Huskyfan23

Weird.....it used to be I would rev up to 4,000 RPMs, drop the clutch and the tires would spin a bit til they connected to the road and away I went. This time, I rev'd to 5,000 RPM's, dropped the clutch, and nothing happened. And I mean, nothing. The car waited like 2 seconds, and then decided to start moving as if I had floored from idle.

It's definitely not the DSC, because I turned it off. Why would this be? Any ideas on how to launch better (maybe at a lower RPM)? Thanks for the all the responses ahead of time.

dillsrotary

do you just drop the clutch (bad) or feather it out (good)? An immediate clutch drop will put quite a load on the trans, thus maybe causing the 2 sec delay.

Huskyfan23

I thought I feathered it out, but maybe I'm wrong.

All I know is that an awful burning smell came up after I did it, so I'm sure I probably did it wrong. If the burning tires didn't cause the smell, what did? The tranny?

staticlag

did you actually turn it off(hold 8+ seconds till both icons come up) or just push the DSC once?

Was your car warmed up?

Huskyfan23

I just pressed it once....

You mean that didn't turn it off completely?? I didn't know that pressing it once didn't fully deactivate it. What does just pressing it once do, if it doesn't turn it off?

staticlag

Yup, burning clutch.

Lets say it takes you 10 counts to normally let the clutch out. For a feather you want to speed it up to 5 counts and keep the release smoothness the same. Just for comparison, dropping the clutch would be just removing your foot extremely fast from the pedal and would take 1-2 counts.

staticlag

Pressing once turns off the dynamic stability control.

But the car has 2 systems, DSC and TSC (traction control).

DSC off will give you some slide and a more sporty feel, but normally TSC remains active because it is the thing that will save you in a catastrophic slide.

To turn off the TSC you need to push and hold the DSC off button until the little yellow car slip icon appears and remains lit in the middle of the tach along with the DSC off symbol on the left hand side of the instrument cluster.

At this point you are completely on your own, no electronics are going to intervene and straighten you out if you go into a tailslide at 80 mph, or hit a puddle, or hit some oil or other crap.

I highly recommend not turning either off. Espically in the rain/snow.

Huskyfan23

LOL, you kill me abbid.

It was definitely in gear. It moved, it just didn't have any oomph whatsoever. Made me (and the car) look pretty bad to the person who was riding with me. I know these cars have no torque, but I've never had this poor of a launch ever. Just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong with my car, to be seriously lacking any previous power.

Huskyfan23

Damn, I didn't know you had to turn the TSC off separately. I thought it was a package deal.

Thanks a ton for all the information, man. Good to know!

staticlag

sweet, next time you want to impress them, just give them a taste of how fast it goes from 80 to 140.

Huskyfan23

lol, I would, but I read that Car and Driver article (350Z, Mustang Shelby GT, TT, RX8) which said how relatively slow the RX-8 is going from 80 and up. Don't want to embarrass myself more...

staticlag

PS, the only way to turn both back on after doing that is to restart the car.

Nemesis8

iTrader: (3)

Turning it back on requires an engine restart BTW

saturn

Well there's your problem. You gotta rev to at least 9k. And you're gunna need to jerk the parking brake up when you hit the gas to avoid blowing a weld on your intake manifold. This is just basic physics here.

But seriously, don't ever do what I just said. In fact, that's probably something you can say about all my posts.

Socr8tes

The right gear?

Huskyfan23

lol, yes. The right gear, unless 1st isn't the correct gear to be in.....

eviltwinkie

Clutch is toast...

cajunrx8

Sir you are in need of a new clutch assembly,it has went to the great parts yard in the sky.

On a serious note, you do need a clutch and pressure plate assy. When the engine is still running in gear with the chutch pedal released and no movement, you blew the clutch.

Huskyfan23

No, the car moved fine, just without any serious power at higher RPMs. If I was to release the clutch at lower rpm's, there would be no issue. I don't think it's the clutch assembly, perhaps the Traction kicked in and wouldn't let me properly launch or I rode the clutch for far too long.

If the car moves and engages the gear, the clutch should be fine, right?

lone_wolf025

I'm suddenly reminded of a video I have of some guy in a firebird trying to burn out but just smoking his clutch...

staticlag

it should be fine, im pretty sure it was the TCS.

To test for clutch slippage, try going in third gear at around 5K steady. Then push the gas all the way to the floor while watching the tach. If the tach shoots up much faster than the car is accelerating, your clutch is fried. If the tach steadly increases with the car it is fine. This is a pretty noticble test.

If your not hearing any rattles or clunking while engauging or disengaugind the clutch its good.

probably nothing. Ive done a few naughty things on my clutch and it looked fine after 15k

limepro

torque is bad already get rid of the fat person in the passenger seat =P jk

NotAPreppie

You sure about this? I thought it was the other way around...

Traction Control (TC) tries to keep the rear wheels from spinning when you take off.
Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) tries to keep you from killing yourself when you get in over your head in a maneuver.

Pushing the button briefly disables the TC (so that you can get going in slippery conditions; so says the manual). It also disables DSC until you hammer on the brakes and dip into ABS territory (DSC uses the ABS systems to work it's magic). When that happens DSC pops in until you regain control (ABS stops nannying you) and then goes away again.

Holding the button down for 7+ seconds (fooling it into thinking that there is a malfunction) keeps DSC from kicking in regardless of what level of hoonery you've committed.

I've felt this when autocrossing and going too hot into a slalom or chicago box; with the brief push, DSC doesn't kick in until I get on the brakes and ABS starts to moderate the wheel lockup. When that happens, I can feel the car take care of itself in the same way that DSC would when fully enabled. As soon as I let off the brakes, DSC goes away again.

When I fully disable DSC, nothing can save me from my own lack of skill.

Maybe I'm way off base here, but that's a combination of what I've read and felt.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

^^^^^^

sorry you are not correct, it is the other way around.. and it is not really covered well in the manual..

how to be sure.

go out and start you car. push the dsc button down once.

what light comes on?

push the button down again that light goes away..

now push button down for ~7 seconds, what is that second light that just came on?

beers

Huskyfan23

Thanks for all the info, guys (especially staticlag). I appreciate it!