Right - need some opinions on a rather worrying experience in my MY95 UK turbo today.

Had a replacement clutch done about 6-8k ago at a reputable garage - I supplied clutch kit (Blueprint brand) and they did the flywheel skim and fitting etc...still came to a tidy 500 squid or so but anyway...

I've been treating the car with kid gloves for the last 6 months as I needed to get other things sorted (steering rack to name one) so I've never done any of the now legendary 3-6k clutch dumps or sidesteps that I read about so much on here. The car has basically been driven gently and thats what makes todays events even more annoying.

I pulled up to some traffic lights waited patiently and when I saw there was nothing coming the other way I decided I was going to give it a 'burn' and drop the clutch at 3k to see what it would do... To cut a long story short: In 1st pulling away the rev counter raced round to 7k but I didnt move much at all...2nd and the same story ...bang! needle round to 7k and going about 40mph! Clutch slipping like a **** in other words!! I did get the nasty smell everyone always mentions as well..just no speed as a consolation

Obviously I am a bit more than p1ssed (although I'm glad it didn't happen for the first time on the 1/4 at Crail but still!). Can anyone suggest any mitigating circumstances for this happening? The car has a scoobyecu and a part decat so not serious power but a bit more than a boggo Uk but I was told the blueprint stuff is as good as oem and is seen in Sti's etc so what has happened to my 6 month old clutch??

It has got me thinking as well - when I first got the car back from the garage I was surprised that the bite point was still relatively high with the brand new clutch in but I didnt think too much about it after...maybe I should have?

Any ideas appreciated...

Steve

 

your clutch slipped at 3k?

 

hi - yeh sorry... to clarify:

after 6k miles on a new clutch my first 3k rpm start resulted in major smelly slippage

steve

 

..can anyone suggest any possible reason for this other than the clutch being knackered this soon after replacement? - release problem perhaps - or any other cause at all????

please!?....my wallet depends on it

cheers

 

Firstly take the car back with the receipt and say the clutch is slipping.. probably best not to mention the 3k rpm start though..

Get them to check it..

JGM

 

You can induce slip with almost any clutch, uprated or not. If you wait too long to fully engauge whilst giving it full beans you can easily get this effect.

Have you tried a little bit of slip to get you going then engauge the clutch fully (quickly) and then go WOT.......

 

ok cheers for the replies guys...guess I'll give it another go with slightly fewer beans and a quicker release then yeh?

ta

 

Umm. If your biting point is set too high it can mean that the clutch is slightly disengaged all the time, even with the clutch pedal fully released, and it will wear the clutch out VERY quickly. The lower the bite point, the less wear on the clutch. It's effectively the same as driving around with your foot resting on the clutch pedal. Expensive mistake, and your mechanic's fault. Take it back and kick off. They should know better than that FFS.

[Edited by ><> - 6/6/2003 1:56:16 AM]

 

Can you adjust the biting point with a hydraulic clutch?

Thanks
Richard

 

Dowser,

You can adjust the pedal height and therefore the biting point.

Couple of 14mm nuts on the top of the pedal box etc..

 

Hhhmmm - thanks...off looking for my second 14mm spanner

 

I tend to avoid full-bore starts and side-stepping, as the torque tends to build so quickly it can overpower the clutch.

Has happened a couple of times to me, so tend to avoid it now.

However, that has been over the course of the last 10k miles or so, and the clutch is still fine.

I guess it just can't cope with such fast build up.

If you think about it, if you're riding a bike and put your feet down at 1mph you can stop pretty much immediately. If, however, you're coming down a hill at about 30, your feet will slide along for ages before you crash, sorry, stop.

About the only clutch that doesn't seem to do this, and will take pretty much any abuse you throw at it, is the AP paddle. I had one in my STi when I first got it. I could do full-bore (5k plus starts) with no slipping. It broke my neck several times though

hope that this load of absolute cobblers helps,
simon

 

bloody clutches!

 

my clutch also lasted about 6k i have a legacy turbo 92 model i know i need to replace the flywheel as it is cracked but i was hoping to get a couple more months out of it ! it would be ok if people didnt keep taking me on at traffic lights!
anyway i think the clutch is totally inadeqate the clutch on a 405 td has more friction area so is the impreza one bigger and if so can i use the flywheel on my engine?

gary