I Know Nothing About Mechanics.....help

[HuckinD]

I was driving yesterday and went to overtake a tractor, I dropped down a gear and my revs went up to around 3,000 but the car failed to really accelerate. I thought I had dropped into the wrong gear so went up to the next gear and the Rev's stayed high and no real power. I did manage to over take but not the speed and power I would normally get. After pulling back in I went up and down the gears to see and the car functioned fine. I stopped about 5 minutes later and got a very strong smell through the vents as what I know as the smell you get when the clutch is on its way out.

I drove all the way to windsor from Oxford and the car peformed fine and when I stopped in windsor the smell in the engine was faint but nothing like the earlier overbearing smell.

I then parked up in a multistory and I could smell it again, although this could just me being paranoid and it could have been another car.

I then drove all the way home last night, approx 80 miles and I did not notice the smell again, the car still performed fine.

Are these the first signs that my clutch is on its way out??, my dad suggested it was clutch slip and not to worry as it can happen sometimes; but I am not mechanically mined and just a little paranoid now. Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated

Thanks

David

[ROYT]

Sounds like it is slipping, if it revs up with no road speed increase when accelerating hard uphill, it's definitely slipping.

Check if there is any adjustment on it,I know nothing about IS models

[briatore]

Hi David

Could it be that somehow the clutch pedal was not fully released when it happened? For the sake of simplicity I'll say that inside it looks like two discs with grinding paper surfaces touching and spinning together. One of them is powered by the engine and the other one is getting the spin from it. When you press the pedal the go apart and when you release it, they come together again. Now, if it slips it could be 1. that the pedal was slightly pressed so the contact was not good, 2. that something greasy got in there (extremely unlikely) or 3. that the grinding paper surface is worn out and there isn't enough grip between the two discs. If they were worn out, the same thing would always happen and they would never grip well, so if it happened once or twice and is ok now, it's probably the first thing, which is the best... unless you do it often in which case you would damage the plates. :) Every time there isn't enough pressure between the discs, some of the surface gets shaved off and that's the smell you felt.

Good luck and please let us know how it goes