Hi - I just recently acquired an S2000 with 94,xxx miles. The car was located two states away, so I had a nice ~1,000 mile journey to become acquainted with the car. When doing my inspection I intentionally did a few different kinds of starts (low rpm, high rpm, 2nd gear, etc.) to check the clutch, and it seemed to hold nice and strong. No slippage at all under power. I did notice a bit of fluid weeping from the area above the clutch pedal, so the clutch master will need to be flushed/replaced soon. There are no problems at all getting the car into or out of gear - no grinding or hesitation, etc.

Having passed my inspection, I drove the car on my journey home and had to pull to the shoulder to make a phone call in an area where coverage was scarce. The car was sitting idling in neutral for probably 3-5 minutes when I began to detect the unmistakable odor of burning clutch. Having ended my call, I got the car back underway without any issue, and the smell subsided, probably due to getting back up to speed. I drove another 1-2 hours the rest of the way home and had no other issues.

The following day I was out for a drive to enjoy the remaining good weather. Pulling up a nice set of uphill twisties in 4th gear, the smell came back very strongly. I shifted into 5th and the smell immediately went away. There was no audible or 'butt dyno' slippage detected during this uphill run - just the smell.

Had the smell only occurred when going uphill, I would feel fine thinking that it's time for a new clutch. But the smell coming up in neutral doesn't make sense to me - at least not without any other problems getting the car started or under WOT.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

 

Some of the early factory clutches would slip if pushed in higher gears and on hills. The smell usually was apparent later so it can be difficult to correlate the smell and the slip. I would guess you will need a replacement in the not too distant future.

 

Thanks - that makes sense but still doesn't explain the smell while in neutral. Unless that's a common sign of a bad clutch that I've never heard of before. ??