What if the clutch & pressure plates are not replaced in-time ?

[mithun]

In most of the old or high mileage vehicles that I had driven the clutch is always slipping and because of that the full power output is not felt. But people tends to lug around the old clutch and pressure plates even after crossing 1 Lakh mark.

So what are the harmful effects of not replacing the old clutch and pressure plates in-time other than the flywheel damage ?

[rpads1]

I dont think much damage other than more wear and tear as the engine is running more than it should actually be.
Reasons why they do not replace, is
a) Time out to take it to a garage
b) costs , so defer till cant do without it
c) You might actually want it that way. I kept running on a worn out clutch for some time, as then my Zens pick would be sluggish. I wanted it that way as my wife was learning and I thought and felt it was safer to have a lower pickup car, to avoid sudden loss of control and jerks. Now that she's picked up quite a bit, replaced the cluth and things are just fine.
I did have to replace the flywheel bearing too but, not sure if that was worn due to overuse of the same clutch or as part of its own wear and tear.

In my case 'c' worked just fine, the way i wanted it.

[adheesh]

Apart from flywheel damage, the clutch would slip and the engine would rev higher than necessary for the same road speed resulting in bad fuel economy as well as more wear and tear apart from the lack of reliability the vehicle would provide wherein the clutch could burn anytime.

Regards,
Adheesh Parelkar

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by mithun

In most of the old or high mileage vehicles that I had driven the clutch is always slipping and because of that the full power output is not felt. But people tends to lug around the old clutch and pressure plates even after crossing 1 Lakh mark.

So what are the harmful effects of not replacing the old clutch and pressure plates in-time other than the flywheel damage ?

1) Flywheel damage
2) Engine life reduces due to high revving
3) Lowest Fuel Effeciency
4) Releaser bearing goes for a toss.
5) Damage to the Top gear in the gearbox.

Its almost close to honour killing the vehicle

[sureshshanmugam]

Hi Adheesh,

How could we know that the clutch is worn out an dis due for replacement?
Any symptoms like noise apart from loss of power?
My M800 doesnt have a Tacho, so I cannot see if the engine is revving higher than the normal :-(

[AbhiJ]

My mech once told me ... that if you can do a decent wheelspin in 1st gear, then your clutch is ok.


If that actually a practical way of gauging clutch wear for novices... ???

[prince_pervez]

1) When you slot the gear in first and release the clutch pedal slowly and your car inches forward (w/o depressing the accelerator pedal) then your clutch is ok. If not then get it checked cable tightend, play fixed etc etc, get it checked basically.

2) If while in motion, you change gears and observe an idle rev before a jerkish acceleration then your clutch has a major fault and is possibly burnt or the pressure plate is not aligning with the clutch plate properly while in motion.

When 2nd happens then its time to say goodbye to the clutch. This usually happens when someone is driving half clutch in your car. My wife did this on her zen

[gavinimurthy]

Originally Posted by mithun

In most of the old or high mileage vehicles that I had driven the clutch is always slipping and because of that the full power output is not felt. But people tends to lug around the old clutch and pressure plates even after crossing 1 Lakh mark.

So what are the harmful effects of not replacing the old clutch and pressure plates in-time other than the flywheel damage ?

The biggest worry will be that you will be stuck in the middle of the road sooner or later. If that happens in a desolated area you will be in for lot of trouble. You won't be able to change the gears.

It is prudent to keep the clutch always in good condition. Our company as a policy replaces them with new ones after 5 years on company owned cars. That may be too early if you are a good driver and don't slip the clutch. Since company cars are driven by different people with different habits the policy ensures that we are not stuck in the middle of the road.

For more comprehensive information on clutch working go through the following link.

HowStuffWorks "How Clutches Work"

Murthy

[jatinpatel]

If a badly worn clutch is continued to be used it might also result in complete burning of clutch resulting is seizure of operation of clutch hence you wont be able to disengage or control the clutch, hence you wont be able to shift gears.
Plus badly worn clutch results in more wear and tear of engine as engine runs at higher rpm than required and also bad fuel economy and considering todays scenario of fuel prices fuel economy is one thins not to loose.

[tanwaramit]

if you are tracking the Fuel Efficiency of the car, all of a sudden, you will notice drop in FE of the car also sometimes a burning smell (if used half clutch). Pickup becomes sluggish.

These are starting symptoms, if you ignore then flywheel will get damaged too and then the car will revv but will not pick up speed, high time to change the clutch plates.

Still if you ignore, one fine day, the clutch wont work and you will stranded on the road.

[adheesh]

Originally Posted by sureshshanmugam

Hi Adheesh,

How could we know that the clutch is worn out an dis due for replacement?
Any symptoms like noise apart from loss of power?
My M800 doesnt have a Tacho, so I cannot see if the engine is revving higher than the normal :-(

When the clutch is at its last stage, the pedal feel usually changes. The clutch would disengage at the last stage of release. Also the engine would keep revving higher without any corresponding proportional change in the vehicle speed.

Regards,
Adheesh Parelkar

[GTO]

Originally Posted by mithun

But people tends to lug around the old clutch and pressure plates even after crossing 1 Lakh mark.

Quick note : Some of my cars have clocked close to the 1.0 lakh mark on the OEM clutch. That doesn't mean that the clutch was worn out, or I was lugging on with the old clutch. If the car is well-driven, well-maintained and / or has a lot of highway running, I won't be surprised to see the OEM clutch lasting 1.0 lakh kms (or more).

What matters is replacing the clutch at the right time (and not merely going by the kms covered).

Originally Posted by sureshshanmugam

How could we know that the clutch is worn out an dis due for replacement?

Simplest way to gauge is the clutch slipping. That is, when the rpm needle rises disproportionately higher than the speedometer.

[sureshkishore]

I was told by a MASS Service Advisor that the testing of clutch slippage is done by:
Vehicle stationary and engine Idle, Engage Hand Brake, Shift to Second Gear Disengage Clutch and Simultaneously accelerate. In case The vehicle Jerks Forward and stalls immediately Clutch is good. Else if the engine still revs after the clutch is released completely then the clutch is slipping badly.

B.T.W

The drop in FE in case of Clutch Wear is Very Significant. It would far exceed cast of the clutch itself in case of prolonged use without replacement.

Talking from Experience of my mother's car:

Cost of M800 Clutch is around 900 Rs(MGP).

Normal Mileage 16Kmpl, With a worn clutch 9-10Kmpl . From 3 rs a Km to 5rs a km. If used for 500Km it would exceed the cost of the clutch.

She never realized the clutch had an issue. She just complained to the SA that the power and mileage was really low.

The car had done 80,000km on the original clutch.

[pramodkumar]

I have not changed my clutch and pressure plate and my car has run 130k in last 10 years. What prince said is the standard way of testing the clutch, the other was is to enguage the handbreak and slot into the second gear and slowly release the clutch, if the engine immediately dies even when you have not fully released the clutch, the clutch is fine if it shudders and takes a couple of seconds to die, you know the answer. The clutch needs replacement. in earlier days you could just replace the clutch plate now both clutch plate and pressure plate comes as one set and its also better to replace the flywheel.

As others mentioned if your clutch has excessive slippage then

1. your fly wheel will eventually requre replacement
2. your engine will rev very high
3. high fuel consumption
4. bad pickup
5. low top speed

Pramod

[dr.faramroze]

Engine mounting rubber and foundation rubber will wear prematurely.