The engine of your car is complex, it is not always easy to read all the signals it sends us. On the other hand, it is certainly necessary to try to stay on alert for the slightest indicator of weakness in your car to limit the risk of serious complications. If you have the sense that your clutch is slipping on your Kia Optima, you’re right to have started researching. It’s a defect that must be taken into account as soon as possible, otherwise you could end up with an useless car. To help you in your way our team has chose to compose this article which should allow you to see more clearly and make the right decisions to avoid aggravating the problem and make sure that it is indeed the problem you are victim of. To get this done, we will first check out what a slipping clutch on Kia Optima is and how to verify that this is what is happening to you, and then, what steps can be taken to resolve the problem.

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What is slipping clutch on Kia Optima and how to detect it?

A Kia Optima with a clutch that slips

The clutch of your Kia Optima is the component that enables your automobile to shift gears. It is located between your gearbox and your engine. It is the component that comes into contact with the flywheel which is located on the engine side and which will collect the power transmitted by the clutch. With wear, the clutch of your Kia Optima 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 damaged for it to engage on the flywheel.

How to detect clutch slipping on an Kia Optima?

There are many techniques to find out that the clutch of your Kia Optima is slipping. You can perform all of these examinations 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 as well encounter a burning smell.
To validate the first statement, you can stop, pull the parking brake, engage the first one, accelerate reasonably by releasing the clutch of your car softly, if it turns out your engine motor rises in revs but the Kia Optima is still stationary it is the indicator of a dead clutch.
Finally, you can put yourself, still in third gear, with the handbrake on, and by releasing it, your car should stall, if not, your clutch is most likely dead.

What should I do when my clutch slips on my Kia Optima?

Some advices to avoir the wear of your Kia Optima clutch

We will right now give you some ideas to limit the wear of your clutch and avoid your clutch slipping on your Kia Optima. To begin with, it is wise not to leave your foot on the clutch pedal, regardless if the pressure you apply is very mild you will pre wear the clutch release bearing which will sooner or later lead to a total change of the clutch kit. One more point not to be neglected, do not over-accelerate when you start your car, your acceleration must always be adapted to the speed of your engine motor. In the event that 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 Kia Optima clutch

At last, in this last portion, we will discuss the repair part. In circumstance the clutch of your Kia Optima is useless, you may possibly be stuck at a standstill and have no other choice 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 circumstance, take note that you will have to replace the complete clutch kit, this repair needs quite a few hours of work and is estimated to cost between 500 and 1200 euros according to the engine and the garage.

Whenever you have any additional questions about the Kia Optima, do not hesitate to consult our Kia Optima category.