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Clutch Messed Up!

atmmac

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 3, 2003
Messages
751
Location
Hanover, Massachusetts
Corvette
1997 Black Corvette
Ok so im going down the street and pull up to this kid who i wanna race. I put in the clutch and give him a rev. Light turns green i floor it. the car is barely moving and i look down at the tach im bouncing off the limiter. I shift when i see this right away. Now all i can smell is clutch. The car drives perfectly and shifts nice and smooth and it has never had any problems before. I have 19,000 miles on her. Im very nervous about this because i have no cash at all. What would cause this and do you think it ruined my clutch. It was only about 5-10 seconds.

Thanks for the help!
-Andy
 
So, am I understanding correctly now that the clutch is totally fried? Clutches are like that though. Everything works and works and works and then it seems that after you breech that threshold, wammo .... no more clutch. Do you race often? If so then 19,000 isn't too bad. If you don't though it is a little soon for a clutch to need replacing...
 
No the clutch seems fine and i have never been to the strip. I was just wondering if i should be worrying about anything breaking. I have never burned the lucth on this car before.
 
Oh, so you are saying that now that you are driving you are smelling clutch? Well, I wouldn't worry 'bout it. Its just the extra dust that is burning off and stuff.... at least that is my opinion. Others will probably post some opinions too!
 
oh ok good. It seems to be shifting better than before so who knows makes me feel better though.
 
atmmac,
Try the same thing. Go somewhere and pretend race. Floor it! If the clutch slips again, it is gone. You can probably drive it around for a while going easy on the power.

I have an A4 that I have redlined just about everyday for four years with no bad effect, but I know three guys with MN6's that replace their clutches once a year. I know two guys with MN6's that haven't replaced their clutches in 2-3 years.

Driving technique has a lot to do with it. Even if you never exceed 3,000 RPM, you can ruin a clutch with bad technique.
 
Are you sure the clutch was slipping? It sounds like you may have been spinning your rear tires and the smell was burning rubber. :D
 
pretty sure it was clutch. Its definetly not slipping though ive been flooring it all the time now just to make sure.
 
I'd say you smoked the clutch. You've most likely glazed the flywheel and the only cure is to replace the clutch and resurface the flywheel. I did this in my Jeep while I was out muddin' one day. I was stuck and gettin on it hard when I smoked it and could smell the clutch disk (along with some smoke coming out). After I got out, the clutch would work under normal operating conditions but I knew that if I got on it again I would be in the same boat as before. You can confirm this by getting on it again and seeing if the problem repeats itself but be aware that you might toast it so much that you have no clutch at all.
 
Fick said:
Are you sure the clutch was slipping? It sounds like you may have been spinning your rear tires and the smell was burning rubber. :D
Surely he could distinguish between spinning tires and a slipping clutch!
 

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