I have a 92 Saturn SL2, 5 speed manual. I put in a new clutch (purchased at Advanced Auto Parts) in March of this year. It's been fine until suddenly Thursday night...
- At the last stop sign before home, it was difficult to get back into first gear
- As the clutch came out, there was a bad vibration and the RPM count seemed atypically high
- It did go and made the last two blocks. The smell was a burning smell, but not so much oil. It reminds me more of burning aluminum (like in an electrical fire)
- The transmission case fluid was at the add pint line, so we added a pint.
- I coaxed it into first and even 2nd and reverse.
- I looked at it on blocks - no sign of any extra fluid loss
- There is vibration in the clutch pedal even in neutral
- After a little RPM runups, the vibration is largely gone, but the clutch is slipping badly; I can let the clutch out with the break on and it doesn't kill the engine
- One other piece of background: I slopily let the engine oil get down to 1 QT below the add point (i.e., I put 2 quarts in). The engine seems to be running fine now, however.
Question: What might have caused the short term bad vibration? Is it plausible that I just got a bad clutch? What might I have done wrong when I put the clutch in to cause it to go south in 8 months?
Thanks for any thoughts!
Thomas.