Clutch vibration/Hopping

[vividwolf]

Hello folks,

Just discovered in the last week that I have a problem in the mornings with my clutch. It seems to be vibrating/hopping for the first 5 minutes of driving each morning. It stops once it warms up. It is starting to freak me out a bit. I talked to the dealer and they were no help. I saw there was a post on here before about this, but seems to be no progress was made on the issue. Just wondering if anyone has had any luck solving this???? Please Help!!!:mad:

 

[banned bandit]

ya i ocasionaly get that...but my parents tercel did the same thing...

i have a remote starter so my car is usualy warmed up when i get in it

 

[Red Racer]

I have the same problem with my P5. It's not just in the morning it's anytime of the day. I figured that I'm not giving the car enough rev before I let the clutch out, or maybe I'm letting the clutch out far enough. Almost like the clutch isn't completely at it's catch point. I don't think there is anything wrong with the car. Push the clutch in and give it more gas then let out the clutch next time it happens and see what happens. Remember these cars have 4:11 gears in them so they will be a little touchy.

 

[vividwolf]

There is definitely something wrong, i have tried many dif. combinations to fix this. It only seems to go away after the car warms up. This can't be good for the car.

 

[Kenp1972]

If you're talking about the car jerking a bit when you let out the clutch when it's cold.....I have the same thing. It appears to be normal. Until the car warms up the computer raises the idle. Mine idles at between 1200 to 1500 rpms for a little while till the engine starts to warm up. Normal idle is around 700 rpms or so. That higher idle is going to make it a bit jumpy when you let out the clutch until it warms up and settles down.

 

[sttl013]

There's actually a combination of things that cause this "shuddering" (I use that term lightly since there have been a few times I thought the engine would shake itself out of the car).

First of all, the ECU is programmed really bad to create the sense of ULEV that everyone loves so much. What this causes is a hesitation: when you let the clutch out and the RPM's drop, once they get below like 1300, and that's just a number for an example, there's almost a "miss" for a quick instant. Once the engine reaches operating temperature, however, the ECU changes it's setting and this "miss" pretty much kinda goes away.

The second part I've noticed is that our cars have engine mounts that must be made out of pudding. I was watching under my hood the other day while a friend started my car, and the engine had so much back and forth movement, I thought it was gonna smack the firewall.

So we combine these 2 factors, and as we accellerate (sp?) the engine draws back on the pudding engine mounts, then a hestiation, shooting the engine forward, and then power again, and now the engine's going berserk bouncing around on the mounts.
Most of us have found a temporary solution to this, by slightly revving up the RPM's when it's cold, not allowing the rev's to drop low enough to "pause", although this can't be healthy either. But it keeps the running smooth, and until Mazda decides to design better mounts and come up with a better program for our ECU, this is what we get.

And please remember that I'm no expert, that these are my observations, theories, and opinions. So don't go taking this to Mazda saying "This guy Mark said I need my motor mounts replaced and my ECU retuned".

 

[blynzoo]

sttl, you're absolutely right.
There was another thread with someone here complaining of the same thing (i think it's closed now). The higher revs from the cold motor and the "pudding" (I like that, good word to describe it) motor mounts are indeed the culprit. You just have to engage the clutch more slowly until it warms up. Better to wear through a clutch through slow engagement than to make your motor commit suicide through jumping. Powertrain jump like our cars do when cold is MURDER on the engine.
When I take my motor out soon, I'm gonna put in the AWR mounts. HUGE difference.

 

[sttl013]

What does "stiffer" mounts do to the car? Harsher torque steer or anyhing like that? If I knew what the side effects would be, I might be interested in the AWR mounts.

 

[blynzoo]

What does "stiffer" mounts do to the car? Harsher torque steer or anyhing like that? If I knew what the side effects would be, I might be interested in the AWR mounts.

few folks already have them installed, of course I cant remember who. search for the thread "AWR Motor mounts"
The only negative (in my humble opinion) is the transfer of more vibration to the steering wheel and to a lesser degree the chassy and unibody. But I personally LIKE that feeling, so there are no downsides to me. Torque steer is not an issue. This is a must-have mod, IMO, I just dont have the scrilla yet to get it. ESPECIALLY if you ever pop the clutch, or race the car often. Hell, even if you dont, it will extend powertrain life.