The engine of your car is complex, it is not always easy to interpret all the signs it sends us. However, it is absolutely essential to try to stay on alert for the slightest sign of weakness in your vehicle to limit the risk of serious problems. If you have the feeling that your clutch is slipping on your car, you’re right to have started investigating. It’s a defect that must be taken into account quickly, otherwise you could end up with an unusable vehicle. To help you in your approach our team has decided to write this guide which should allow you to see more clearly and make the right decisions to avoid aggravating the situation and make sure that it is indeed the problem you are victim of. To do this, we will first look at what a slipping clutch is and how to check that this is what is happening to you, and then, what steps can be taken to correct the situation.
What is slipping clutch and how to spot it?
A car with a clutch that slips
The clutch of your car is the part that allows your vehicle to shift gears. It is located between your gearbox and your engine. It is the part that comes into contact with the flywheel which is located on the engine side and which will receive the power transmitted by the clutch. With wear, the clutch of your car slips because it is made up of notches that engage in the flywheel, and with wear and friction it wears out. It is said that the clutch slips when its teeth are too worn for it to engage on the flywheel.
How to spot clutch slipping on a car?
There are several ways to find out that the clutch of your car is slipping. You can perform all of these tests yourself.
You can simply find out that your clutch slips when you accelerate and your engine revs up, but your car does not speed up, you may also experience a burning smell.
To validate the first observation, you can stop, pull the hand brake, engage the first one, accelerate moderately by releasing the clutch of your car gently, if your engine rises in revs but the car remains stationary it is the sign of a dead clutch.
Finally, you can put yourself, still in third gear, with the handbrake on, and by releasing it, your vehicle should stall, if not, your clutch is probably dead.
What should I do when my clutch slips on my car?
Limit the wear of your clutch
We will now give you some tips to limit the wear of your clutch and avoid your clutch slipping on your car. First of all, it is wise not to leave your foot on the clutch pedal, even if the pressure you apply is very light you will prewear the clutch release bearing which will eventually lead to a complete change of the clutch kit. Another point not to be neglected, do not over-accelerate when you start, your acceleration must always be adapted to the speed of your engine. If you are at a standstill accelerate slowly, if you are at medium speed accelerate gradually when you release the clutch pedal of your car so as not to make it slip against your engine flywheel.
Replacing your clutch
Finally, in this last part, we will address the repair part. In case the clutch of your car is dead, you may be stuck at a standstill and have no other solution than to call the tow truck, because a dead clutch no longer allows the transmission to transmit power to the wheels. If this is the case, be aware that you will have to change the complete clutch kit, this repair requires quite a few hours of work and is estimated to cost between 500 and 1200 euros depending on the engine and the garage.
