Signs of a slipping clutch?

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 11:42 am

What're the telltale signs of the slipping clutch?Perhaps..shifting gears, hitting the gas, and waiting for the car to actually speed up with the engine revving?Seriously though..are there any telltale signs?Also, what would be the reccomended replacement? I only have 22k miles on it. In a few months, I might be able to afford a non-warranty replacement clutch...because this is rediculous..

B18B · Post by **B18B** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 2:35 pm

Not that I have any experience of a slipping clutch in my own Vibe (its an auto), but in my other car, clutch slippage was most prominent during my N-1 and 1-2 shift. For me, it was a 1-2 second sensation, right after I had completed the shift (on the gas, no clutch) where power delivery felt VERY uneven. I'd feel a bit of acceleration, then it would taper off, before fully catching on, whereby the engine's power delivery would return to normal. What's odd is that the car did that around 170 000 Kms, but now that i'm up to 190k, its gone. Maybe I just got used to it? 22 000 Miles is what, 36 000 Kms? That seems really early for the clutch to be going, unless you've really been hard on it (hard launches, powershifting, regular high-RPM shifting, etc...)

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 1:52 am

Nah, not really hard on it. I've never been able to do power launches because the clutch would never catch, anyway..High shifting sometimes on the highway, and lift now and again..but not hard-core racing, or even racing to start with..

B18B · Post by **B18B** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:27 am

Hmmmmm...well, barring some sort've factory defect, a clutch worn that early might be indicative of some bad habits you may have developed during the course of your Vibe's 36000 Kms (sorry, can't help but make the conversion ). For instance, leaning on the clutch pedal during a stop light, or perhaps riding the clutch from gear to gear. Outside of that, i'm not sure what it could be as the clutch, like the brakes, is also a wear and tear item whose life on the car is closely intertwined with the driver's driving habits...But who knows? Maybe GM's supplier for the clutches on the Vibe are of similar quality to the OEM Conti tires....

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 9:12 am

Yeah, there've been a few people reporting they've gotten their clutch replaced under warranty. I've been pretty careful with it..no racing, no spinning the wheels, and i'm pretty sure the habits you mentioned I stay away from 90% of the time (there's always SOMEtimes...)Eh, I've got some good work comin' up, maybe I'll just spring for an ACT clutch or something.

FusionVGT · Post by **FusionVGT** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 9:48 am

Here's the old-fashioned way to know if a clutch is slipping. Wide open in first gear to your torque peak, then shift into fourth and floor it. If you bog, your clutch is fine, if you don't bog, the clutch isn't holding.

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 12:14 pm

Quote, originally posted by FusionVGT Â»Here's the old-fashioned way to know if a clutch is slipping. Wide open in first gear to your torque peak, then shift into fourth and floor it. If you bog, your clutch is fine, if you don't bog, the clutch isn't holding.Awesome! That's a test I can try...i'll give that a shot tomorrow.

RIT · Post by **RIT** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 11:10 pm

Here is a better, and less intrusive way. From a dead stop, put on your emergency brake, and then put the car in 5th gear. Now, slowly release the clutch without giving any gas. The car SHOULD stall if the clutch is OK. If the clutch slips, the the engine will continue to run, and the car will not stall. If this happens, get a new clutch SOON, before you get stranded where you don't want to be.

drummerdude · Post by **drummerdude** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 6:23 am

Quote, originally posted by RIT Â»Here is a better, and less intrusive way. From a dead stop, put on your emergency brake, and then put the car in 5th gear. Now, slowly release the clutch without giving any gas. The car SHOULD stall if the clutch is OK. If the clutch slips, the the engine will continue to run, and the car will not stall. If this happens, get a new clutch SOON, before you get stranded where you don't want to be. I think you mean start off in 1st gear. If you start off in 5th with no gas, you're going to stall unless you have the best clutch/foot combination in the world!

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 6:34 am

Nah, the 5th gear test makes sense. Since 5th is less than a 1:1, if the clutch is hosed, it wouldn't stall out.I tried the 1st to 4th test this morning... Coming from 7800 rpm in first to 4th, the engine dropped to 4000 rpm for about 10 seconds, then started accelerating...no bogging... How long d'you think it'd take to get the clutch replaced if I go to pontiac? Which..sucks, because I -need- to get it done under warranty.. I just don't have the money to go out and get it done otherwise!

FusionVGT · Post by **FusionVGT** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:48 am

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa Â»I tried the 1st to 4th test this morning... Coming from 7800 rpm in first to 4th, the engine dropped to 4000 rpm for about 10 seconds, then started accelerating...no bogging... Your clutch is fine. If it were slipping, you wouldn't have seen the RPM drop the way it did.

Psychobroker · Post by **Psychobroker** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:51 am

Justin, was there any one particular situation where you lost hydrolic pressure at the clutch? If so, you may have just driven it a bit hard/long, causing the fluid to reach its boiling point, causing viscosity and pressure drop i.e. slipping clutch. This happened to me on the way to a Dodger game. It was a build up of a long drive in bumper to bumper traffic, capped by a LONG wait up a hill (Dodger Stadium). My clutch pedal was practically on the floor, but it turned out to be boiling fluid. Since then, the clutch has been fine...

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:14 am

Nah, no complete loss.. I think it's stuff more like.. when in gear, I can push down to full throttle, and actually rev the engine IN GEAR, all gears, I believe..before the car actually catches up and accelerates..I dunno..i'm just paranoid about it..

RIT · Post by **RIT** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 12:03 am

What you are describing really sounds like a clutch slipping. Since there is a mechanical coupling between the engine and the wheels, there should be no lag between the tach moving up the scale, and the speedometer moving up the scale - with a manual transmission. Granted, the relationship will be different, depending on whhich gear you are in, but there should not be a big increase in engine RPMs, without an increase in car speed. Now with an automatic - that is a diifferent story!!! There will be a lag between the two - thats the reason why you bought a manual transmission - to avoid these automatic-fluid coupling losses.

FusionVGT · Post by **FusionVGT** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 3:10 am

Clutches slip at high RPM before any other condition. That emergency brake/5th gear thing wouldn't tell you anything until the disc was totally spent. If I had to point at anything (especially since it's not a constant thing) I'd say a sporadic loss of clamping force at the pressure plate. This could come from either a bad batch of pressure plates, or a probled with the slave cylinder. This would also explain why other people have had problems with the burning. Either way, a dealer should fix this under warranty, but good luck finding one who will.

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 3:40 am

Alright... yeah, in first gear, it seems to be pretty peppy. Once you get in 2nd, 3rd, etc... it starts letting you rev up at 3-4k rpm without the speed of the car responding.. I might try to take it by the local pontiac tomorrow.. I need to drive up to NJ on the 24th, so I NEED the car by then, clutch fixed, or not..Thanks guys!

goodvibe · Post by **goodvibe** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 9:11 pm

The clutch is spent. Your 4th gear test showed that pretty clearly when your tach hung at 4k for 10 sec. while you were on the gas. Good luck.

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 1:26 pm

Yeah, clutch is -definitely- gone. Gonna go to the local pontiac ASAP. I just made a trip up to Taco Bell and hit the rev limiter trying to shift into third. And no, I wasn't coming from lift, or driving hard, or anything like that. It just -never- caught.22,100 miles ticked by on the odometer as that happened.

FusionVGT · Post by **FusionVGT** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 1:06 pm

Did you have to tow it home or did the clutch catch again?

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 4:17 am

It caught again. It seems to be fine if I really baby it. I just brought it over to the local Pontiac place and they agreed it'd be bad to get stuck on I-95 with a dead clutch. The guy said he'd see what he could do about the warranty. Since I brought it there a month or two ago about the noise the clutch was making, and i've only had the car for a year and a couple of weeks, they should be able to do it.So i'm waiting for them to call me back either tonight, or tomorrow morning letting me know what the deal is. I'm praying it can get done under warranty, because I don't have the money to do it otherwise until i'm back from my 2,000+ mile journey..

MadBill · Post by **MadBill** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 11:19 am

Part of the trouble is that as soon as a clutch starts to slip even a little, the slippage wears it about 100 times faster than normal, and in no time at all it's totally toasted and the dealer thinks someone's abused the hell out of it. As far as I'm concerned, if you push a clutch down at highway speed in high gear, put the gas to the floor and drop the clutch at say 5,000 RPM, the revs should drop in less than one second to road speed. Anything less means it's a worthless, feeble design with no reserve capacity at all, or it's on it's way out. I can't understand how Toyota/GM can come up with such a FEEB design for the big $$ GT, which has virtually the identical peak torque as the base engine. I haven't heard of a single case of clutch failure on a base Vibe! It can't be just that all you GT drivers are maniacs... I feel a poll coming on...

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 1:10 pm

Update:So...Lou Sobh Pontiac explained that the clutch is warrantied for 12,000 miles. If something internal was actually -broken-, like the pressure plate cracked, then it could be replaced under warranty, otherwise the clutch assembly is $894, plus 6 hours worth of labor.So...those of you who have performance clutches, what did you get? How much did it cost? All I can find online is the ACT Pressure plate..but no clutch kits..

Psychobroker · Post by **Psychobroker** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 6:52 am

Quote, originally posted by MadBill Â»Part of the trouble is that as soon as a clutch starts to slip even a little, the slippage wears it about 100 times faster than normal, and in no time at all it's totally toasted and the dealer thinks someone's abused the hell out of it. As far as I'm concerned, if you push a clutch down at highway speed in high gear, put the gas to the floor and drop the clutch at say 5,000 RPM, the revs should drop in less than one second to road speed. Anything less means it's a worthless, feeble design with no reserve capacity at all, or it's on it's way out. I can't understand how Toyota/GM can come up with such a FEEB design for the big $$ GT, which has virtually the identical peak torque as the base engine. I haven't heard of a single case of clutch failure on a base Vibe! It can't be just that all you GT drivers are maniacs... I feel a poll coming on...The problem is very simple. Vibe GT owners are running the Celica GT-S drivetrain (engine, tranny, clutch) on a car that weighs 300-350 lbs more...

MadBill · Post by **MadBill** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:00 am

A heavier vehicle will certainly make a bad situation worse, but the clutch's required capacity is determined by the engine's maximum torque, plus whatever 'insurance' capacity, abuse and durability factors the manufacturer chooses to include. If it is to uncomplainingly operate for many thousands of miles this is essential, since the operator can't be expected to be lifetime perfect in every start and every shift. Clearly, the GT clutch fails this standard.

elrodvoss · Post by **elrodvoss** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 2:20 pm

I got a question on this as well.I got a 2003 GT stock. With the gas prices as they are, I havent driven it on the highway that much, but today I was driving and I noticed that when I was in 6th gear and I stepped on the gas, the RPM would climb 1-2k RPM with little speed.I was doing about 60 MPH at 3K RPM. In the lower gears, I didnt have an issue. If I was in 3rd gear and at 3K RPM and I stomped it I would jump like normal.Is this the signs of a clutch wearing out?

prathman · Post by **prathman** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:17 am

Quote, originally posted by elrodvoss Â»I got a 2003 GT stock. With the gas prices as they are, I havent driven it on the highway that much, but today I was driving and I noticed that when I was in 6th gear and I stepped on the gas, the RPM would climb 1-2k RPM with little speed.Doesn't look good. Anytime you're in gear (with foot off the clutch) and can see the tach move up without a corresponding speed increase is a clear indication that the clutch is slipping.

Celtic_Curse · Post by **Celtic_Curse** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:16 am

Alright need help. I've noticed that when accelarating quickly in my Vibe in Second gear when I shift to third there is sometimes a stall in speed?? The car revs but the speed doesn't keep up, usually only happens in third gear? Is that my clutch starting to go?

Celtic_Curse · Post by **Celtic_Curse** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 11:59 pm

Any advise would be appreciated. Sounds like it is slipping just want the expert opinions.

prathman · Post by **prathman** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:38 am

Quote, originally posted by Celtic_Curse Â»Sounds like it is slipping just want the expert opinions.Yes, when the clutch is engaged (foot off the pedal) it should form a solid mechanical link so any increase in engine speed would lead directly to a corresponding increase in wheel speed. If that's not the case then the clutch is slipping and it'll need to be fixed. Once slipping starts happening the clutch will usually wear out quite quickly.

Celtic_Curse · Post by **Celtic_Curse** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:59 am

Great. I was looking for a reason to swap out the clutch. Any recomendations as to what type especially when your FI?

LUVROK · Post by **LUVROK** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:06 pm

I'll be replacing the clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing and flywheel on my 05 GT with 42k miles in a couple of weeks. I bought a 4x4 ATV and aluminum trailer and have been towing an 1100 lb load up to 500 miles per weekend roundtrip once a month over the last year and it's taking it's toll now on the clutch. Especially towing the load up unpaved inclines, tires spinning, clutch burning.FWIW my brother is a Pontiac/GM mechanic and is going to help with the install. Pontiac does not recommend resurfacing the flywheel, they strongly recommend replacing. I was going to go with a lighter weight flywheel in the future but since I tow I am going to stick with a stock weight flywheel so I don't loose any lower RPM torque.

Herb · Post by **Herb** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:57 am

Anyone have an idea as to what to be aware of when a throw out bearing goes?I was just at a dealer body shop, they had to replace a roof rail gasket they messed up during repairs.Anyways, the rep told me that he thought my throw out bearing was going and I should get it looked at.I've never owned a manual transmission car long enough to have any problems develop so I don't know what I should be aware of.But if I need a new throw out bearing, I might as well get a new clutch put in, or so I figure.I assume the entire transmission comes out for such a service so I was wondering if I shouldn't have the rear main seal replaced. I'm not leaking oil now, but if it's all opened up.Still all this is pre-mature until I get a second opinion as to whether or not I have a throw out bearing problem.I would rather pinch pennies towards that DD Performance intake manifold

LUVROK · Post by **LUVROK** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:59 am

I wouldn't touch the clutch or throw out bearing unless your clutch starts slipping, you have trouble with clutch engagement or you start hearing the bearing squeal. If you replace the flywheel and clutch you are looking at around $500 - $700 in parts. Unless you go with a lighter aluminum flywheel and clutch kit for cheap on eBay. I don't want a lighter flywheel since I tow.

Herb · Post by **Herb** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:52 am

I'm not really sold on the lighter flywheel bit. If I were to get the clutch done I think I'd probably go with http://www.neverenoughauto.com...=6886and have the stock flywheel resurfaced.

Signs of a slipping clutch?

Signs of a slipping clutch?

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