Sometimes recently, my 2002 behaves odd in first gear when starting from a stop on a hill. A few times, but not always, the car has struggled no matter how much gas I give it, almost like I'm trying to start from 3rd gear. Is this a clutch problem? At other speeds, the car, tach and gas peddle all seem to respond normally in proportion to each other.

 

That's odd..but not your clutch. If your clutch was slipping it would rev up but not go anywhere, not just bog. Wish I had more insight to help you, but hopefully someone else has seen this before.

EDIT: One other thing, if you're new to the S2, know that it doesn't have a whole lot of torque. It certainly shouldn't struggle to make it up a hill in first gear if you give it enough gas, but at low RPMs it's putting down very little power.

 

Thanks. I've had it for about 2 years, so I know it takes some gas to get rolling.

I'll keep an eye on it, but I am genuinely beginning to wonder if this was operator error. Had a lot on my mind at the time, so it is possible that I had it in 3rd but thought I was in 1st. Not good either and embarrassing, but at least I wouldn't need to pay for any repairs right now.

 

Does the car "shudder" or "shake" when you're doing this? Does it help to take it out of gear and re-insert it in gear? I had this same problem on my MY03...one of the spring retainers on the clutch disk broke and there was a little piece of it loose inside of the trans. I have pics on my old phone, I'll try and find them.

 

I think it did shudder. If it happens again, then I will try taking it out of gear and putting it back again. So far I can't replicate the problem though.

 

Just use the handbrake to hold you there until the engagement point then slowly let down the handbrake as you pull away. Will stop the big spike in revs when you start to roll back and quickly go up the hill, which is usually when the shudder occurs

 

Hills + stage 3 clutch + stop and go traffic = NIGHTMARE! Everytime I see a hill im like shit I hope I dont stop on it. I sware I panic so much trying to go up a hill on my s2k. Mine also shakes when im starting and stopping even if im not on a hill. Even if im not in gear. Still shakes like I will be going straight and a car is in front of me so I go into neutral and slow down and my car shakes right before it fully stops. Happens to me also when I start going from a stop. Pisses me off

 

Found the pics...

I had the problem going from reverse to first on a hill out of my driveway. Taking it out of gear and re-engaging helped for the immediate but this is what I found when I took off my trans...





It would just shake and shudder when trying from a standstill, revs didn't matter, you can tell it didn't want to move. Also, high rev shifts (7k-9k) were near impossible. New clutch disc fixed it.

Hope this doesn't help (I hope it's not your problem )