What did I do?
#1
Staging Lane
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Pennsylvania
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What did I do?
Last night I did something really stupid. I was trying to do a burnout (to impress people) and I revved it up to 4k rpms in second and dumped the clutch. The car pulled forward, but the clutch did not fully disengage. I rode it out for a good 6 seconds because I thought I was spinning the tires. However when I let off and popped it into neutral, I smelled burning....it was my clutch. I pulled over and let it cool for an hour. The smell was horrible and if I got within ten feet of the car I could smell it. I let it sit over night and it didn't smell anymore. It drives fine and everything seems normal, but when I pull out and ride the clutch a bit, the smell comes back. The clutch feels the same, but the smell is still there. Did I do some real damage to my clutch or is it okay? *The smell is getting less strong the more I drive it*
#4
Staging Lane
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Well, all I want to know is will the smell go away? It will be getting a performance clutch in about 6 months. It doesn't slip and grabs fine as it is right now. It just has a smell when I pull out.
#6
Mine smelled so bad that I kept looking under my car to see if I had a plastic bag stuck on my exhaust. I didn't want to believe that it was my young clutch and F/W burning up like that. It didn't last very long at all after that, slipped like a ****. But I drove it hard.
#7
You have likely glazed the disc (not the flywheel). The smell is the result of both burning the friction material and subsequent degassing associated with this (kind of like getting your brakes really hot on a track day). You can have some risidual smell but it will eventually dissipate. What you did will likely affect the clutch life...but if the clutch is holding and thus functioning properly you are ok for now. The best advice I can give you at this point is not to slip it like that anymore and prepare to get another clutch in the future. There is really no way to guestimate the damage you caused but you most certainly removed thickness from the disc which as I mentioned will affect clutch life. Let me know if you have any further questions. Thanks!