Got in the car today and it feels like the engagement point is now down at the floor! It feels really wiered pushing in the clutch pedal now. It's like all smooth right up to the floor and then about an inch above it tenses up for the engagement point. What's going on here? please help, i'm a total MT newbie.

 

I'd definately get it to the dealer. I've found the clutch engagement to be very natural and perfect for me. Be easy on it until you get it in the shop.

 

Well, I'm going to guess that if this is your first MT car, you may have fried your clutch.

 

what exactly is fyring the clutch? I never had anyone teach me what to do really but I was pretty certain I was doing everything correctly. Never rode the clutch and always put it right down to the floor whenever I shifted.

 

I would think there's a leak in the hydraulic or something in the mechanism that opens up the clutch plate.

 

How quick are your shift, from start? How long are you on the clutch pedal in order to get your car to start moving? This is probably the point that your clutch is under the most stress. How much gas (RPMs) are you sending to the engine during this period? If you shift correctly, then it's probably some other problem.

 

I usually give it a fair amount of gas, mabye 3500 rpms and let off the clutch slow enough to keep the start smooth.

 

That's a bit too much. Try 2000 in the future. It'll still be plenty smooth and your clutch will thank you.

Edit: I know you didn't ask, but I usually rev it to 1500, let the clutch grab a bit and drag it down to about 1000 by the time the clutch pedal is all the way out.

Edit again: "clutchpiffy" I like it!

 

Thanks for the advice clutchpiffy, i'll try it out. I think i'm goign to take it in to the dealer just in case. I'll let you guys know if there was a problem.

 

lol

this is what your clutch looks like while you do that....

 

yeah i would just tap my gas quickly and 'lightly' to get rpms in the 1500-2000 range, then let my clutch out slowly till it catches. been doing this on my 97 lude and it still has the original clutch

 

Ok went out driving today and quickly adapted to the 2,000 rmp start from a standsill. Is it ok though to shift out of first at high rpms (like 4500)? When I let out the clutch into 2nd it feels soooooo good. :wackit:

Also, why do my gears grind terribly when I put my car into reverse every morning?

 

Excellent....

You can shift OUT of first at any RPM you're comfortable with. No problem there. Not sure about the reverse thing... Is the shifter popping out and grinding (happened to me once), or is it just not going into the gate well (and grinding)?

 

Try depressing the clutch and shifting into another gear before you put it in reverse. Usually gets rid of that problem.

 

Here a little drill that will make you an expert... go to a flat parking lot. Practice getting your car going without using the gas but without riding your clutch either. It can be done without the car hopping or stalling. If you can swing this and get the clutch fully engaged in about 2-3 seconds you now know the way to shift that will least harm your transmission.

 

won't the car stall if you just let off the clutch with no gas? i've never tried it with no gas, but when i first started driving stick that's how i stalled.


and revving to 3500rpm??? haha, that's way too high

 

it will stall if you do it wrong... that's the drill.

 

I know a top Honda tech (NSX tech in Phoenix) who is known in the NSX community as one of the best NSX techs in the country. He offers lots of advice to our NSX community and this is his recommendation on driving a manual shift properly.

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The simple way I teach my customers to get max life from their clutches is to just remember one thing - the clutch only wears while the pedal is moving. The faster you get the clutch pedal off the floor and to 'rest' position, the less life you have used up. If you slide the pedal nice and easy, with plenty of matching throttle movement also nice and easy, you are EATING your clutch. Many people think that if the car moves away from a stop so nice and easy that you could hold a full glass of wine, this is a good thing. This is the WORST thing. If the car jerks slightly because you moved the car away from a start nice and quick, this is as close to zero wear as it gets. The majority of clutch wear occurs when moving the car from a stop, so practice this most.

Changing gears should be instant, or as close to instant as you can get. You should practice matching rpms to road speed to the point where taking your foot off the pedal really quickly should cause no discernable change in the cars momentum. If your passenger can not tell when your foot comes off the pedal, you have maximized clutch life.

 

a jerking start isn't the best thing for your car... it may do wonders in preserving the clutch plate surface but you are putting strain on other parts of the engine/transmission.

a smooth but quick clutch usage is the best. the clutch plate is designed to take some abuse and it still less costly then replacing an engine.

 

Read the post again.

If the car jerks SLIGHTLY because...

 

Make sure the car is not moving at all when you try to shift into reverse. Reverse is not a synchronized gear like the forward gears (if you don't know what this means, go look it up on How Stuff Works) This means don't let the car roll backwards down the driveway when you're trying to shift into reverse, and especially don't try to shift into reverse if the car is rolling forward. I'll bet everyone who has driven a stick for a while has inadvertently done this and felt stupid when people in the parking lot were looking around to see what the horrible noise was.