Eventually, everything that wears, wears out. But eventually can be farther down the road. A clutch – more finely, the clutch disc – is a wear and tear part, very much like brake pads in an almost literally the same sense. When you release the clutch pedal, the clutch disc grabs (and holds) the flywheel that spins and thereby mechanically connects the engine to the transmission – which then transmits the running engine’s power to the wheels via the driveshaft. This is why – in a car with a manual transmission – it is necessary to push the clutch pedal in when the vehicle comes to a stop – if you don’t want to stall the engine. Because the engine – even if it is very powerful – does not have enough power to spin the Earth.
So, the wear and tear that eventually wears out a clutch occurs during the engaging and releasing of the clutch, very much in the way that brake pads wear out over time by pressing down on the brake pedal, which causes the pad material to come into contact with the spinning surface of the brake rotor; the friction from this contact wears away the material. This is inevitable – assuming you want the car to slow down. But you can slow down the progression of wear by anticipating the need to slow down and using aerodynamic drag and loss of forward momentum to slow the car before you begin to apply the brakes – and by braking progressively rather than by flooring the brake pedal suddenly. Such practices can greatly extend the service life of brake pads (and rotors).
Clutches aren’t much different in this way. You can decrease the wear – and so extend the service life of the clutch – by driving in such a way as to reduce the friction that inevitably wears out the clutch.
Here’s how you do that:
Engage (push in) the clutch smoothy and gently and release it the same way. The trick here is to do that without riding it – which means leaving it partially engaged for longer than necessary rather than all the way in or all the way out. When it is partially engaged, friction is increased – and therefor, so is wear. Again, the object here is to reduce friction to the extent possible.
It’s a skill developed over time, like any other.
Another way to reduce friction – and so, wear – is to avoid coming to a complete stop whenever possible. When you start from a dead stop, friction is maximized because of the having to get all that weight moving. The clutch has to take the load and that increases the wear. There is much less wear when you leverage motion to your advantage. Put another way, it imparts less friction to let the clutch out when the vehicle is already rolling a little. If you learn to flow with the traffic, you can often avoid the need to come to a complete stop and so reduce the wear imparted to the clutch.
One more thing you can do is to reduce the amount of shifting you do. For example, you can sometimes go from second to fourth – and fourth to sixth (assuming a six speed manual) if the road is flat and you’re not in a hurry. The less often the clutch is disengaged and engaged (which you di in between each shift) the less wear there is.
The key here is to avoid lugging the engine by leaving the transmission in a gear that’s too high for speed you’re doing. It is – again – one of these things you become adept at doing over time, just by the doing of it.
Premature downshifting is another thing you want to avoid, if you want to avoid having to install a new clutch for as long as possible. The ideal thing here is to learn to time each shift – up and down – to road speed, such that the engine and transmission are as closely synced together as possible. Unless you’re trying to accelerate as quickly as possible (and if you are, then obviously you are not worried about reducing wear and increasing the service life of the clutch) your goal should be the least amount of engine speed (RPM) increase up or down as you shift from gear to gear.
There is another – related – thing you can do that is also important to do.
Most manual-equipped vehicles made since the mid-1980s have hydraulically assisted clutches, to make the operation of engaging and disengaging the clutch physically easier (i.e., less leg strength and effort) and to reduce wear and increase the cutch’s service life. But many people do not know that this hydraulic assist system exists. More finely, that there is hydraulic fluid (brake fluid) in a reservoir similar to a brake master cylinder that needs to be changed out periodically, just like the brake fluid in the braking system. If the fluid isn’t changed, it breaks down over time and the longer you go the more likely it is that the clutch slave cylinder will fail – and in some vehicles, the only way to fix that is by removing the transmission (because that is the only way you can get at the bad slave cylinder) and at the point, you might as well just replace the clutch while you’re at it.
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Padagogy. Thank you.
Pedagogy, of course.
When I shift down, I usually double-clutch instead of relying on the synchro-mesh rings to match the engine to the transmission speed. Unnecessary? Perhaps, but I like it as part of the driving experience.
My grandfather insisted that I be able to float gears before ever letting me drive on my own. The clutch is for starting and stopping, not shifting…..some of those old truck drivers would sit in the passenger seat with a stick, and tune up any bad habits you may have acquired.
Sadly, even in the big trucks the manual transmission is a dying art. I had an over the road driver walk up to me recently and ask if he could get in my truck and take a picture of the interior (cool young guy – said he collects truck pictures) he came out shocked that my 13 speed didn’t have the pattern indicator on the knob, and wanted to know how I could tell what gear it was in. Got me feeling really old…..
A car mechanic once told me that I should always pull on the parking brake in an automatic in order to avoid stretching the timing chain/belt if the car rolls a little. Would the same apply to manual transmissions? Does relying on compression in the engine while it is in gear after the car is parked to hold it in place cause the timing chain/belt to stretch or wear out?
In an automatic the park pin is holding all the load long before the engine sees any.
Only a manual would load up the engine like that, and I don’t see where it would have any effect on the timing chain. I’ve parked my K20 against the engine (park brake sticks – may fix that someday) for the last 25 years and never replaced a timing set FWIW.
Driving a vehicle with a manual transmission makes driving more engaging and enjoyable in my opinion. There are not many around anymore. I had a 1988 Ford Ranger I drove 215,000 miles on the same clutch before I sold it while still working fine. Motorcycles still have manual transmissions for the most part and are still really enjoyable to drive. I have driven manuals all my life, and I am teaching my grandchildren how to drive my ’73 CJ5 with a manual transmission and they really enjoy it.
The first clutch I saw was on television, a cartoon show named Clutch Cargo.
It was afternoon programming back about 1958 CE.
I was 12 years old when I first was taught how to use a clutch, a 1954 two-door Mercury with a V8 motor.
Burned up the clutch plate on a 1965 Ford pickup trying to move up a steep approach onto a highway. It takes time and practice to get the knack. Didn’t even have a driver’s license, when you’re 15 yo and on the farm, you can drive out in the sticks.
Living in Alaska and missing my Miata which is practically useless here, but what do I see in my apartment complex? A Chevy Trailblazer SS that is obviously broke down and in need of a major repair since it has not sold for months now.
Not really my cup of tea so I didn’t pay it any mind until it sat for as long as it has. Then I looked up what it was and it’s value if it was running and got a little bit interested. Then I looked through the window today, automatic tranny, fudge that. I dont want a corvette motor with an auto, prolly why it sits where it does today.
Hi J,
Yup. One of the endearing things (to me) about my little truck is that it has a manual. It makes what would otherwise be a boring, underpowered truck actually fun to drive. It is literally engaging. Most automatic-equipped cars aren’t, even the powerful ones – because there’s just not that much to do and you have less control over the driving action.
All well and good except I used to get stuck at stop lights on hills where I lived. I’m not the most gentle on a clutch, but I’m sure that contributed to premature wear. Even so, the clutch lasted a long time.
Regardless, I miss my manual truck, though I’m happy not to tow through heavy traffic with a stick. I would much rather pay for a new clutch than a new transmission.
Eric,
All good advice. I would (2) items; at a stop place the car in neutral and take your foot off the clutch to release wear on the throw-out bearing. Second, while driving, do not rest your hand on the shifter due to placing additional wear on the synchromesh gears.
Owner of a Datsun 2000 sports car for 46 years.
I’m 20. What’s a clutch?
Hi Hunter,
That’s funny – but also sad. A summer ago, I taught my 17-year-old niece how to drive stick. I hope someone can teach you, too!
Before coming to a stop, move the shifter to neutral without using the clutch.
Don’t stand the car with the clutch disengaged
Never touch the clutch pedal unless you are going to change gears
Double Clutch when downshifting.
There is no reason a clutch should not last for 200.000+Km.
Interesting to note is the absence of manual transmissions at all. The old school motor heads always bragged about how they could out shift an automatic. Since ZF Transmissions came out, this is no longer true. I have a ZF 8 speed that shifts gears in 3 milliseconds. You won’t even get your foot to the clutch pedal in that time. Also, Corvette has a standard and it’s rated slower than the automatic in 0-60 times.
DSG Gearboxes are heavier, more expensive and require much more maintenance. They are also a crashing bore to drive. I’m not hill climbing the car or running it on the Nürburgring so I will have nothing to do with them
But they’re gay.
Eric, my man — a large majority of today’s drivers would find your careful instructions as baffling as a thousand-page manual about making orbital adjustments for a satellite.
A third pedal — what’s that for? And what the hell does 2H-4H-N-4L mean?
Although the clutch disc in my Frontier was worn to the point that it didn’t engage until the pedal was almost all the way up, it was the throwout bearing that failed at around 160,000 miles, forcing replacement of the whole assembly.
As my favorite T-shirt says, ‘Real cars don’t shift themselves.’
https://tinyurl.com/y3bs69yt
I have a supercharged Dodge Charger that would beg to differ from you favorite T-shirt.
had a youth say “what are you doing with your hand with that stick’ Not kidding.
About half the population won’t even recognize the graphic as a shift pattern.
At least the airheaded actress Zsa Zsa Gabor knew what a pernundle (P-R-N-D-L) was.
Powerglide for the win!
When I was test driving my first Powerglide car, I’m driving on the highway 1-2 shift, all good. Still accelerating, waiting for the 2-3 shift. Waiting…, then I proclaim, “I’m not buying this car. third gear’s out!” Then I notice the trans marker – P-R-N-D-L. “Oh it’s a Powerglide.”
I did end up buying that 72 Chevelle. It was by far the best, most reliable car I ever owned. Or ever will own.
Our 71 two door Nova, same sentiment. What a great car. 307 V8, 3 speed automatic – yep we got a TH350 behind that 307. Some hot rodder at work was “hot” for those 307 heads, believe it was first year no lead heads so hardened valve seats and thick castings. We bought it used, 45k when we got it in ‘75. Sellers brother worked for the Chevy dealer she had him order it with factory custom paint ‘68 Camaro Hugger Orange. Double – – on the firewall plate of codes indicated special order paint. We NEVER should have sold it.
205,000 trouble free miles. One radiator, one vacuum modulator for the trans, several batteries. Commander cried her way out of several tickets -that 307 with 3.73 gears was a mover.
Fun fact, the 1950s Powerglides could be push started. If you let it run downhill or could get it rolling fast enough in neutral and pushed the ‘D’ button it would pop start like a stick.
I seem to recall reading the Powerglide push starting procedure in the owner’s manual of a 1964 Chevrolet … when drivers expected to have a workaround for a dead battery, and manufacturers advised how to do it.
Now you just call AAA or OnStar and wait helplessly like a lost waif, stranded on the road to serfdom.
I keep cables in the car. But can you jump start some of these new things? Guess I’ll find out when I try to be a good Samaritan for someone.
Show him an 8-track tape and really freak him out.
Really blow their mind – fix a balled up 8 track tape, open it up and respool the tape. Really impressed the date back in ‘74.
Lost arts of the ‘70s – who can connect an original Bic stick pen and an audio cassette tape? Bueller?
Hi Sparkey,
My ’76 TA still has the 8-track. I keep a Barry Manilow tape in the thing for people to marvel at!
Got 215,000 on mine right now, bought it new.
There also perfectly timed no clutch shifts. Sometimes a necessity on a motorcycle when your clutch cable or internal fork breaks on your hardley ableson.
A minor way of extending clutch life is to plan your route if you have a heavily loaded truck and a stop sign at the top of a steep hill. Steep hills in an old truck with an under powered engine and a heavy load are always fun. Planning a better route will save both your clutch and your money if this is part of your typical day.
Don’t forget street racing in a beat up 3/4 ton GMC may shorten clutch life, a lot. 🙁