Hi all,

So, as the title says, I think my clutch has been burned out.

I noticed it yesterday... I got home.. got in the car to take it out for a spin and i felt no pressure... i put it in reverse and no matter how much I revved, it would stroll in reverse. I put in 1st/2nd, and it would only stroll forward barely as 3000rpm or 6000 rpm... i managed to get it back on the driveway somehow...

I noticed it first on monday... i was driving my 8 and i kept getting a burning smell... i didnt clue in rightaway.. and i barely drove for 15 mins. As i revved down and parked my car, i saw what looked like a combination of mist and smoke from everywhere in the car.

I checked all the fluids in the car and all seem to be either full or half full atleast.

My rx8 is going into the dealership today or tomorrow...

Any thoughts.. anyone?

Is my clutch really gone? or could it be a leak in the transmission fluid?

 

And, for what its worth, my car is 2 yrs old, with about 22K kms on it. So, is this under warranty or comes out of my pocket?

 

You burned your clutch in 2 years with 22,000km ONLY? How are you driving this thing?

 

Right.. I should have made that clear in my original posting.

I dont drive hard... I dont ride my clutch.. i dont power shift or short shift.. i drive normally... i have rarely ever smelled the burned clutch smell only if I red-line repeatedly.

But other than that, I was warned already about riding and burning out the clutch.. so I avoided doing that at all costs.

 

clutch wear isnt covered under warranty.

 

HMMMMMMMMM....are you new at driving stick?

 

No.. not new to driving stick... i have to wait to find out whats wrong... from the dealership.

 

As far as warranty on a clutch it is not black and white. If another component failed causing the disc to wear it could be covered under warranty. If the dealer takes it apart and the disc/pressure plate and flywheel are severly overheated it probably wouldnt be warranty.

 

Got it towed last night in a flatbed to the dealership. I will find out today what happened and what went wrong.

I have had a problem since last yr when i would not be able to shift into reverse gear.. and sometimes in the 6th gear. I took it in to the shop and they said this is ok.. wait for the car to warm up.

Lets see how it goes.

I was quoted about $800 for a clutch + labour. Is that a good price or am i being ripped off here?

Thanks for listening my venting!

 

you bought your car brand new? wow you're killing the tranny somehow!

 

Maybe the RX8 clutch isn't as robust as we think! I heard of an RX8 locally that had a clutch failure on a car with less than 20,000 km.

 

Dealership has ordered a new clutch for me. When they install the new cluth, they will inspect and look for other parts that might have gone bad.

I am thinking about getting the flywheel to make the engine revs smoother.. perhaps i am doing something unknowingly with my clutch.

 

Please be careful with things like lightweight flywheels on street cars. The light weight flywheel is great on a race car, but a real pain on the street. The factory uses a specific weight on the flywheel to help clutch engagement and ease of drivability. 90% of the people who try and move my race car stall it because of the 9lbs flywheel.

 

Anyone in the GTA have a lightened flywheel installed?

 

No, but the car loses revs so fast that it feels like it :D

 

Thanks! Duly noted. Good to know what can happen, besides faster revs. I would hate to stall and flood my engine.

 

I have the RB flywheel installed (12lb with counterweight I was told). It's not that much harder to drive. I stopped noticing it after about 3 week with the flywheel.

It's the racing clutches that make it very easy to stall. The flywheel does make it easier to stall but not by all that much. I never stalled my car since getting the flywheel installed (well over a year ago now).

If I had to do it over again, i would have got at street clutch installed at the some time.

Abs, I believe $800 is around normal dealer price for a clutch replace. There is a lot of labor to drop the transmission.

 

Thanks bud!

My new clutch has been ordered and getting replaced right now. My car should be ready for Monday.. hopefully.

The techs said that the burned clutched damaged my flywheel a bit and the flywheel would need to be sanded to smooth is out and fix ok. No need for a new flywheel yet.

As for the price, yah.. i am expecting around $800 or so as my total bill.

----
PS: Thanks everyone for your posts!

 

that might be a mechanical issue. the clutch shouldn't have been slipping just from high rpm, unless its already well on its way out. or your slipping it a **** load from a standstill or slipping it between shifts.
someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here.

 

Wouldn't there always be a tiny amount of slip during normal driving conditions? You slip a bit when you shift to maintain smoothness of ride?

 

Since you don't sound like some newbie stick shift driver, I'd say you have some mechanical issue that caused your clutch to not disengage fully while driving around. Tell the shop to look seriously into this, otherwise your new clutch will be burn up in no time.

 

keyword tiny amount of slip not enough to start smelling burnt clutch everytime. and when your redlining your should be getting off the clutch soon as possible between shifts not slipping it and trying to be smooth

 

The only time your foot should be on the clutch pedal is when you using it. I have seen many students on the track "cover" the clutch pedal between shifts, and that is BADDDDDD. A hydraulic clutch will have pressure on it as soon as you touch the pedal. That is one of the biggest mistakes we see. I had one customer who would hold his car on a hill by using the cltuch! He couldnt understand why he went through them so quick! lol. If your not good on hills use the hand brake to hold the car and slowly release it as you release the clutch, that will save you thousands of kilometers of clutch wear.

 

I have one... but not on an 8

speaking of which... I have officially moved in (pretty much right across the street from you Footman). Soooo... let the RX-8 hunt begin!

*edit* sorry to hijack... but not really ;D

 

Little known fact: clutches like an engine need to be broken in. So, if you were redlining your engine while your car was new it shortened the lifespan of your clutch. Tip: with your new clutch, don't rev past 4k rpm for the first 500 miles.