gear change problem

Knackered clutch.

oh dear! Will it last a few days or a few weeks?

if you drive gently and don't need many hill starts it may last a while. it is impossible to be certain, but it will get worse until it won't move at all.

mrcheerful

Depends on how bad it is, how many miles you do per day, and what kind of miles those are.

I've had a dying clutch last me a couple of months, but it wasn't too badly shot and my commute was pretty much traffic-free meaning very few gearchanges.

thank you, mr cheerful. I can assume it will be an expensive problem to solve.

Please leave a little bit of the previous message in, it makes it much easier to follow.

Just out of interest, what's the mileage on the car? Do you drive with your foot on the clutch pedal?

As for expense, it might not be too bad: it's worth checking with these clutch fast fit outfits. What will cost is when you agree for them to change your car's shockers / brakes / exhaust / everything else that needs changing.

"Just out of interest, what's the mileage on the car? Do you drive with your foot on the clutch pedal? "

Thanks. Mileage is 65,000km. I drive in London so there's a lot gear changing - but I hope i don't do unnecessary "foot on clutch pedal".

Picking a slightly higher gear than normal may promote life, if it starts to slip. For example, if you are in 5th at 30, then the torque transmitted through the clutch is much higher than if you're in 4th, or even 3rd. (assuming you're not accellerating hard.)

Likely clutch replacement cost will be about 200 pounds or a little more.

mrcheerful

Sorry, no. I think you mean picking a LOWER gear. You've actually made two contradictory statements!

Also, once the clutch starts to slip, it gets hot and this reduces the friction, so it slips even more. The best thing is to try to stop it slipping at all and if it gets bad, stop and let it cool down.

Of course, maybe it just needs adjustment and if this is the case, the sooner the better.

Rob Graham

Oops. I meant "higher gear ratio". If it's slipping in 5th, it probably won't in 3rd, where it'll be providing half the torque.