Today I was On my way to work. Highway driving. I was balancing the clutch on hills and stuff and i usually do that. (traffic 5pm) Anyways, im accelerating normally going from 3rd to 4th when i notice the clutch wont grab. Try letting rpms go down 2-3k still wont catch so i rry to get into 5th and its still not catching. Finally grabs traffic ends get to work and it seems to be grabbing fine from stop to 3rd. But works right off of the highway so.... Idk. This is my first standard. I get out of the car and the stench of burnt clutch is very strong. Why could this be happening? I guess ill see how it drives on the way home... Lol.

 

Went outside to check car still smells like destroyed clutch 2h later. I hope im not screwed.

 

Define "balancing the clutch on hills" - do you mean holding the car using the clutch? Or just driving properly?

 

I let a girl drive my car "who knew how to drive stick" but it turns out she wasn't familiar with the fact that you can't feel a hydraulic clutch grab (in the pedal)... she was only familiar with cable clutches. As a result she burned my clutch, and my car smelled like burnt clutch for the following 3 weeks or so.

2 winters ago I was driving up to the local mountains for some skiing/snowboarding. There was bumper-to-bumper traffic for the last 4 miles or so, which took maybe an hour to get through. After that my clutch smelled burnt, and the smell lasted for about a week.

After that last time the clutch worked great for another 10 months, and even then it only started to slip because I upgraded my turbo and tuning (240 ft-lbs at the wheels).

When clutches are ridden on hard like when going uphill for longer periods they can form a glaze on the surface that makes the clutch surface somewhat slick. It will take time for this glaze to wear back down to the proper clutch surface, but until it does you won't know for sure whether or not you actually need to replace your clutch. Based on my experience (as written above) I'd guess you should be okay.

BTW, if your clutch is going to slip, it'll do it in 5th gear.

 

Thank you sir. Sounds like i ran into something very similar. Just glazed it from traffic and uphill balancing. Will reply after ride home at 1 am with no traffic. Edit: by balancing the clutch i mean using tge clutch and a little gas to not roll backwards down hills when stopped rather than using the brakes.

 

This "balancing" definitely isn't good for the clutch... just use the e-brake. It's far easier and cheaper to replace the rear brake pads and/or rotors (from using the e-brake) than it is to replace the clutch.

 

Thanks for the heads up. Anything else i shouldnt do manual related? Like I said this is my first manual and I dont really have anyone to say you shouldnt do this or that.

 

Yeah what you described about using the clutch and gas to keep you from rolling backwards instead of the hand brake is bad. Don't do that anymore lol. If you're worried about rolling backwards on hills, try working the e-brake with your right hand. Keep the button held in so when you let go of the handle it will just go back down. Takes a little bit of practice but that'll keep your car from rolling around until you can let the clutch out enough to get the car moving in the right direction.

 

train yourself to to be able to hold your foot on the brake on a hill, take it off and go forward not backwards. I haven't been driving clutch that long and don't have to use the e brake on hills. Practice

 

is it just me or does everyone else use the ebrake contantly? like say i come to a light i always take the car out of gear and pull the ebrake so i dont have to hold the damn pedal down. i just watch the other lights and when they turn yellow i put the car back in gear. but for op, hold the clutch pedal partially disengaged will give you premature clutch wear. ideally, you would be able to pop the clutch pedal out everytime. i know this isnt plausible, but it wouldnt wear the clutch as much as slipping it into gear. like say on a semi tractor, you are not suppose to give it any throttle at all until the clutch is fully engaged. cars dont work that way, so thats why you have to slip it in. but slipping it constantly is very very bad for the cluth disk, pressure plate, and flywheel. you probably got some pretty good hotspots goin on if thats what youve been doing