn't slip (say when accelerating hard from 2nd or 3rd), then you're probably okay and the smell you had could have been clutch--as long as you didn't glaze the material, you should be good to keep going.

 

I definitely hate stop'n go with manually trannies. Especially when you're inching along and can't just keep at a crawl in gear. Traffic behind, all with auto trannies, just don't have sympathy when you sit there and allow a gap to build.

Yeh, when you've fried a clutch you most likely won't hear anything but mad revvs from the engine with no acceleration when you shift. Plus, it gets progessively worse over time, not slip-today-fine-tomorrow.

 

At least that's been my experience with worn out clutches

Thanks for the responses guys. Yeah, it was definitely clutch i smelled. When I first got the car, I had the clutch smell issue that a lot of people have complained about, and this was just a more extreme version. Oh well, I guess I'll just bring it to the dealer if I encounter any problems with it.

Thanks for the responses guys. Yeah, it was definitely clutch i smelled. When I first got the car, I had the clutch smell issue that a lot of people have complained about, and this was just a more extreme version. Oh well, I guess I'll just bring it to the dealer if I encounter any problems with it.

 

This has happened to me a bunch of times too... Very annoying and embarrassing with passengers. I can't wait for a real clutch to come out for our cars.

I wonder if the excess smell (compared to other manual cars) equals more wear, of if it simply smells more whne it heats up...

 

I wonder the same thing, since my clutch seems fine after it cools. I mean, I'm never launching more than 1.5K while in traffic. Plus, our cabins seem to let in a lot of outside smells.

drive like the truckers do. Let a large enough space in front of you that you can leave it in gear and idle along. Yes, an asshat here and there will jump in the space, but for the most part it's much easier on you and the car.

Hmmm.... I don't see the clutch smell as anything unusual. I have driven maual camrys, BMWs and Trans Ams and they all go stinko when you're overlapping like crazy. The LGT revvs so quickly and has so much power when the turbo kicks in -- combined with the fact that you have to revv it to get into the power band = hot clutch.

 

I've had all of my cars generate a good bit of stink in stop-n-go... that friction has to go somewhere!

 

My personal favorite is driving my LGT really hard and coming to a short stop in my driveway... and getting out to the combined smells of burning clutch, brakes and tires - yummy!!

to visualize for those who don't know the smell too well, urinate after eating asparagus. LOL. It's pretty much identical.

 

if you're in stop and go traffic, why bother to his the acceleration?

just leave it in first gear and ease off the clutch, and the car was edge forward.

It'll be definitely slower than other cars, but you'll catch up sooner or later. It'll be easier for you to move along, as well as easier on the car, esp. the clutch.

to visualize for those who don't know the smell too well, urinate after eating asparagus. LOL. It's pretty much identical.

 

if you're in stop and go traffic, why bother to his the acceleration?

just leave it in first gear and ease off the clutch, and the car was edge forward.

It'll be definitely slower than other cars, but you'll catch up sooner or later. It'll be easier for you to move along, as well as easier on the car, esp. the clutch.

 

sometimes boston traffic is so bad you move like 10 feet per minute. sucks

drive like the truckers do. Let a large enough space in front of you that you can leave it in gear and idle along. Yes, an asshat here and there will jump in the space, but for the most part it's much easier on you and the car.

Sometimes this works out for me, other times cars fill it up and immediately after traffic stops and so do I. I was driving along 95 outside of boston (I think that was the road) as I was headed to Manchester By the Sea this past summer and that was the only time where I could stay in gear and keep a gap without having people jump in to it.

 

Surprised me considering that was Mass after all.

I didn't know you could just ease off the clutch and move forward without the accelerator, I'll have to try that. Our old S4 had that feature and it was pretty cool. The smell sucks, but my bigger concern really was the stuttering and hesitation that came with the smell. It was almost like I was trying to do a high rpm launch without actually doing one, but just starting off normally. Like all 4 wheels were about to chirp. Really weird

I didn't know you could just ease off the clutch and move forward without the accelerator, I'll have to try that. Our old S4 had that feature and it was pretty cool. The smell sucks, but my bigger concern really was the stuttering and hesitation that came with the smell. It was almost like I was trying to do a high rpm launch without actually doing one, but just starting off normally. Like all 4 wheels were about to chirp. Really weird

 

And you say you've been driving manual for a long time? Anyway I've been having similar issues with my clutch now after 18,000 miles. I hav to give the car gas now with the ckutch just to get it moving. I took the car to the dealer a few weeks ago tohave it looked at but they said that it couldn't be duplicated of course. I won't be able to drive the car for another few weeks so I won't be able to test it out, hopefully when I can drive again it won't be doing this still, I'll have to wait and see I guess.

And you say you've been driving manual for a long time? Anyway I've been having similar issues with my clutch now after 18,000 miles. I hav to give the car gas now with the ckutch just to get it moving. I took the car to the dealer a few weeks ago tohave it looked at but they said that it couldn't be duplicated of course. I won't be able to drive the car for another few weeks so I won't be able to test it out, hopefully when I can drive again it won't be doing this still, I'll have to wait and see I guess.

 

Yeah, I learned on a 328ci 5 spd that was definitely more difficult to drive than the leg. I also had an Integra GSR for three years, and my pops has an e46 m3 6spd that i drove for about 6 months or so. I've never even smelled clutch burning except for maybe once or twice in the 328, and with this car, I smelled it all the time when I first got it. A lot of people complained about it though, so Ive been under the impression that it is just a defect or a weak clutch. Who knows though...

there should be no reason for stinkage if you don't slip the clutch.

There's barely any reason for you to slip.

I didn't know you could just ease off the clutch and move forward without the accelerator, I'll have to try that. Our old S4 had that feature and it was pretty cool. The smell sucks, but my bigger concern really was the stuttering and hesitation that came with the smell. It was almost like I was trying to do a high rpm launch without actually doing one, but just starting off normally. Like all 4 wheels were about to chirp. Really weird

 

Well, it's not a "feature" -- it's torque! My '94 Trans Am had enough torque to get moving at a pretty good clip w/o any throttle. My (POS) '92 Camry would die instantly if I tried that (read: NO torque)

my 95 integra GSR was able to do it, and that car had no torque till 7000 rpm. I think all cars are capable of doing it, just seems to be a matter of your left foot skills