Is my clutch on the way out?

[trimbo]

good morning, these are the symptoms;

- Biting point seems a bit inconsistent.
- I'm treating the clutch gently, but I'm getting clutch smells.
- Gear change feels slightly rougher.

Exige S2 25k miles

Is my clutch on borrowed time?

[piooly]

I cant pull off in my car using second gear really as the clutch fells like its really slipping. Its done that for 2 years and still works as long as I use first instead. Give it plenty of hammer and it seems fine....

[daves_gt3]

hi

sounds more like clutch slave or master cylinder to me.

if your got rubber contamination off the seals in the clutch fluid then that will be the casuse.

just undo the cap off the slave cylinder and have a look at the colour of the fluid, if its grey or black then its slave or master cylinder. dont think either are t obad to replace.

hope this helps

dave

[Sam_68]

Clutches on both my S1 Elises smelled a bit when I slipped them - think it must be something to do with the Elise aerodynamics drawing air from the engine bay into the cockpit.

Smell would be caused by a slipping clutch (ie clutch not engaging fully), whereas rough gear change (if clutch related)would be caused clutch not disengaging fully, so the two symptoms do not correlate.

As Dave said, inconsistent biting point coupled with rough gear selection sounds more likely to be caused by a fault with the hydraulics - master/slave cylinder or leak on the pipe that joins them. 'Red hose syndrome' can cause similar problems but, of course, S2 models shouldhave braided hoses and so should not suffer from this.

[trimbo]

thanks very much for the advice

[s7oneyuk]

Do your brakes feel OK? The clutch shares the master cylinder with the brake system. When i recently changed disks/pads i also changed the fluid. Whilst attempting to blead the system the clutch fealt really spongey. When i finally got around to bleeding the clutch the fluid was a really sh1tty colour (but when i bled the brakes it was quite clear). After doing this - the clutch felt much better under foot.

[speedyellow]

Is your car red?? I hear red cars are very prone to early clutch wear ;-)