Do clutches just die or do they gradually fade out? I'm asking because I have a rather serious problem going on with my '08 WRX Sedan at the moment. The car has 13,000 miles on it and is only about 8 months old - no mods other than an electronic boost gauge. I've never tracked or raced it; I've only run her hard for infrequent short periods; I've never feathered high RPM launches (only WoT when the gear is fully engaged); and since it's my daily driver I usually shift at under 3,000 RPM since it's around town. In addition, out of those 13,000 miles there were 8 trips from Chicago, IL, to Kansas City, MO, and back - meaning at least 8,800 of those miles were highway miles (read: the clutch was used probably under 30 times during 9,000 of those miles - it's a 9 hour drive of nothing but open highways; you just leave it in 5th and drive). So I'm looking at under 4,000 miles of "real" clutch work here.
Last week I had no problem WoT'ing the car in 5th gear on the highway (50-70mph); the car would push you back into the seat accelerating. A few days ago, I noticed that in 4th gear pulls to get onto the highway the RPMs would sort of hang steady for a few seconds at 4,000RPM while the car was accellerating, rather than slowly increase. Yesterday I was approaching a yellow light on the highway in 5th gear at 50MPH, I WoT'd it to accelerate to 55-60 and make the light, and the car's RPMs shot up to 5,000-6,000RPM, car had no pull, and my entire cabin was filled with burnt clutch smell for the next 5 minutes. I about crapped myself because nothing like that has happened to me before except for my old '92 Pontiac Grand Prix when the torque converter started to die at 230,000 miles.
Anyways, the problem hasn't fixed itself today. If I'm not careful (shift over 3,000 RPM), I get slippage in 2nd-5th gear. This has been an extreme bummer and I'm totally depressed that my baby is hurt. I've pretty much come to terms that it's one of two things: 1.) I'm THAT terrible of a manual driver that I managed to kill the clutch in 4,000 miles... 2.) Manufacturer's Defect. I've seen people do insane launches and beat the hell out of their WRX's and still use their stock clutch - this is what's confusing me. I seriously have not driven my *stock* car hard at all and I'm slipping after 8 months?
I'd appreciate any suggestions here. I'm guessing it'll be upwards of $1,000 to get a new clutch installed from the dealer, and considering it's a wear part I'm guessing they won't honor any warranty with it even if it was a defective part.
Before you do anything I would at least check with your dealer. You never know you might be surprised, and what do you have to lose. A clutch usually gradually fades.
a clutch should gradually fade...and yes the dealer quoted me for 1200-1500 for the install, hence why i ended up doing it myself. if i were you i would talk to the dealer and tell them how ridiculous it was that the clutch died so quick...it may just be covered under your warranty being that it was in such few miles
If you look in your warranty book you will see the clutch as well as the brakes are a covered wear item for 36,000 miles"unless they claim it's from abuse".Seeing as your car is stock they should warranty it.......I had my clutch go out at 20,000 and they covered mine no questions asked,they did tell me that it is a one time thing and if it went out agin I would have to pay for it,and I was at stage 2 at the time....good luck and if you have any problems bring your book in and show them that it is covered under warranty cause your problem will be with the dealer not subaru,cause Subaru knows what is covered and what is not...
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"You have no idea what you are talking about. The stock motor handles 20PSI just fine"... MOSC
I made an appointment with the dealer later today to get an oil change and magically the car is pulling like it should. There's no slipping at all now? What the hell? Yesterday WoT'ing it in 5th would cause slippage, today there's nothing at all. Is this what clutches do when dying? This is completely baffling me. Sorry for being such a newbie about things.
When you go to the stealership explain what happened and insist that it be checked if not replaced. It could be a faulty part. DONT BACK DOWN!!! If you tell them about it and they dont find anything then at least you can have them make a note of it in case it happens again. DONT BE INTIMIDATED BY THEM THEY WILL SAY ANYTHING TO AVOID SERVICING A CAR FOR FREE!!! If you already went go back. Just what I would do.
Made an appointment yesterday at noon for 4:30pm; drove 40 miles to the dealer and they couldn't find my appointment; also said even though they were open 'till 5:00, all of their techs just left at 4:30. Blah. Anyways, I made another appointment for today at 2:30 and got my tires rotated / air filter / oil changed. I also had a tech take it out for a look at the clutch.
My receipt shows: Customer said clutch slipped in 5th gear once. Diagnosis: Defective Clutch Assembly. Clutch kit special ordered. Warranty repair.
They told me that they'll replace the clutch once (as Black Beast said above). I asked if I should wait until it gets worse (doesn't bother me to drive it without WoT), but the guy told me the reason they're replacing it is because the miles are so low, so they went ahead and ordered the clutch and will be scheduling a repair time when it comes in. They're even giving me a loaner car while the car is repaired (when the clutch comes in next week); pretty sweet deal there.
I'm not a clutch expert but I'd imagine I'd have to be burning the crap out of it constantly in order to burn it up in under 4,000 suburb miles, which definitely wasn't the case. Hopefully it was just a defective and my next one lasts a lot longer.
Off topic: That dealer is the only one I've been to that sells both Mitsubishi and Subaru vehicles - it's funny because I've seen a lot of rivalries between Evo and STi owners and you see them on the same lot right next to each other. Same for the RalliArts and WRX's; they almost seem like they're on the same team for once haha.
Off topic: That dealer is the only one I've been to that sells both Mitsubishi and Subaru vehicles - it's funny because I've seen a lot of rivalries between Evo and STi owners and you see them on the same lot right next to each other. Same for the RalliArts and WRX's; they almost seem like they're on the same team for once haha.
You say that but I get more waves initiated by EVO drivers than other STi drivers. I think they like playing the villain but really they just are after the same things.
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16G powered lagless fun
hey ariok i don't know if your doing this but just make sure that your foot is completely off the clutch pedal after you shift do not ride around with your foot on it. im sure you know but just fyi.
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rollin on 17's now and they're dirty
Nah, I definitely don't do that. I've never WoT'd it unless my clutch was fully engaged and my shoe was no longer touching the pedal, and driving it around I always put my foot on the floor. I really need to learn more about the inner workings of everything; it sucks not being able to diagnose/fix things yourself.
when my car had about 4000 miles on it, my buddy stole my car like a dumbass and took it for a ride, when i got in it a few hours later, the car wreaked like burnt clutch and i could hardly get it to move, so i got roadside assistance to tow it to the dealership and they said they would be nice and give me a new clutch. problem solved! its worth a shot man. just tell them that you drive right and the clutch just failed on you and that its not your fault and they will probably help you out.
i'm really angry, i brought the car to "patrick subaru" in shrewsbury massachusetts, they said the clutch was broken from abuse..so the warranty wont cover it. my car has no mods or anything, 23kmiles as i already stated.. they wont replace it for me... should i bring the car to another dealership? i really dont have the money to fix it right now.
Update: As said, I have a receipt from the dealership from two weeks ago that says, "Customer said clutch slipped in 5th gear once. Diagnosis: Defective Clutch Assembly. Clutch kit special ordered. Warranty repair." Within those two weeks I put under 300 miles on the car, and I kept it under 3,000 RPM because I was afraid of slipping. The parts finally come in on a Thursday 13 days later, I plan on taking my car in on Friday, and about 4 blocks from home the car starts shooting to 5,000-6000 RPM while accelerating. I crap myself. I travel at about 20 MPH home very slowly (lots of ANGRY drivers behind me) trying to keep RPM's as low as possible, and barely make it to my driveway. I park the car and leave it there because I'm freaked out. The next day the clutch is so bad it's like it isn't there. I couldn't back the car out of a downgraded driveway - putting it in reverse or first was like leaving it in neutral. I about cried at this, I was being extra careful and it went from being completely drivable to completely broken in a few blocks. Subaru roadside assistance got a flatbed and towed it the 30 miles to the dealership with the parts, gave me a 2009 Outback loaner (which, no offense Outback owners, I can't understand how you enjoy - I feel every single bump in the road [why is this, the higher elevation of the car?], the thing has no pull whatsoever, and it's nowhere near as nimble when cornering as I am used to), and has been repairing the clutch for the past two days under warranty. Wish me luck, this has been enough of a mental trauma for me so far. Question: If you're not being a jackass and super high revving, can a clutch just instantly die like that within a few blocks? It was fine and then BAM, burnt clutch smell in the cabin for 4 blocks and dead car. Sigh. It's amazing how much an inanimate object can kill your spirits.
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