Oops, tried accelerating in the wrong gear

snowdog

snowdog

snowdog

Soldato
Joined
27 Oct 2005
Posts
13,803
Location
Netherlands
I just burned a bit of my clutch, accidentally tried to accelerate in 3rd instead of first and and ended up dropping from 3k ish then it rose to 4.5 k before I stopped using the throttle, it smelled quite bad for 2 minutes after and took about 5-10 minutes for the smell to completely disappear.

Now, I'm posting this here, because I asked someone how much he reckoned wear and tear I accidentally caused on my clutch. Then he started on about exploding clutches, and that he wouldn't drive the car after... I think this is silly considering I have an idea how a clutch looks like, and if it would explode it would do so while heating up/under excessive stress, not after an accidental excessive stress.

Car accelerates the same as usual and I tried just accelerating hard in 3rd or fourth on the motorway ( from 40 mph to cruising speed) while already at speed to see if it slipped, it didn't, I've driven about 40-50 miles fine since I accidentally did it.


tl:dr : Is my clutch in danger of ''exploding'' ?
 
No, its probably fine.

Some of my older cars didn't like the clutch being cooked and would slip badly for up to a minute, only for me to rag the **** out of them again 10 minutes later.

Even if the clutch was to explode, I believe the chances of it breaching the gearbox bell housing are pretty low, I've seen a few pressure plates let go and just make a mess of the inside of the bell housing, new clutch and refit and they were fine. (Not that I'd want to test that theory at 8K RPM)
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't drive it. Think of the damage that could be done if it blows, which is now only a matter of time away.
 
Actually... I think there's a good chance it could be terminal, from what you've said.

I'd advise that you take it straight to a main dealer. A lot of people here will say otherwise, but you really can't be too sure. You'll thank me in the long run.
 
energy going through a clutch is pretty damn extreme. You seen the daaage and exploding cd can do imagine that 1000x greater.

Just take it in to get checked over
 
Chris1712 said:
I heard if you drive it to Poland they'll fit a new R-tronic gearbox from an R8 for £100.
Click to expand...
Yea but they'll do it in half a day and doing a job quickly guarantees it won't be any good.:( OP should have his clutch repaired by only the finest Italian craftsman who insists on only using dodo teeth as friction material.
 
Last edited:
Thanks, that's what I thought but some guy from OcUK I spoke to on steam told me to ask here ''better safe than sorry''.
 
sounds just like a bit of slippage? i'd say the clutch is on its way out if it slipped instead of bogged the engine down.

Only time i have 'exploded' a clutch was when drifting, the release bearing broke into pieces and took some of the ferrous material off the clutch, it still drove just vibrated lots, smellt and had to rev match to change gear.
 
Should be fine... tho no doubt taken a big chunk off the useful life of it... you can do that 3-4 times normally before you risk any serious (abnormal) problems.
 
LOL, ****.

It'll be fine, you just burnt the surface a bit, takes a while for the fumes to fully vent from the bell housing.

Wouldn't worry about it developing a judder either; it's clutches which never see any stress which do that.
 
BigglesPiP said:
Wouldn't worry about it developing a judder either; it's clutches which never see any stress which do that.
Click to expand...

Not so sure about that mate.....

Anyway, the OP's clutch has issues, he should have simply bogged the engine down not enduced a slip.

Its just a matter of time before its toast alas.....
 
As said above, i'd be more worried that it slipped in the first place. That in itself means new clutch time so it may as well be done now for peace of mind on all counts :)
 
Yea it'll probably fail in time if it slipped already, but it's much more likely to just start to slip more and more rather than explode.
 
As a couple of posts have said, slipping clutch when accelerating in too high a gear shows that your clutch is on the way out. Doubt it'll explode though.
 
snowdog said:
Thanks, that's what I thought but some guy from OcUK I spoke to on steam told me to ask here ''better safe than sorry''.
Click to expand...
:p:p:p

If I listened to everything that was said on OcUK I'd Never go out. :p

Men are supposed to be able to fix things themselves therefore ragging something to death is just prepping your next project.
You have about as much chance of blowing that clutch up as I have of being a successful F1 driver.

Just to point out the facts,
Your clutch slipped therefore the friction plate is worn, As the plate is Worn there is even less chance of it exploding as it has already got to the point of slippage when needed.
The only way it would explode is if it gripped to much & got snagged up or there is a fault in the metal from manufacturing.
Still I've never had one go on me & I've driven Hundred of old bangers around like a Looney.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom