Did I "injure" my clutch?

[kpatz]

Yesterday afternoon we went to someone's house to fix their computer. Her apartment is on a VERY steep road (gotta be at least a 30-40 degree incline!) Well, when it came time to leave, I had to back out of her driveway, and then get the car going UP that VERY steep hill. It took me 3 tries--stalled it once, almost stalled it the 2nd time, and finally got it going by revving up to 3-4K and slipping the HELL out of the clutch to get the car moving. I've been driving manual for years and normally I baby the clutch, but have never tried to get my car going up such a steep hill from a dead stop before.

Ever since, I've noticed the clutch engages more "smoothly". Before it was grabby, making the 1-2 shift a bit rough if I didn't rev-match perfectly. Now it engages smooth as butter, but I'm concerned I might have damaged or put excessive wear on the clutch. It's a Sachs clutch that I had installed about 15k miles ago. Normally I baby it, always starting from a stop at 1500 RPM or less. I don't launch the car or excessively slip or dump the clutch.

So, should I be concerned, or did I just complete the break-in?

[chowder]

Next time, a technique you might employ is: engage the parking brake, get the clutch at the point of engagement, then off clutch + parking brake off.

As for the clutch disc, if you didn't smell burning, it's probably fine or has minor glazing. It typically takes a high torque engine + clutch riding to smoke it. If it's dead, you'll find out at your top gear, when your speedo doesn't keep up with your pedal.

[Hahns5.2]

Definitely took some life off of it but if you didn't smell it, it's probably nothing to worry about.

[kpatz]

Next time, a technique you might employ is: engage the parking brake, get the clutch at the point of engagement, then off clutch + parking brake off.

That's what I did do, but I had to rev 'er like crazy and slip the clutch to get the car moving on that VERY steep incline. If I did my normal start-off engagement (where it doesn't take much slipping to get the car moving), the car was still moving too slow and it would stall. This hill had to be a good 30+ degrees steep. It's a turbo so it doesn't really get into the powerband until 2.5K RPM or so.

Hopefully I didn't take too much life off of it. I just had it put in a year ago.

Though, I like the smoother engagement. No more jerky shifts.

[Carrots]

Though, I like the smoother engagement. No more jerky shifts.

Sounds like you've just burnished in the clutch, It'll probably last longer than ever now.

[NetstarGT]

Next time, a technique you might employ is: engage the parking brake, get the clutch at the point of engagement, then off clutch + parking brake off.

As for the clutch disc, if you didn't smell burning, it's probably fine or has minor glazing. It typically takes a high torque engine + clutch riding to smoke it. If it's dead, you'll find out at your top gear, when your speedo doesn't keep up with your pedal.

This is good advice if you are on a hill and someone is right on your bumper. I will use the parking brake while I am engaging the clutch. When the clutch grabs, I release the parking brake and proceed forward without moving back an inch.

[unmamfqlm]

You're fine. When a clutch gets hot (which it did) it will act up and even grind a bit. The plates get hot, which is what causes the slippage and what not. The fact that it is working fine now shows that no "important" damage occured. If you ever notice smoke along with poor acceleration, well you have an expensive little problem on your hands.

[Rydogg21]

Nothing to worry about man. If you drive as you idicated, that new clutch should last for longer than you own the car. The materials they use in many new clutches hitting the market are much improved from years ago. Again, you will be fine.

[voyager7]

Sounds like nothing to worry about.
I have done that to mine before and nothing happened.

[corkguykev]

I would not worry if it is acting OK now TBH. I did a lot worse to a clutch in a previous car here and it was still fine 3 years later when I sold it and showed no signs at all of any damage.

I was ran off the road by a douche that decided to go around a bicycle at the last second when I was right on top of him. I ended up partially in a drain and was stuck there until a passer by pulled me back out.

Unfortunately, some part of the gear linkage had come undone from the gearbox so it was stuck in 5th gear (the gear I was in before the smash) and because I was still $hitting bricks from the scare I just had, I did not realise this when I was trying to help him by reversing out while he pulled me out also.

Long story short, the car was still in top gear even though the gear selected was reverse and I had a lot of smoke come out under the bonnet when I tried to reverse so I had to bail out. Considering the impact the car had taken, I assumed it was finished at the time but a mate of mine (mechanic) was able to re attach the linkage and it was fine amazingly .

There was a smell of burned clutch in the car for ages after so if you didn't smell yours burning, it should be fine .