i dun goofed?

[CaptainSlow]

Good luck! I did the same thing when I bought my first 5-speed ('94 FD). Have to learn sometime

Just keep in mind the clutch is considered a wear item, and is not covered under warranty.

[jarviz]

Originally Posted by Tiremonkey0824

First standard? Haha, good thing it's under warranty

I heard burnt clutches aren't covered under warranty because it's caused by the driver... could be wrong though.

You might wanna look into that before completely tearing up the clutch.

Originally Posted by Andyx5044

just took her out and didnt stall her =D now to learn how to go up hill

Now you will definitely stall her. There's nothing like a clean 1-2 upshift on an uphill haha.

[CaptainSlow]

Originally Posted by jarviz

I heard burnt clutches aren't covered under warranty because it's caused by the driver... could be wrong though.

You might wanna look into that before completely tearing up the clutch.



Now you will definitely stall her. There's nothing like a clean 1-2 upshift on an uphill haha.

Clutches are not covered by warranty unless it is determined to be a defect in the clutch assembly itself (if the organic material separated from the clutch assembly, for example). Other than that, it's considered to be a big brake pad. The faster you go through it, the faster you'll have the opportunity to pay to have it replaced.

[Andyx5044]

Originally Posted by jarviz

I heard burnt clutches aren't covered under warranty because it's caused by the driver... could be wrong though.

You might wanna look into that before completely tearing up the clutch.



Now you will definitely stall her. There's nothing like a clean 1-2 upshift on an uphill haha.

do i switch into 2nd immediately? i heard you have to get out of 1st ASAP for any driving

PS: my clutch should be fine, i brought her home and no clutch smell at all and when i was practicing with my windows down.

[cwb48]

Originally Posted by jarviz

I heard burnt clutches aren't covered under warranty because it's caused by the driver... could be wrong though.

The good news here is that the burning smell when you first took it home probably wasn't the clutch. Mine also had a burnt paint or plastic smell for the first 200 or 300 miles- common with new cars. And stalling doesn't damage the clutch as much as slipping it under power does, so I wouldn't worry that you've damaged the clutch.

[dem00n]

Don't forget to find a steep hill and practice on it....a lot of people learning forget to tackle those and when the day comes, you'll regret it!
Good luck!

[CaptainSlow]

do i switch into 2nd immediately? i heard you have to get out of 1st ASAP for any driving

No, that's not true at all. You don't "have" to do anything...it's all up to your driving style. The only thing you really want to avoid is DOWNSHIFTING to a gear that is too low, which may cause the engine to over-rev and get damaged (or blow up)...most current transmissions have lockouts to prevent this, but yeah...just be aware of that.

In my current car, I normally will just let off on the clutch slowly in first until the car is moving and the clutch is fully engaged. Of course, this car has more torque, and I'm not sure if that will work on an FR-S...you may have to give a little gas to go.

In general, you want to "slip" the clutch as little as possible...that's basically about it. You will get better with time, but just keep in mind the more you slip the clutch (meaning the flywheel is turning, but the clutch isn't fully engaged...the organic material on the clutch isn't "grabbing" the flywheel, it's just spinning, or "slipping" against it) the faster you will burn your clutch out.

I agree on trying to find a hill, although I recommend a steep driveway (if you can find one). That way you don't have to worry about someone pulling up behind you and getting RIGHT on your ass (since you will probably roll back a bit at first before you get the technique down)

[jarviz]

Originally Posted by Andyx5044

do i switch into 2nd immediately? i heard you have to get out of 1st ASAP for any driving

PS: my clutch should be fine, i brought her home and no clutch smell at all and when i was practicing with my windows down.

No that's not true, especially not for a sports car such as this one. You can switch to second whenever you want. When I want the additional pick-up/acceleration, I'll upshift to second at 4-5krpm. but if you're still in the break-in period, don't push the car too hard.

If you switch to second too early (like at 5-10mph) while going uphill, you might have a hard time moving and see the accords and corollas blowing by you haha.

Originally Posted by cwb48

And stalling doesn't damage the clutch as much as slipping it under power does, so I wouldn't worry that you've damaged the clutch.

I was trying to upshift yesterday, accelerating and gassing it pretty hard on the freeway, and when I went from 4th to 5th. I felt a grinding sensation coming from the shift knob. I'm pretty sure I messed up when I changed gears - is that what slipping the clutch means?

[Andyx5044]

good thing i have a pretty steep hill on my driveway.. hopefully i dont lunge all the way into my house lol. im pretty sure i did burn the clutch on the way home though. i was riding the hell out of it.

[Andyx5044]

Originally Posted by jarviz

No that's not true, especially not for a sports car such as this one. You can switch to second whenever you want. When I want the additional pick-up/acceleration, I'll upshift to second at 4-5krpm. but if you're still in the break-in period, don't push the car too hard.

If you switch to second too early (like at 5-10mph) while going uphill, you might have a hard time moving and see the accords and corollas blowing by you haha.



I was trying to upshift yesterday, accelerating and gassing it pretty hard on the freeway, and when I went from 4th to 5th. I felt a grinding sensation coming from the shift knob. I'm pretty sure I messed up when I changed gears - is that what slipping the clutch means?

either you let the clutch out too fast or it wasnt fully engaged... its harder said than done lol

[CaptainSlow]

I felt a grinding sensation coming from the shift knob. I'm pretty sure I messed up when I changed gears - is that what slipping the clutch means?

No, that means the clutch wasn't disengaged when you went to shift into gear. You won't feel anything when you slip a clutch...you may smell it though. You most likely lifted your foot off too early.

Simple procedure when the car is already moving (getting started is the difficult part):

- Let off of accelerator pedal
- Push clutch pedal in quickly
- Shift out of one gear and into the other (while holding the clutch pedal down)
- Let out on clutch quickly and smoothly while simultaneously pressing the accelerator slightly

[CaptainSlow]

I guess lets start with this...do you understand what a clutch does in the drivetrain? It's OK if you don't, but if you do not it would be very helpful to understand what is actually happening. Visualizing the system always helps me figure out what I should be doing with it to get it to do what I want it to do.

[CaptainSlow]

I'll assume you don't (if you do, I apologize...maybe this will be helpful to someone else).

I'll stay out of the technical stuff just to keep it simple.

The engine obviously makes the power. The transmission is what transfers that power to the wheels. Normally the engine is connected directly to the clamping together of the transmission via the clutch (attached to the transmission) and flywheel (attached to the engine). When you push the clutch pedal down, the clutch is "disengaged" from the flywheel (the engine is not connected to the transmission). This is why you can rev in with the clutch pushed in and the car won't go anywhere. The transmission must be disengaged from the engine in order to shift gears (unless you rev-match, which is an advanced technique you don't need to worry about).

So, to get the car moving, you need to gradually connect the transmission to the engine. If you do it too quickly, the engine may stall (the rolling resistance of the car is more than the engine torque can sustain, so it "stalls"). If you do it too slowly, that flywheel will be spinning against the clutch surface, wearing it down (similar to a brake pad against a brake rotor).

To change gears, you need to disengage the transmission from the engine (push the clutch pedal down), shift gears, and re-engage the transmission (let up on the clutch).

To slow, you can downshift. Think of a bike...low gears, your feet are going like crazy, but you really aren't going anywhere fast. High gears have your feet going more slowly, but you're actually travelling quite quickly. Cars are the same way. Think of the engine as your feet and the transmission being those gears. If you're in a high gear, you may be moving fast, but the RPMs are lower...if you want to slow, you can shift down, which makes the engine RPMs go higher (feet are pedaling faster), but the car go slower (bike is moving slower). As I said before, if you downshift too much, the engine (or your feet) can't keep up with the speed, and it goes crazy.

To stop, you need to disengage the engine from the transmission...remember, they are connected, so if the transmission is engaged and you slow to 0mph, your engine will stall to 0 RPMs. Either push the clutch in and hold it (keeping the transmission disconnected from the engine), or push the clutch in, shift to neutral (disengaging the gears inside the transmission), and let up on the clutch. That way, the transmission is still connected to the engine, but no gears are actually engaged.

Hope this helps someone!

[JTM]

Originally Posted by jarviz

I was trying to upshift yesterday, accelerating and gassing it pretty hard on the freeway, and when I went from 4th to 5th. I felt a grinding sensation coming from the shift knob. I'm pretty sure I messed up when I changed gears - is that what slipping the clutch means?

It called "Grinding a Gear", and as Andy pointed out the cause is driver error on clutch engagement. You either let up on the clutch before you were completely in 5th or you push from 4th to 5th before you fully engaged the clutch. Most likely you let up early.

Don't stress about it too much, and just keep practicing.

For those that are learning, pick up some cheap soccer cones for your parking lot practice to create a small road course with turns and stops. The constant need to change speed and shift will help you learn faster and better prepare you for real traffic.

The biggest mistake you can make is trying to learn on a long straight road, because once you shift into 6th you won't have to do anything for miles and you don't get the repetition needed to quickly form health driving habits. Oh and practice your panic stops. Good luck to all those learn to drive stick.