OT: Clutch lifespan

The shortest clutch lifetime was on a friend's Ford escort in the 80's. It exploded (big bang with a bunch of other parts) while still under warranty and Ford tried to call it a wear out item and didn't want to cover it although they were going to cover the rest of the repairs.

Sure, they wear out eventually, but they wear from sliding against the pressure plate and flywheel just as brakes wear out from sliding against the rotors or drums. Less sliding equals less wear. Since you are driving most on the highway, you are getting very little wear per mile and proper clutch usage minimizes wear even when starting out and shifting fairly frequently.

I've never yet worn out a clutch in a passenger vehicle, but then I've never taken one past about 150,000 miles. I did drive tractor trailers years ago and I've seen them go beyond 300,000 miles on a clutch if shifted properly.

Matt

Art, what part of "highest mileage" didn't you understand? :-)

Matt

Thanks guys. I'd wondered about it since I intend to keep this car until the wheels (literally) come off...but now I'm wondering if an engine rebuild will occur before a clutch replacement. But running Mobil 1 perhaps they'll both happen after 300K.

Richard

My GLH-T had about 150K miles before the original clutch started to slip. I mostly took it easy on the car, but I did do hard launches on ocassion. A car that is babied I can see lasting 200k.

------------ Alex

Often the throw-out bearing will fail before the clutch disk fails, unless the rear main seal fails enough to get oil on the clutch.

Matt

Who crowned you group monitor? Answer: No one.

Who stole your sense of humor and ability to understand what a smiley means? And do you talk to yourself often?

Matt

Sorry I forgot my :-)