How can I tell when my clutch starts to wear out and I need to get it
replaced? What are some signs that I should look for? Thanks in advance.
–
-Dan
==============================================================================
.—. .———–
/ \ __ / ——
+——————————————-+——/ / \( )/ —– +
| Name: Daniel Brian Fong | ////// ‘ \/ ` — |
| E-mail: ea…@cats.ucsc.edu | //// / // : : — |
| Nick: Fungus | // / / /` ’– |
| Car: *** ’88 Acura Integra LS *** | // //..\\ |
+——————————————-+————-UU—-UU———+
‘//||\\`
==============================================================================
—
-Dan
==============================================================================
.—. .———–
/ \ __ / ——
+——————————————-+——/ / \( )/ —– +
| Name: Daniel Brian Fong | ////// ‘ \/ ` — |
| E-mail: ea…@cats.ucsc.edu | //// / // : : — |
| Nick: Fungus | // / / /` ’– |
In article <31kt08$…@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> ea…@cats.ucsc.edu (Daniel Brian Fong) writes:
}
}How can I tell when my clutch starts to wear out and I need to get it
}replaced? What are some signs that I should look for? Thanks in advance.
My Tercel started by "racing" in fourth gear. About 100 miles later,
I noticed that I seemed to have trouble getting up hills, and that the
temperature had risen slightly. Then, after making it up one big
hill with problems, I noticed that I couldn’t get the car to go at all
in fourth– the problem got quickly worse, and I ended up just barely
making it home, in 2nd gear, stopping at the top of every hill to let
the engine cool off. I did manage to drive it to the shop, in 1st
gear. The guys at the shop say it failed completely while they were
trying to get it from the parking lot into the service bay.
–
Matthew T. Russotto russo…@eng.umd.edu
Some news readers expect "Disclaimer:" here.
Just say NO to police searches and seizures. Make them use force.
(not responsible for bodily harm resulting from following above advice)
ea…@cats.ucsc.edu (Daniel Brian Fong) writes:
> How can I tell when my clutch starts to wear out and I
> need to get it replaced? What are some signs that I
> should look for?
If a clutch is worn out, it’ll start slipping when you
engage a gear — particularly first gear, since that’s
the one that carries the heaviest load due to your car’s
accelerating from a stop. In extreme cases, you can floor
the accelerator once the clutch is fully engaged and the
engine will break loose from the rest of the drivetrain,
accelerating out of proportion to the car’s motion. Not
pretty.
I found out about this when I made the mistake of letting
my then-16-year-old brother, AKA "Mr. I-Know-How-To-Do-Everything,"
drive my Toyota pickup onto a set of ramps for an oil change
one day.
Geoff
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Geoff Miller + + + + + + + + Sun Microsystems
geo…@purplehaze.Corp.Sun.COM + + + + + + + + Menlo Park, California
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Matthew T. Russotto (russo…@eng.umd.edu) wrote:
: In article <31kt08$…@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> ea…@cats.ucsc.edu (Daniel Brian Fong) writes:
: }
: }How can I tell when my clutch starts to wear out and I need to get it
: }replaced? What are some signs that I should look for? Thanks in advance.
: My Tercel started by "racing" in fourth gear. About 100 miles later,
: I noticed that I seemed to have trouble getting up hills, and that the
: temperature had risen slightly. Then, after making it up one big
: hill with problems, I noticed that I couldn’t get the car to go at all
: in fourth– the problem got quickly worse, and I ended up just barely
: making it home, in 2nd gear, stopping at the top of every hill to let
: the engine cool off. I did manage to drive it to the shop, in 1st
: gear. The guys at the shop say it failed completely while they were
: trying to get it from the parking lot into the service bay.
The problem with waiting this long is that now you probably have to have a new
pressure plate, rather than just having to have it re-surfaced. Not to mention
the risk of catastrophic failure that could cause other damage.
Russ Poffenberger DOMAIN: pof…@San-Jose.ate.slb.com
Schlumberger Technologies ATE UUCP: {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!poffen
1601 Technology Drive CIS: 72401,276
San Jose, Ca. 95110 Voice: (408)437-5254 FAX: (408)437-5246
In article <31mg77$…@k2.San-Jose.ate.slb.com> pof…@San-Jose.ate.slb.com (Russ Poffenberger) writes:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
}Matthew T. Russotto (russo…@eng.umd.edu) wrote:
}: In article <31kt08$…@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> ea…@cats.ucsc.edu (Daniel Brian Fong) writes:
}: }
}: }How can I tell when my clutch starts to wear out and I need to get it
}: }replaced? What are some signs that I should look for? Thanks in advance.
}
}: My Tercel started by "racing" in fourth gear. About 100 miles later,
}: I noticed that I seemed to have trouble getting up hills, and that the
}: temperature had risen slightly. Then, after making it up one big
}: hill with problems, I noticed that I couldn’t get the car to go at all
}: in fourth– the problem got quickly worse, and I ended up just barely
}: making it home, in 2nd gear, stopping at the top of every hill to let
}: the engine cool off. I did manage to drive it to the shop, in 1st
}: gear. The guys at the shop say it failed completely while they were
}: trying to get it from the parking lot into the service bay.
}
}The problem with waiting this long is that now you probably have to have a new
}pressure plate, rather than just having to have it re-surfaced. Not to mention
}the risk of catastrophic failure that could cause other damage.
I didn’t notice the early signs except in retrospect, and the later
signs all occurred within one 40 mile trip. Quite a bit of the clutch
had to be replaced– it ran me about $300.
–
Matthew T. Russotto russo…@eng.umd.edu
Some news readers expect "Disclaimer:" here.
Just say NO to police searches and seizures. Make them use force.
(not responsible for bodily harm resulting from following above advice)
Russ Poffenberger (pof…@San-Jose.ate.slb.com) wrote:
: Matthew T. Russotto (russo…@eng.umd.edu) wrote:
: : }How can I tell when my clutch starts to wear out and I need to get it
: : }replaced? What are some signs that I should look for? Thanks in advance.
. . .
: : hill with problems, I noticed that I couldn’t get the car to go at all
: : in fourth– the problem got quickly worse, and I ended up just barely
: : making it home, in 2nd gear, stopping at the top of every hill to let
: : the engine cool off. I did manage to drive it to the shop, in 1st
: : gear. The guys at the shop say it failed completely while they were
: : trying to get it from the parking lot into the service bay.
: The problem with waiting this long is that now you probably have to
: have a new pressure plate, rather than just having to have it
: re-surfaced. Not to mention the risk of catastrophic failure that
: could cause other damage.
OK, so what SHOULD he have done? That was, after all, the
original question! How do you tell when your clutch is on
its last legs BEFORE you find out the hard way? I’d like to
know, too, because I’ve asked several mechanics, including the
service manager at my local VW shop and I’ve never gotten a
clear answer. I have a ’84 Rabbit GTI with 89,000 miles and
I’m afraid of taking it up to the hills (people in the east
here call them "mountains") in New Hampshire for fear of
having my clutch go.
—peter
Peter Nelson (pnel…@world.std.com) wrote:
: OK, so what SHOULD he have done? That was, after all, the
: original question! How do you tell when your clutch is on
: its last legs BEFORE you find out the hard way? I’d like to
: know, too, because I’ve asked several mechanics, including the
: service manager at my local VW shop and I’ve never gotten a
: clear answer. I have a ’84 Rabbit GTI with 89,000 miles and
: I’m afraid of taking it up to the hills (people in the east
: here call them "mountains") in New Hampshire for fear of
: having my clutch go.
I’ve noticed that as a clutch starts to go, for one reason or another,
it gets difficult to shift into the first gear. I can usally get it into
first by putting it into second, and then into first. Weird. I’ve seen
it on my ex-car (86 Accord), and on two of my friends cars (84 GTI &
88 Celica).
Anyone else seen this or have an explanition?
Meng
—
\ ——————————————————————-
\(*)|\ W. Meng Soo | s…@bnr.ca
\ –_\o Bell Northern Research Ltd. | ’91 GTI 16V
\(*)! Ottawa, Canada | "Hakuna Matata" - The Lion King
\ ——————————————————————-
Wei Soo (s…@bmerh994.bnr.ca) wrote:
> I’ve noticed that as a clutch starts to go, for one reason or another,
> it gets difficult to shift into the first gear. I can usally get it into
> first by putting it into second, and then into first. Weird. I’ve seen
> it on my ex-car (86 Accord), and on two of my friends cars (84 GTI &
> 88 Celica).
> Anyone else seen this or have an explanition?
I just replaced the clutch in my 92 16v GTI, I had problems getting it
into 2nd and even more trouble getting it into reverse. You had to be
completely stopped for several seconds or it would give a little grind or
crunch as it went in. When it finally died I could only drive in 1st &
3rd and you had to turn the car off to put it into Reverse. Aside form
those signs it happened VERY suddenly. Replace all of your seals when you
do your clutch (i learned the hard way).
—
Brian Wicks A.K.S. Autocrossing, Kayaking, Soccer
bwgti16v.telerama.lm.com Keep the Faith
Robert Vellinga (velli…@tor.hookup.net) wrote:
: Peter Nelson (pnel…@world.std.com) wrote:
: >: know, too, because I’ve asked several mechanics, including the
: >: service manager at my local VW shop and I’ve never gotten a
: >: clear answer. I have a ’84 Rabbit GTI with 89,000 miles and
: >: I’m afraid of taking it up to the hills (people in the east
: >: here call them "mountains") in New Hampshire for fear of
: >: having my clutch go.
: A test that I used on my 1983 Mustang was:
: 1) Engage the clutch
: 2) Put the transmission into 2nd, 3rd or 4th
: 3) Release the clutch
: If the car stalls, good.
: If the car doesn’t stall or move, bad.
Someone else suggested this, too. But I’ve always wondered:
can a test like this shorten the life of said clutch?
—peter
Peter Nelson (pnel…@world.std.com) wrote:
>: OK, so what SHOULD he have done? That was, after all, the
>: original question! How do you tell when your clutch is on
>: its last legs BEFORE you find out the hard way? I’d like to
>: know, too, because I’ve asked several mechanics, including the
>: service manager at my local VW shop and I’ve never gotten a
>: clear answer. I have a ’84 Rabbit GTI with 89,000 miles and
>: I’m afraid of taking it up to the hills (people in the east
>: here call them "mountains") in New Hampshire for fear of
>: having my clutch go.
A test that I used on my 1983 Mustang was:
1) Engage the clutch
2) Put the transmission into 2nd, 3rd or 4th
3) Release the clutch
If the car stalls, good.
If the car doesn’t stall or move, bad.
Unfortunately, this was a few years back and I don’t remember the exact
amount life that I had left on the clutch after the test. But, I do recall
that it wasn’t much more than a couple weeks. Note that SW Ontario is
not that hilly or "mountainous".
Rob
Robert Vellinga (velli…@tor.hookup.net) wrote:
>: A test that I used on my 1983 Mustang was:
>: 1) Engage the clutch
>: 2) Put the transmission into 2nd, 3rd or 4th
>: 3) Release the clutch
>: If the car stalls, good.
>: If the car doesn’t stall or move, bad.
Peter Nelson (pnel…@world.std.com) replied:
> Someone else suggested this, too. But I’ve always wondered:
> can a test like this shorten the life of said clutch?
Potentially, yes, but it seems to be a valid test. But if your clutch is
gone to the point that you feel you should test it, what difference does a
week’s life on the clutch make.
Unless of course, you are a week’s drive from your mechanic or home.
Rob
I’m kinda looking for some free advice here; I hope someone can help.
I recently went on holiday with my mother’s car (vauxhall nova SR) and I
noticed one of the ominous burning smells every so often. It seemed to
happen without any regularity or common factors; the first time was
virtuall as soon as I’d got out of the garage and the second was after
about 350 miles of straight motorway driving.
I’m not sure if it actually was the clutch (I can’t recognise smells very
well) but there was one thing that suggested it might be. I can’t
guarantee that this is 100% accurate because I wasn’t paying that much
attention but here it is anyway.
The car usually revs at about 3k for 70 mph. However, when I was
overtaking someone I looked at the speedometer which said 75 mph and the
rev counter which said nearly 4.5k. It certainly *felt* quite fast which
was why I was surprised. I worked this out and I was either doing >100
mph (knackered speedo) or 75 (knackerd clutch!). The other point was that
I was going downhill at the time. I realise that at high speeds the force
on the clutch is far more but the downhill would compensate to an extent
I would have thought. There was no burning smell, either.
Comments appreciated! Fingers crossed it’s my speedo that’s gone…
replies via E-mail or group; I don’t really mind.
—
+——————-+————————————————-+
| /– |_| /– | (~ | "And the driving is like the driving of Jehu, |
| \– | | | | _) | the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously." |
+——————-+——————– Second Book of Kings 9 v20 -+
In article <31kt08$…@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>, ea…@cats.ucsc.edu (Daniel
Brian Fong) writes:
|>
|> How can I tell when my clutch starts to wear out and I need to get it
|> replaced? What are some signs that I should look for? Thanks in
|> advance.
|>
I just had my clutch replaced in my ’91 300ZXTT. Instead of the OEM
clutch, I decided
to go all the way with a Centerforce Dual Friction clutch. I’m very happy
with their
product as all the symptoms I was having seems to have disappeared,
slipping, dragging,
grabbing.
Centerforce also had a list of the most common clutch symptoms and their
possible causes included in their brochure:
Most common clutch symptoms:
1 Slipping
2 Grabbing
3 Chattering
4 Noisy
5 Squeaking
6 Drag (non-release or disengaged)
7 Bearing noise (released position or engaged)
Possible Causes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Worn/glazed disc facings X X X
Insufficient free pedal travel X
Grease/oil on disc facing X X X X
Improper linkage adj/worn X X X X
Weak/broken pressure springs X
Warped/grooved pressure plate X X X
Throwout bearing riding cover fingers X X
Pressure plate binding on stands X X
Clutch parts binding X X X X
Distorted clutch shaft X
Flattened/warped disk X
Bell housing misalignment X X
Facing dust in flywheel X X
Throwout bearing binding on sleeve X X
Bad motor mounts X
Worn fork X X
Worn throwout bearing X X
Uneven release leavers X X
Cracked/broken pressure plate X X
Insufficient pedal/bearing travel X X
Damaged transmission splines X
Cover flange distorted/bent X
Excessive disc run-out X
Center drive/pressure plate binding X X
Center drive plate springs weak/broken X
Pilot bearing worn/frozen to shaft X X
Loose release fork on ball or in groove X X
Worn splines in disk hub X X
Clutch shaft splines worn X
Throwout bearing sleeve dry/worn X X
Broken release yokes X
Pedal return spring ends/over-center X X
Pressure plate scrubbing drive slots/lugs X
Pilot bearing loose in crankshaft X
Bad front transmission bearing X
Throwout bearing not square on collar X
I’ve just posted the story about the clutch in my Civic’86
as another article.
With the new clutch, I felt two things are very different from
the old one:
- The hardness of the clutch padel.
With the new clutch, the clutch pedal is soft, don’t require
130 lb. For average man, if you are right-
much force to press it down. The pedal can be pushed by hand.
But with the old one, it is really hard even by foot. I can’t
tell how much force required, but I wasn’t able to push it by
hand without leaning my body weight against it. Well, I ain’t
physically strong
handed, maybe you can try with your left hand.
The hardness increases as the situation getting worse. It was
already pretty hard when I bought it 20 months ago. Two months
ago, it start with the difficult of shifting gears.
When I have the car checked by a mechanics in a dealership,
by simply driving the car for a few yard, he told me the clutch
must be replaced.
So I think the hardness is an indication. This is an early
indication. In my case, for the first 15 months, not noticeable
trouble with the clutch. But when the thing gets really bad,
I ended up replacing not only clutch, but also the pressure
plate and resurfacing the flywheel. Reflecting back, had I
replace it earlier, probably I can save the pressure plate.
As mentioned in my other post, when I replaced the clutch, the
mechanics found out that the welding spot on the arm that
supports the clutch pedal has become loose. The hardness of
the pedal may be the thing to blame.
- The transmission stick.
It is a big difference while it is hard to describe. With old
clutch, when switching, the stick sticks to place, feels like
with friction. When driving with gear, the stick can only
displace very little if you try to tickle the stick sideway.
With the new clutch, I feel the stick slides and clicks into
place when switching, like there is a very well lubricated
bearing. When driving with gear, the stick can swings a bigger
displacement if you tickle the stick sideway.
That is only my experience with the new and old clutch. I felt that
the difference is really big. But not sure whether all those
differences are the indications for the worn clutch. If the thing
is definitely to worn, change even one year earlier may not be a
bad idea if you are not financially different within this year.
As for climbing the hills, I felt no difficuly with moderate hill
even on the last trip with the old clutch. As I was told, the
removed old clutch "couldn’t be worse".
Well, I have an ’85 Honda CRX Si (which I just bought 2 weeks ago), and the
clutch is not all that difficult to operate. I don’t believe the dealer did
any work on the transmission at all. I’ll agree that it’s a bit harder to
operate than my mum’s ’92 Civic, but I’ve never considered it to be difficult
to operate. Then again, I have done quite a lot of bicycling and a bit of
martial arts, so I probably wouldn’t have a problem if it was difficult.
YMMV, I guess.
//Lucas.
>>: OK, so what SHOULD he have done? That was, after all, the
>>: original question! How do you tell when your clutch is on
>>: its last legs BEFORE you find out the hard way? I’d like to
>>: know, too, because I’ve asked several mechanics, including the
>>: service manager at my local VW shop and I’ve never gotten a
>>: clear answer. I have a ’84 Rabbit GTI with 89,000 miles and
>>: I’m afraid of taking it up to the hills (people in the east
>>: here call them "mountains") in New Hampshire for fear of
>>: having my clutch go.
I just noticed this thread, so forgive me if this has already been put
down. When I am testing the clutch on a car what I do is put it in
first gear, engage the gear and then let the car idle down the road for
a couple of seconds. Then I stomp on it. If the rpms shoot up briefly,
meaning the clutch is slipping the car needs some work. If the rpms
increase smoothly rather than shooting up and then falling again the car
is probably ok. This may not always work, its just what I’ve done…
Jim
Some cars have a self adjusting clutch. Inspecting the adjusting gear provides
an indication of how much clutch life remains.
I was taught (dont know if it is right) to go up a steep street
and put the car in 5th gear and see if the engine lugs. Just dont try this if
there are cars behind you. If the clutch is starting to slip you should
notice any slippage doing that, the RPM will go up and you arent going any
faster. Just dont lug your car for more than it takes you to find out if the
clutch is slipping…you should know fairly quickly.
you might just need to adjust the pedal. As the clutch wears thinner,
you must adjust it, else when the pedal is ‘up’ there is still some
space between the plates, and it can slip, causing a burning smell
and slippage. Of course if you wait long enough you will need a new
clutch….
stubbs
When you adjust the clutch (I hope you do this every few years at
least) you will notice a gradual movement of the arm on the transmission
that indicates the clutch plate is getting thinner. On at least one
motorcycle I’ve owned there was a mark on the transmission indicating
a point where the clutch should be relined. This is for cable operated
clutches, I dont think this is possible for a hydraulic clutch.
stubbs
In article <31riot$…@bmerha64.bnr.ca>, <s…@bmerh994.bnr.ca> writes:
> Path:
> I’ve noticed that as a clutch starts to go, for one reason or another,
> it gets difficult to shift into the first gear. I can usally get it into
> first by putting it into second, and then into first. Weird. I’ve seen
> it on my ex-car (86 Accord), and on two of my friends cars (84 GTI &
> 88 Celica).
> Anyone else seen this or have an explanition?
I drove an Alfa for a while and found that the "hard to shift into first"
syndrome was more a function of the condition of the synchros. The first gear
synchros take more of a beating than the others, it seems, or maybe alfa had
bad ones on first gear, it was, after all italian.
I have found that when a clutch starts to really go it usually will give
somewarning. If you find it slipping when accelerating hard, and it is
adjusted properly the clutch is on it’s last legs. I have alos found it will
slip if you try to acccelerate on a hill, or even maintain your speed. If the
tach and the speedo seem to be out of synch, like a tach will float around in
an automatic, this tells you it is slipping.
Usually if the clutch goes suddenly, as in the pedal suddenly is not doing
anything, it is usually more a factor of something else going. THis is often
the cable or the hydraulics, depending on the particular vehicle.
Jim Kastenholz
Daniel Brian Fong (ea…@cats.ucsc.edu) wrote:
: How can I tell when my clutch starts to wear out and I need to get it
: replaced? What are some signs that I should look for? Thanks in advance.
The first sign (before the clutch slipping) is depressing the clutch to
the floorboard. If it feels extremely heavy, you’ll know that the
clutch is about to go.
–
==========================================================
| FUN JIN LIM |
| . Information Systems and Operations Management – IT |
| . Management – management |
==========================================================
In article <3286mn$…@bruce.uncg.edu>, lim…@hamlet.uncg.edu (Funj) writes:
> Daniel Brian Fong (ea…@cats.ucsc.edu) wrote:
> : How can I tell when my clutch starts to wear out and I need to get it
> : replaced? What are some signs that I should look for? Thanks in advance.
It seems to me there are two kinds of clutch failure…
1) the clutch will not disengage…
Usually things like bad worn master or slave cylinders, etc.
Don’t worry about catching these early… just fix it the first time it
happens.
2) the clutch will not full engage… it slips.
Usually it won’t just fail all at once and you will have some time to
get it fixed.
To answer your question, as long as it seems to be functioning normally,
leave it alone. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. When if starts to
function abnormally, find out why and get it fixed.
dsc
Dudley Cornman – Systems Programmer
Academic Computing Services
Eastern Ky. University
Richmond, KY 40475-3111
(606) 622-1986