Hi All,

Sorry if this is a repeat question, I looked through history and could not find anything similar.

I recently bought my daughter a 01 Eclipse (her 1st car), 5 speed, and today while driving home I “think” the clutch gave. I also drive a 5 speed, mustang therefore it was hard for me to tell if her clutch was going since the two cars have very different feels.

Any how the RPM’s starting reving high, between 300-400 and she was having trouble catching power, felt like a lag. I told her too pull over and I jumped in the driver seat, this is when I noticed a strong sulfur smell, almost like dead animal. Any how I jumped back on the freeway to get a feel and was able to switch through all the gears but could not pick up more than 40mph with my foot heavy on the gas all the while the RPM’s where roaring.

Don’t really know much about cars, I’m accountant , looking for some ideas before I call a friends mechanic Monday. It would be nice to know a little something to avoid getting robbed.

Also do you think it could be tranny??? I am able to get into all gears which made me think no.

 

I believe it is the clutch. (99.9999% sure)

Typically a clutch should last between 80-100k miles. Anything under that is premature. For example, if the car has only 50k on it, then I would say you need to monitor her driving. Or perhaps it had to do with the previous owner.

Please don't take offence, but are you sure your daughter knows the correct technique for driving a stick? I know a guy that was roasting clutches for 10 years before someone showed him the right way.

You have a couple options here. You can either purchase the part yourself (about 350ish I believe) and install it yourself. Or you can pay a shop to do it, and that is where the expense comes in. You are talking on the order of about 800ish. Anything less than that is a steal.

See if your husband is up to the job lol.

 

Thanks! I was pretty sure my self it was the clutch. I’m pretty sure she is driving the car correctly however, there was a leaning curve . The car has 114K miles and had 113k miles when we bought it,the previous owner shared with me it was the OG clutch so I was a little nervous this might soon after the purchase.

No husband so off to the mechanic I go . Maybe I’ll have her pay ¼ of the bill to make sure she treats the clutch with care.

 

Yeah, it's the clutch. With those many miles on it and your daughter getting adjusted to the car/clutch, it needs replacement.

Before we talk about mechanics, let me ask you where the clutch engages/disengages. If it does so at the floor, then it may just need to adjusted with thoughts of raising the pedal higher. If the engagement/disengagement is really close to the floor, then you may have several good miles of "getting acclimated" to the clutch before HAVING to get a new one put in. The clutch definitely needs to be changed with those many miles on it, but if you can get a few lessons worth of shifting in, your daughter won't prematurely wear down the new one.

 

In my opinion (I’m 33 and have always driven a 5 speed) the clutch engages/disengages about midway between its standard position and the floor. Which to my daughter was easier to gauge than my mustang which engages/disengages pretty close the floor. With the mustang she had trouble gagging the gas clutch ratio.

So I am clear, should I want the clutch to engages/disengage closer to the floor or is a higher clutch the better choice. Which one will cause premature burn out?

I choose to make her 1st car a 5 speed b/c I wanted her to be universal in her driving mechanics but, I’m now second guessing myself a bit. The first week of her driving was hell on my neck but after about two weeks her stalling and unsmooth gear changes seemed to disappear. I made it clear her foot should never rest on the clutch which I noticed she was doing a lot in the beginning.

I’m open to suggestion on the mechanics. It’s hard to teach someone to drive a 5 speed, well at least now I know.

Thanks for your help!

 

With 113k miles, that car has been driven correctly. Props to the daughter! She obviously did nothing wrong so don't take it out on her! With that amount of milesits just regular maintanance, and unfortunate.

I would be very selective as to where you take it too, some people are absolute morons.

Silver, as much as I agree with what you are saying..... it DOES have 113k miles on the original clutch. I would put my left nut on it being toast.

 

Thanks for all the input. I’ll be calling the mechanic today to set an appointment for next week. I’ve not used this mechanic personally (my car is still under warranty) however, he comes highly regarded from many of my co-workers and he did take a look at a two cars I was thinking about buying for my daughter before I found the eclipse at no charge.

If anyone knows of a trusty mechanic is San Diego post away.

I’ll let you know the outcome once we get the estimate. Thanks again the site was very helpful.

P.S.
I’m going to have my daughter pay $100 of the repair, not as punishment but as a life lesson. I want her to understand owning a car is a big responsibility and that your parent can not always bail you out. Hell $100 in the total repair is nothing.

 

Yep it was the clutch. Just picked it up from the shop, $750 later.

Question should I smell anything weird for the first few miles? I noticed a smell when I got out of the car, I drove about 10 miles from the mechanic to the work all freeway.