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'01 Pathfinder, clutch slips only in fifth gear.

I've got an '01 Pathfinder with a manual transmission. I did the same 100 mile tow with my boat trailer (about 2100 pounds) four times over the four-day holiday weekend. On Saturday, the clutch slipped once, on Sunday several times, on Monday once, on Tuesday not at all. The drive is all highway, speed limits for passenger cars 55-65, mostly freeway or close to freeway. The slips were all on uphill stretches.

What's interesting is that it only slipped in fifth gear. I could absolutely stand on it in other gears, no slip. On Sunday I had to featherfoot it to keep it from slipping in fifth. Other gears were fine. But I don't see what the gear would have to do with it -- the clutch is in front of the gearbox.

I recognize that I'm probably due for a new clutch, and probably a new rear main seal (there's some oil on the bottom of the trans that's thin like 5W30 from the engine and doesn't smell like trans oil.

Chuck Tribolet

Reply to
Chuck Tribolet
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There is more torque load on the clutch in the higher gears, just like there is when you are going up a hill.

This is the first signs of a clutch going out, slipping in high gear up a hill.

Reply to
Steve T

Shouldn't torque load be a function of what the engine can put out, and therefore independent of what gear you are in? I tried to provoke the problem in the lower gears by standing on the gas, and no slippage.

Reply to
Chuck Tribolet

therefore independent

Less torque because of the higher RPM. As the other poster said, they always start to slip in the high gear (usually up hills) first. The longer you let it slip the more it's going to cost to fix.

Reply to
JimV

But if I'm at the same 2500-ish RPM, and stand on it third, shouldn't it slip? Same RPM, same engine torque output.

therefore independent

start to slip in the high gear (usually up hills)

Reply to
Chuck Tribolet

Nope.

Just like going up a hill puts more load on an engine, higher gears do as well. It's why the engine doesn't pull through the rev range as quickly in the higher gears, there is more load on it. Given the clutch is coupled directly to the engine, it sees this load.

Reply to
Steve T

No, it's less torque load because of the gear multiplication. The only time the clutch will see the WHOLE torque load the engine can produce is if you have enough load on the engine that it can't accelerate at wide open throttle, i.e. going up a steep hill in high gear.

Reply to
Steve T

Again in the lower gears you don't have the same LOAD against the clutch. In the lower gears it can accelerate the vehicle easier. Imagine if you put

1500 lbs of weight in the truck or were pulling a large trailer, the clutch would slip when it might not if you removed this load from the truck. It isn't about the torque output of the engine, it's the torque LOAD on it.
Reply to
Steve T

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