last week I went for a quick race with my friend's 330ci... It was real fun..but I had a bad launch once and held the clutch a little bit too long.. after the race, the car has the clucth burning smell.. so I thought it's not a big deal.. the smell will be gone, and sure enough it was gone.. But the problem is that, right now, the clucth get burned very easily..
If I hold the clutch a bit too long (just a little bit).. the clutch will get burned.. I don't have any problems in shifting.. it seems that everything is fine... but i'm really annoyed with the burning smell..
does anyone know why is the clucth get easily burned?
There is a friction plate that when heated up produces that burning smell. It is normal under the guidelines of clutch performance when you release it under load.
yes.. that's true..
but is it normal to get burned really easily.. I've had this car for 5 months now.. and I never had my clutch get easily burned.. should I have my clutch changed?
I have no idea what you are talking about. Clutch burned? What does that even mean?
You are ready to change a clutch due to the odor it produces when you put your engine under a high friction release despite saying it operates normally? I don't see the problem.
I smell my clutch when I hold it in too long too. (especially when driving up hill). I've only had my car for 2000 miles, but I learned to drive stick on this car, whicih probably burned a lot of the clutch. But I just figured the smell is normal under heavy loads. How do you know when its time to replace the clutch?
"There is a fine line between genius and insanity... I have erased this line."
'04 6MT Coupe/Ivory Pearl/Willow/Premium/Navi/Aero (no spoiler)/Crazy Driver(came standard)
I smell my clutch when I hold it in too long too. (especially when driving up hill). I've only had my car for 2000 miles, but I learned to drive stick on this car, whicih probably burned a lot of the clutch. But I just figured the smell is normal under heavy loads. How do you know when its time to replace the clutch?
"There is a fine line between genius and insanity... I have erased this line."
'04 6MT Coupe/Ivory Pearl/Willow/Premium/Navi/Aero (no spoiler)/Crazy Driver(came standard)
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It's time to replace the clutch when you let it out, depress the gas, the revs climb and the speed doesn't.
Now: '99 328i | Silver / Black
Wanted: 6MT |DG / Willow |Premium, Aero Pkg | waiting to see the '05 spec - hope they fix the driver seat controls!!!
I smell my clutch when I hold it in too long too. (especially when driving up hill). I've only had my car for 2000 miles, but I learned to drive stick on this car, whicih probably burned a lot of the clutch. But I just figured the smell is normal under heavy loads. How do you know when its time to replace the clutch?
"There is a fine line between genius and insanity... I have erased this line."
'04 6MT Coupe/Ivory Pearl/Willow/Premium/Navi/Aero (no spoiler)/Crazy Driver(came standard)
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It's time to replace the clutch when you let it out, depress the gas, the revs climb and the speed doesn't.
Now: '99 328i | Silver / Black
Wanted: 6MT |DG / Willow |Premium, Aero Pkg | waiting to see the '05 spec - hope they fix the driver seat controls!!!
In general, you don't want to hold your clutch in for long periods of time because it puts wears out the throwout bearing over time. There really is no need to sit there with the clutch in for long periods of time(at every stoplight, etc), and if you do this, it might be wise to try to ween this from your driving habits. In these types of situations, you should have the car in neutral with the clutch out, then when the light changes or is about to change, put the clutch in and shift to first.
If your throwout bearing wears out..it's just as bad as your clutch plate going, because you would normally replace both since they already have the car apart and have spent the time to take out the clutch components.
I smell my clutch when I hold it in too long too. (especially when driving up hill). I've only had my car for 2000 miles, but I learned to drive stick on this car, whicih probably burned a lot of the clutch. But I just figured the smell is normal under heavy loads. How do you know when its time to replace the clutch?
"There is a fine line between genius and insanity... I have erased this line."
'04 6MT Coupe/Ivory Pearl/Willow/Premium/Navi/Aero (no spoiler)/Crazy Driver(came standard)
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It's time to replace the clutch when you let it out, depress the gas, the revs climb and the speed doesn't.
Now: '99 328i | Silver / Black
Wanted: 6MT |DG / Willow |Premium, Aero Pkg | waiting to see the '05 spec - hope they fix the driver seat controls!!!
Is that for every gear? Or just when your in first starting from a stop?
"There is a fine line between genius and insanity... I have erased this line."
'04 6MT Coupe/Ivory Pearl/Willow/Premium/Navi/Aero (no spoiler)/Crazy Driver(came standard)
I baked mine the first time at the drag strip (staged too long waiting for the other guy). It's pretty bad when you let your foot off the clutch and it doesn't come back up like you expect.
The smell was pretty bad for three days and would come back occasionally for about a week when doing a lot of city driving. After that, no more smell. It just takes some time to burn off all that residual.
I baked mine the first time at the drag strip (staged too long waiting for the other guy). It's pretty bad when you let your foot off the clutch and it doesn't come back up like you expect.
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How did you do this? Are you saying you had the clutch fully depressed and it failed to return normally? Or were you slipping it, waiting for the other guy?
I know that sitting with the clutch engaged wears the clutch forks/bearings, but it would seem that it wouldn't make a real nasty odor, or at least not one that lasts.
Kal.
'04 G35 Coupe 6MT, Black/Black, Premium Package, Aero Package w/Spoiler
Ok, I had an experience last night that prompted me to look up the subject of 'burning your clutch', so I guess I'll just bring back this thread.
Been a LOT of rain around these parts lately which is normally a PITA. Well, you know what they say...when life hands you lemons, make lemonade! So I decide to use the opportunity and shut off VDC to explore the limits of my car's handling with the current Hotchkis sway settings. I was quickly reminded that the wet performance of the oem 215's sucks bigtime. They often hydroplaned in corners well before I could break adhesion. When the front stayed planted but the rear broke loose, it was gradual rather than snap, and controllable with both throttle and brake input. So, at least, that doesn't raise any red flags with my current settings. But, I can certainly see where people get into trouble in the wet corners with VDC off. And, it reminded me to slow down!
I also wanted to see if the sways suppressed any of the horrendous 'wheel hop' I would get when launching at higher RPM's on dry road with the oem 215's. Figured if I did see some hop, it might not be quite as pronounced (and/or damaging) with less friction on account of the wet pavement. Dumping the clutch at 4k RPM's on wet pavement and then flooring it still induced wheel hop - WAY too much hop. Not going to try that again anytime soon, surely can't be good for the driveline. From a rolling 5mph and higher, breaking the tires loose and playing with wheel speed via throttle input in 1st gear did not induce hop. Revving to 5k RPM and dumping the clutch in 2nd gear at 20mph and higher produced the same results. So, results were pretty much consistent with the oem sways with no surprise.
But when I was pulling into the driveway at only a couple mph, I revved it up to 5k and dumped the clutch again. Only, this time, I could feel that the clutch pedal didn't come back up fully and when blipping the throttle the RPM's would rise and fall. I didn't about that until I stopped and smelled the burned clutch smell, but I'm guessing that the wheels were NOT spinning in sync with the engine RPM's. And I mean, man, did it stink. I was waiting for it to burst into flame!
Now, I want to know why the clutch failed to come up and the pressure plate didn't engage. Heck, it was WET out. Maybe I was subconciously holding just enough pressure on the clutch pedal (ready to slam it back down at the slightest hint of wheel hop) to cause some slippage? A little residual stink after the short commute this A.M., but other than that, no obvious repercussions. Comments?
2004 | 6MTs | Diamond Graphite/Graphite
Upstate NY
I had the exact same experience with my clutch pedal seeming to slow down and not come up after about halfway (starting in first maybe mid 3's rpm)...It was funny cause I remember my foot coming up with no pedal behind it...
I immediately pushed it back down to the floor and out of gear...I was like ohhh Shit! What the hell is goin on! The smell was horrible.. I've only had it happen one time to me, only in this car, and I've been driving manual for about 10 years...
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Clutch burning smell.. HELP pls..
