Strange acceleration issue - any ideas before I go to the dealership?

dmhenderson

Owe you guys a beer:

On the way to the airport on Tuesday I floored it in 6th to move into the fast-lane and the clutch utterly failed (car redlined, didn't re-engage until I let off the gas). Horrible burning clutch smell filled the car. Slippage in all gears even with steady pressure on the gas.

Dropped the car back at the dealership last night on the way home.

They're replacing the clutch and flywheel under warranty.
Booya.

To answer various questions
-I haven't been overly rough on the clutch but starting too fast in 1st has caused the clutch to slip since I bought the vehicle.

-I got into the habit of engine braking - especially in bad weather or if I had the need to stop really suddenly. Apparently this is hard on the clutch.

-Dealership can't explain what happened. They believe it has been faulty since day 1.

Anyway, tl;dr:
-My initial suspicion proved correct. If this happens to you, your clutch is about to go and you should take it to a shop immediately.

Lug

The first proves the 2nd.

__________________
keep Chubbs in your pocket - Chubbs

houkouonchi

I don't think this is true if 1) you use synchro rev match or 2) you are good at bliping the throttle when downshifting for engine breaking.


Some drivers will not give gas and down shift and let out the clutch slower than usual (which also usually slows the car down more/faster than blipping/synchro rev-match) but if you weren't doing it that way I wouldn't expect you to have more wear on your clutch if you down shift more often and just let the car de-accelerate rather than break.

I sometimes will rather downshift and have the rpm's up to 4500 or 5000 so the car lowers in speed quicker rather than ride my breaks.

houkouonchi

And just to add my dad's 350z Had 120k miles on it when the engine finally died. He is still on his original clutch and he does engine breaking all the time (like I do) and they said his clutch was in good condition when they replaced the engine.

His engine; however, always burned oil and they commented on how dirty the oil was so likely his engine has always had a problem with it.