Due to this thread: Clutch went out with only 30000 mi on it!!!!

I have a specific question, but welcome all tips on minimizing wear in our manual transmissions.

Is it bad that I sometimes shift from 3rd directly to 5th? Like when going down a hill or sometimes crusing along on the highway. I understand the possibility of lugging the engine, but since there is such a small drop of RPM's between 4th and 5th, I figure, "Why bother?". I try to insure that after the shift my RPM's do not drop below 1850 - 2000 RPM on level ground. When going downhill, that is not as much of a concern to me.

Cheers!

 

If there is no engine lugging and the conditions warrant this, it will do no harm at all. As for general trans and clutch wear, good driving habits usually yield a very long service life. I would expect about 150k out of a well driven clutch and as for the transmission, I wouldn't worry about that at all.

 

Cheers Scott17!

Any other tips?

 

Always try to match the engine speed to the drive train. This will reduce the slippage involved with engaging the clutch hence extending clutch disk life. Always try to let clutch out as fast as possible to limit slipping also. Never use the clutch to hold still on an incline. Use brakes only, while coming to a stop unless absolutely necessary.
Or you could just have a high performance pressure plate installed and drive it the way you want to and not worry about trying to extend the crappy stock clutch set up.

 

You have to keep in mind that there's always a tradeoff involved. Babying the clutch might involve activities that increase wear on other components (brakes or the synchros in the tranny, for instance.)

The best overall policy for long life is to drive gently!

 

Believe me, if I ever have to pull the pressure plate, I WILL be upgrading.

Cheers!

 

Agreed!

I guess I was not totally clear....I have been driving a stick for the past 10 years, and have never had to replace a clutch. I was looking not for general tips but any Scion specific tips since the box is based on the echo.

 

I wear out clutches at about 75,000 miles. I think it is due to stop and go driving. And the worst is getting stuck going up a steep hill in stop and go driving. 30,000 miles indicates some severe problem.

 

I get slippage when I gas it at full throttle going from second to third and from third to fourth if I really mash the acceletator and run up to at least 5500rpm to shift.

However, during normal conditions, the clutch doesn't slip. It's had this habit since around 5k on the odo. As long as i don't floor it, the clutch seems ok. I have 27k on mine and it feels fine otherwise. It really sucks that the stock unit has to be so crappy. On the plus side, the engagement is as smooth as butter compared to the Centerforce equipped saturn and the Z car... the scion is so easy to drive, it feels like an automatic.

when it comes time to change it, I don't expect to be putting a stock unit in, this one has a horrible pressure plate and I'm stretching it with just an intake.

 

When you say "slippage" when going from one gear to another, what exactly do you mean? Is it slipping while you are shifting (i.e. while your feet/hands are still in motion) or after you've fully released the pedal?

 

What I mean is slipping after my foot is removed from the clutch pedal in its entirety.

Basically when the clutch is fully disengaged and the pressure plate is supposed to be doing its job in preventing the friction disc from spinning. I'm pretty sure its not a worn friction disc, at least on the zed it feels different thru the pedal. (It was hydraulic with a manual clutch slave adjustor so you could really tell)