Hey guys,

Just want an opinion on whether or not my clutch might be slipping.

When I was driving yesterday, I noticed the revs were rather strange - especially from 2nd to 3rd gears. After taking my foot entirely off the clutch, the revs would take a second to jump down to that gear's revs.

Later I tried it and I couldn't replicate the problem.

As far as I understand it, if you completely disengage the clutch, then the revs should always "snap" straight to where it should be - unless the wheels aren't getting traction to the road or what not.

The only thing I can think of is that my clutch is slipping and that's why it's taking its time to drop from the "2nd gear revs" to the "3rd gear revs" after I disengage the clutch.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

-Dragon Curve

 

are you saying you don't rev match between shifts and just disengage the clutch at a higher RPM than should be for the next gear? this is no good for the clutch and synchros.

 

But to answer the question - yes, your clutch is slipping.

 

It is extremely difficult from your description to tell what's happening with your clutch, certainly NOT draw a conclusion about whether or not it's slipping. You have said nothing about what your throttle foot is doing. Are you letting off the gas when you upshift? If you aren't then you are making the clutch slip. This does not mean your clutch is "slipping".

When you "disengage" the clutch (you are putting it to the floor), the revs will be wherever you make it stay or go by your throttle foot and has nothing to do with the clutch since the engine has been disconnected from the drive wheels.

To better assess if your clutch is slipping, try this:
Find a long stretch of road with a high speed limit. Get the car going in third gear about 3000 to 3500 rpm. Don't touch the clutch. Now increase throttle rapidly to the floor and begin to accerate. If your engine speed climbs proportional to the road speed, then your clutch is fine. If your engine races with no proportional increase in road speed, then your clutch is slipping.

 

Hm..

I tried today to see if I could get it to slip while driving. I was told by someone else to try flooring it in high gears at low speeds.

I dropped it into 5th/6th (1000-2000 RPM) and floored it and no slipping occurred. I couldn't reproduce the problem all day in fact.

So I'm not quite certain.

I usually don't throttle till I'm taking the clutch back off. So I'll disengage the clutch, shift up, start engaging the clutch again while lightly revving.

Still curious!

 

At 1000-2000 rpm, there is not enough torque to test the clutch. Try it at 4500-5500 rpm in, say, third gear. (You can feather the brake with your left foot to keep the car's speed from increasing, for a short time.) As xv says, engine speed should not increase disproportionately to car speed.

By the way, when I said your clutch was slipping, I meant it was slipping under the conditions you described, not necessarily malfunctioning.

 

*This is a TERRIBLE idea and is NOT a good thing to do to your engine. This is a high load/high resistance, low rpm, low torque, high gear manouver. You are subjecting the engine to near-lugging conditions and the worst part of it is that in a high gear like that, it is holding these conditions for an inordinate amount of time. If you continue to repeat this "trick", you will most likely break something.

**There is a STRONG likelihood that your clutch/throttle/shift coordination is off. You may, in fact, be starting to rev the engine when the clutch is not up into its friction point far enough. If you continue to do this, you are also likely to burn up your clutch and heat check your flywheel. It is very likely that THIS is the manouver that makes you feel that the clutch is slipping. Like I said before, it is the driver who is "making" the clutch slip in this case. Eventually, if the technique is not resolved, the clutch will slip all on its own.