Focus Fanatics Forum banner
21 - 40 of 50 Posts
i completely understand what your saying here. when he told me it was the clutch smell, and i ride it too much, so i need to change the way i drive it. what i try to do now is once i shift, move my foot over so it doesnt rest on the pedal
+rep for courteous help
thats the best way...its hard to get in that habit in daily driving tho. trips are different. good luck with it.

also try not resting your heel all the way on the ground when your shifting because it prohibits you from moving your foot all the way off the pedal.
 
thanks for the rep btw
 
i agree with best, u just need to get used to how the clutch feels, try sitting in ur car with it off and try to get used to just using ur toe and not the whole foot. im glad the smell went away and i hope ur like ur new foci
 
they took the clutch out? did they make sure it was okay, meaning no damage? u might just wanna have them put a new one in anyway. it seems kinda early for that to happen, even if you were riding it a lot. unless it was so bad, you were grinding it all the time.
 
No they took it out for a drive I think he said.

Ok lets get technical here. When you "ride" a clutch it can really wear it out quick. Say you ride around with your foot on the clutch all the time or even just have it resting on it at a standstill. Not saying have it pushed in all the way but just resting on it. Now this little bit of pressure causes the slave to protrude out ever so much making slight contact with the pressure plate. The pressure plate in turn releases a very minut amount of pressure on the clutch disc and flywheel. Not enough to disengage it fully but just enough to cause a very small amount of slipping on the friction surfaces. This causes that burning smell and over time will develop hot spots on the flywheel and pressure plate ending up in an expensive, pre-mature clutch job.

Basically while driving just keep your foot off the clutch unless you need it to change gears.

lol I remember my first clutch in my 94 Accord.... Sure fried that thing. Not from riding the clutch but just from being a crappy driver.... lol
 
interesting justin, i will keep it in mind, to keep my foot off more often.

should be covered under the 100k anyways right
 
Discussion starter · #28 ·
actually no. clutch is not covered because everyone drives it differently. at least thats what i was told
 
hmm my dealer said they cover the clutch, engine, its components, and the transmission
 
Do you hold the clutch in at stop lights, turns and stop signs? If so, stop it... Put the car in neutral and release the clutch... otherwise the assembly gets extremely hot...
 
i say the clutch is part of the powertrain and should be covered under the powertrain warranty. um and u have an 08 even if u were riding the clutch, it shouldnt be going out so soon. i would just put in an aftermarket clutch like something that is stage 2
 
damn i got 25k on my 07 and im hard as hell on my clutch, sit at stop light and keep it down in gear. Sometimes i catch my self with the clutch in coasting. And of course burnouts and powershifting and ive never smelled the clutch smell from mine. (hope im not knocking myself)
 
Sitting in gear isn't bad for the clutch, but it ages the throwout bearing. Same thing for coasting with the clutch pressed. Throwout bearings last a long time, are cheap, and are replaced any time you pull the tranny for anything. I wouldn't be worried; what you're doing is pretty much what it's made for. Just don't ride the clutch.

In some states, at least AL, it's illegal to coast in neutral, which is a stupid and unenforceable law. Might have had a reason for it back in the day, but it's inked on a page somewhere and needs to be scratched out. Coasting is good, especially these days. Random info!

Powershifting is definitely bad for our clutches, but most people don't know what that really is. Shifting fast at high rpm is ok if done smoothly. Powershifting means leaving the throttle on the floor and shifting as quickly as possible without lifting. On some cars it's worth a few tenths in the quarter mile. If anyone actually does regular burnouts, then they should know the risks, and have bigger things to be worried about.
 
The warranty on the clutch is 12,000 miles. If you burned or killed or TSB'ed your clutch (SVT guy speaking here), the new clutch is warrantied for 12,000 miles.

However, you're at the mercy of the stealership, if you had a problem with the original clutch, had it replaced under warranty and the same problem resurfaced before 12,000 miles (and it was not a severe driveability problem) the dealer could say that it was normal behavior and you'd be out of luck (or have to go to another stealership).
 
When I learned to drive my first car, which was a stick, I taught myself to put my shifting foot back on the floor next to the seat, so that there was no way I could possibly ride the clutch. Also Ford will not warrenty any type of wearable parts like clutches and brakes. These all wear different to each driver.
 
I think everyone who drives a manual transmission burns up a clutch fairly quickly in their first vehicle. After spending close to $1k to have it repaired, everyone adjusts how they drive and starts to take people who say "keep your foot off the clutch if you're not shifting gears" seriously.

My first vehicle was a 66 Nova with a 3 speed column shift manual transmission. I burned up the first clutch in about 6 months, but I have no idea how burned up that clutch was before that. I ended up paying a guy a good amount of money for me at the time- about $300, keeping in mind that at the time I was making $3.86/hr which was minimum wage in 1987. He did show me how to install a clutch myself, but over the next year the clutch didn't go out.

You're fortunate to have this experience early on, and not after having to pay 2 months salary savings for a new clutch. I think you'll be fine now [thumb]
 
When I learned to drive my first car, which was a stick, I taught myself to put my shifting foot back on the floor next to the seat, so that there was no way I could possibly ride the clutch. Also Ford will not warrenty any type of wearable parts like clutches and brakes. These all wear different to each driver.
crap. now im gonna have to pay that much more attn.
 
dropping the tranny on FWD cars aren't easy, so if you need to do it, you had better be prepared!!! lol long day, good music, good company, etc.
 
21 - 40 of 50 Posts