Clutch is dead

[t3ase]

Yup. I was heading up to Walmart tonight and noticed that the clutch was slipping. Bad enough to the point of when you completely left off of the clutch with gas floored, the RPM's shot to redline and the car barely moved. Funny thing is that, not even two hours ago, I drove up to the store without a problem.

However, there's something that may or may not tie into this. Before, when I had the car off and I pressed in the clutch, it made a noticable squeaking noise. Kinda like it was somewhat dry. I had the dealership check in to it and they ordered a new clutch. They called while I was out of town, so I don't now if they have the clutch in now or not... Blah.

I cannot believe this. 10,500 miles and the clutch is already screwing up. Maybe if I b**** enough, they'll give me a clutch spring from a 2003.5.

This sucks. Anyone else experiencing anything like this?

 

[EVILSRT]

damn......now im worried.....as soon as mine goes im getting a stage 2.

 

[AFaceInTheCrowd]

are you clutch happy t3ase? do you launch a lot (hehe sounds like a midEVIL knight)? do you slip the clutch a lot? oh yeah and the biggest clutch killer is using the clutch to prevent drop-back. thats a biggie, do you do that?

 

[jonnydoe48]

hmm i always shift to neutral to and roll a long ass time during day to day driving (in neut) is this bad for the clutch? what is clutch slipping? what should i do to prevent clutch burning out?

 

[AFaceInTheCrowd]

no, rolling in neutral is not bad for it, as long as your not holding it in. the slipping that t3ase is talking about is when the clutch won't hold. like the gear didn't go in cuz the clutch didn't engage or you have toooooo much horsepower for the clutch. the slipping i'm talking about is riding the clutch. revving high and slowly releasing the clutch while the rpms are VERY high. that is used for launches and some ppl new to a manual tranny do that a lot.

to prevent clutch destruction, balance the clutch/gas well. don't use the clutch to hold the car up on hills, use the brake. launch only when needed.

learn to rev match. learn to double clutch.

the last 2 are more skill oriented. in the beginning you will be hurting the clutch, but once you get it your clutch will like you.

 

[jonnydoe48]

edit, nevermind. however, when rev matching to double clutch, when you hit the throttle, do you keep your foot on the accelerator and shift to the gear. so that means you have a slight depression on the accelerator and a clutch in full while you shift..is this true, or do you rev match, let go of the accelerator, then shift?

 

[AFaceInTheCrowd]

rev matching and double clutching are racing techniques. not absolutely necessary, but very fun to do.

rev matching extends the life of the syncros. by matching the revolutions of the transmission and the engine, the synchros have no, if very little, work to do. if the rpms are perfectly matched, you could just drop the clutch and feel no jerking or jumping.
double clutching, despite what the movie says, is not used for drag racing. its a road/rally race technique. it extends the life of the clutch by easing duty when rev matching. its kinda hard to explain just one, so i'll try to explain both.
on a road or rally course, when you enter a turn you weight transfer and downshift. to get to the downshift after the apex (peak) of the turn, you need to rev match to keep up the accelleration smooth. and to rev match you need to double clutch. uhh its gettin complicated, lets try this.

1. push in clutch
2. put car in neutral
3. release clutch
4. press brake to weight transfer
5. while weight transfering, use right heel to press gas and raise rpm
6. press clutch
7. downshift
8. when rpms are matched, drop clutch
9. accel. out

as you can imagine, all this happens very quickly and with precise timing. most ppl see these techniques as a waste on the street, but its fun when i try (and sometimes succeed). but this does really help against wear on the clutch and transmission. talk to WRX guys with dog box transmissions. those have no syncros and linear gears. there is no syncromesh. the only way to shift is rev matching.

 

[Dexter]

uh oh....sometimes i hold my clutch in for a long time while in neutral for some reason, i dunno why i do that but...uh..i hope my clutch doesnt go out at like 9,000 miles lol

 

[jonnydoe48]

thanks, is that toe heel manuever the actual "toe heel" that everyone talks about?

 

[AFaceInTheCrowd]

yes it is THE heel toe

oops sorry didn't see your previous edit. well you press down on the gas and get of it. the rpms should rise rapidly. as they fall slowly, you will wait and listen for the right rpm to come. when you hear (or see the needle hit) the right rpm your gonna drop or let the clutch out fast. then accel. out.

 

[Formula1]

I don't think your problem is from clutch wear. I Bet it has something to do with a malfunction in the hydraulic system that accuates the clutch i.e. slave cylinder. Or it might have something to do with the linkage going to the clutch housing....

There are alot of things that could go wrong.Don't jump to an unlikely conclusion such as wear @ your low mileage.

BTW- If it is from clutch wear, you need to learn how to drive! lol

 

[HADA 11]

What you described above is not double clutcing, it's heel toe downshifitng. The reason for a heel toe down shift is to select a lower gear to exit a corner, without up setting the car with the down shift.

When you blip the throttle you are actually rev matching. You are matching the revolutions of the engine to the transmissions output shaft.

Double clutching is also used to downshift, generally in cars that don't have a syncromech transmission.

The process is as follows..
Clutch in
Shift to neutral
Clutch out
Clutch in
s*** into lower gear
Clutch out

If you have a car with syncros double clutching is a waste of time. If your syncros are shot you may find double clutching helps. If you want to keep your syncros in good shape shift with care you should pause slightly in neutral between gears. A s*** is not one motion (from 2nd to 3rd for example) it should be from 2nd, to neutral to 3rd.

Getting a death grip on the shifter and yanking from gear to gear will not make the car any faster or more furious.

 

[INGREXCO]

as soon as mine goes im getting a stage 2.

agreed

 

[arkitek]

Yeah! I'm getting similiar symptoms it sounds like. Clutch slipping under hard acceleration where RPM shoots up quickly but car goes no where in the peak torque RPM region.
I do hear weird noises sometimes too under hard braking as you press hard on the clutch. Feels and sounds like something is loose somewhere. Don't think it's the ABS kicking in either though it does sometimes rather prematurely making that grinding noise and feel on the brake pedal. Not good for my mileage is still under 6000 KM and I don't do hard lauches either.

 

[cbcbd]

What you described above is not double clutcing, it's heel toe downshifitng. The reason for a heel toe down shift is to select a lower gear to exit a corner, without up setting the car with the down shift.

When you blip the throttle you are actually rev matching. You are matching the revolutions of the engine to the transmissions output shaft.

Double clutching is also used to downshift, generally in cars that don't have a syncromech transmission.

The process is as follows..
Clutch in
Shift to neutral
Clutch out
Clutch in
s*** into lower gear
Clutch out

Umm... I believe that the whole point of double clutching IS to actually use the accel pedal to match the revs after you shift to neutral and disengange the clutch (out).

AFaceInTheCrowd showed a situation in rally racing where you'd use double clutching WITH heel-toe.

Heel-toe doesn't have to be used with double clutching, it can be simply:
-brake (with "toe")
-clutch in
-accel (with "heel") to desired rpm
-shift to gear
-clutch out

But double clutching DOES use revmatching, it's the whole point of it, I think your steps were missing that one important step:
Clutch in
Shift to neutral
Clutch out
accel to match the rpms
Clutch in
s*** into whichever gear
Clutch out

You have to do this especially when downshifting. How are you supposed to match your revs when the rpm will be dropped way down when you press the clutch in for the first time? If you don't rev match your driveshaft will have to force the engine into the correct rpm every time you let the clutch out after shifting into gear.

 

[t3ase]

Ok so back to the point. I dropped my car off today and all was well until the service manager came in and said to the service advisor I was talking with that the "tires look pretty toast". That then changed the mood altogether from "sure, we'll check it out" to well "you've been racing, we're not going to cover it". After telling them that they *will* cover it since the cars only two months old and theres no way I could have burned up a clutch that quickly, their response "was Well, we're just saying.. If it was from abuse, we're not going to cover it". ******* Mazda.

Anyway, this is the first manual car I've had so the first few days were a bit rough. No stalling but I did do the whole "leave the clutch in as your rpms skyrocket before you let off slowly" thing that pretty much everyone new to sticks does. A few missed shifts now and then. I do shift pretty hard while racing, so I'm guessing the shift fork broke as that seems to be a common thing on here.

If the dealership says it's from abuse, what do I do? Insist it's not and call MazdaUSA about it? Go to another dealership? Say screw it and buy the parts myself?

 

[Dexter]

GRR **** THE STEALERSHISP

i hate that "well, we're just saying....(that we dont trust you)" bulls***

tell em to go **** themselves

 

[REMillers]

Stand firm with them and prove that the so called tire abuse cause the failure. If all else fails then start calling Mazda or try another dealership.

Friend with a EVO 8 lost his clutch in the first 600 miles and they said they wouldn't replaced it. They tried to blaming his driving style or that he raced it. After some bitching they finally broke down and replaced it.

HA his driving style? Or racing? He has a AWD 2GEN DSM that ran the stock clutch for a good long time. It now runs 11 sec 1/4miles.

Silly dealerships.

 

[t3ase]

Anyone else experience the same issue? It may help if I had some others in the same boat..

 

[HADA 11]

Clutch in
Shift to neutral
Clutch out
accel to match the rpms
Clutch in
s*** into whichever gear
Clutch out

Correct. I forgot to include the throttle blip.