Ferrari worn out clutch symptoms

[456GD]

Hello, I would appreciate your experience. What are the “symptoms” of a worn out clutch?

I had a few “sticky” gear changes the other day, never felt it so sticky before. Could that be because of a worn out clutch? Any other thoughts?

[IainZ]

456GD said:

Hello, I would appreciate your experience. What are the “symptoms” of a worn out clutch?

I had a few “sticky” gear changes the other day, never felt it so sticky before. Could that be because of a worn out clutch? Any other thoughts?

Best way to detect a weak/wearing clutch in any manual is to put it in 4th gear at about 30 & stand on the gas (in an NSL zone of course) . This puts lots of torque through the clutch & if its going to slip you'll know about it (engine revs will rise but you won't be accelerating).

Assuming yours is a manual "sticky gear changes" might be some kind of problem in the gearbox, possibly a gearbox that's leaking oil or maybe something as simple as the shifter mechanism needing to be re-aligned.

Doesn't dound like a clutch issue but either way with the price of Ferrari gearboxes I'd take it to someone if you are not sure.

Edited by IainZ on Monday 17th January 22:20

[Jonty355]

Had it been stood for a while since you last used it? Just wondering if it needs a few miles putting on the clock to free it up? I find if I've not driven the 355 much that it never feels quite as free and easy as when its been used oftenly.

By the way, your 456 is bloody gorgeous!!!

[D_G]

Could be the clutch dragging, this is totally different than slippage as discribed above. This happens when the centre friction plate doesn't disengage fully from the pressure plate when the clutch is depressed and can cause sticky gear changes. What gears are the problem and does it change hot / cold?
Could also be a gearbox issue and something as simple as low or worn out oil.

[456GD]

I did a return trip to Southampton this Saturday and the issue appeared on Sunday morning. I do not use it for comute but since I do not have any other car I do use it once a week or so.

The first peculiar thing that happened was when I started the engine. I had the gear in neutral but the car sort of rolled backward a bit (on flat terrain) and I had to apply the handbrake to make sure that it doesn’t move. Never happened before as well.

Then I drove around a bit and had it cleaned and taking it to the garage to park it and I was struggling with the rear and first gear (made parking a bit of an adventure).

I had the gearbox oil changed as part of a 18k service this summer. If I see this next weekend again it’s going to a specialist... again.