Extending the life of your clutch
04-04-2016, 07:00 PM
#1
Extending the life of your clutch
I recently saw a video that brought up 5 bad habits to break to save your clutch and picked up one new idea that I had not thought of. It mentioned keeping your car in neutral at a stop light with your foot off the clutch as leaving it in gear with the clutch pressed in creates more wear on the throwout bearing. Makes sense and I do it now if I am at a long light. It is also usually easy enough to get back in gear before traffic starts moving.
This got me thinking about other ways to save the clutch. If you are coasting to a stop and your are in 4th-6th gear does it do any damage to pop the gearshift into neutral without using the clutch? I pick those gears specifically because it is usually easy to do as opposed to 2nd or 3rd where you feel like you will break something trying to shift into neutral without using the clutch.
I have a '13 sedan 6spd. if that makes any difference
This got me thinking about other ways to save the clutch. If you are coasting to a stop and your are in 4th-6th gear does it do any damage to pop the gearshift into neutral without using the clutch? I pick those gears specifically because it is usually easy to do as opposed to 2nd or 3rd where you feel like you will break something trying to shift into neutral without using the clutch.
I have a '13 sedan 6spd. if that makes any difference
04-06-2016, 09:01 AM
#2
I think you are over-thinking this....
If you are coasting to a stop and push in the clutch to shift to neutral, there is almost ZERO wear on the clutch.
Shifting to neutral without the clutch is fine as long as it is done properly.
To do it properly, the throttle must be controlled so that the car is not accelerating or de-accelerating, just coasting along. This means there is minimal torque going through the transmission and then you can easily shift into neutral.
-IF- the shifter is stiff or it clunks, then you are not coasting and THAT is a little hard on the syncros and shift forks.
By the way I think the video you watched is by "Engineering Explained" and it is very good.
If you are coasting to a stop and push in the clutch to shift to neutral, there is almost ZERO wear on the clutch.
Shifting to neutral without the clutch is fine as long as it is done properly.
To do it properly, the throttle must be controlled so that the car is not accelerating or de-accelerating, just coasting along. This means there is minimal torque going through the transmission and then you can easily shift into neutral.
-IF- the shifter is stiff or it clunks, then you are not coasting and THAT is a little hard on the syncros and shift forks.
By the way I think the video you watched is by "Engineering Explained" and it is very good.
04-06-2016, 01:22 PM
#3
Cool, so if you are coasting and you pop it into neutral- no harm done? Just a thought I had as it is easier than pushing the clutch in again. But then why is it so difficult to do when you are coasting in the lower gears? (Gearing different and thus more torque going through trans. making it harder to shift to neutral in the lower gears?) Yes, that was the Engineering Explained video. Good stuff. Thanks!
I think you are over-thinking this....
If you are coasting to a stop and push in the clutch to shift to neutral, there is almost ZERO wear on the clutch.
Shifting to neutral without the clutch is fine as long as it is done properly.
To do it properly, the throttle must be controlled so that the car is not accelerating or de-accelerating, just coasting along. This means there is minimal torque going through the transmission and then you can easily shift into neutral.
-IF- the shifter is stiff or it clunks, then you are not coasting and THAT is a little hard on the syncros and shift forks.
By the way I think the video you watched is by "Engineering Explained" and it is very good.
If you are coasting to a stop and push in the clutch to shift to neutral, there is almost ZERO wear on the clutch.
Shifting to neutral without the clutch is fine as long as it is done properly.
To do it properly, the throttle must be controlled so that the car is not accelerating or de-accelerating, just coasting along. This means there is minimal torque going through the transmission and then you can easily shift into neutral.
-IF- the shifter is stiff or it clunks, then you are not coasting and THAT is a little hard on the syncros and shift forks.
By the way I think the video you watched is by "Engineering Explained" and it is very good.
04-07-2016, 08:34 PM
#4
I was thinking about this more... If you don't use your clutch to shift to neutral, there is a little extra force and friction on the shift fork:
So do you want to very slightly wear your clutch or slightly wear your shift fork?
Clutches are cheaper, so I think it is best to use your clutch to shift to neutral.
This may be helpful to understand how the shifting of gears works:
So do you want to very slightly wear your clutch or slightly wear your shift fork?
Clutches are cheaper, so I think it is best to use your clutch to shift to neutral.
This may be helpful to understand how the shifting of gears works:
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