I would also advise against 'slowing down using the gears' which for many people equates to 'slowing down using the clutch'. This technique dates from the dawn of motoring when the brakes were not always that dependable. With modern braking systems I really don't see the need. Replacing brake components is infinitely cheaper than changing the clutch!
I agree the practice is unnecessary, but if engine speed is matched to gearbox speed before re-engaging the clutch there is no slippage so no wear.
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...but if engine speed is matched to gearbox speed before re-engaging the clutch....
Unfortunately, Cliff, that's the problem! For many drivers it's a case of dip clutch - select next lower gear - slip clutch until car slows - repeat alll the way down the box.
Gets me teeth right on edge, it does - and don't get me started on 'dipping' the bonnet when coming to a complete stop :-)
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I once drove over 500 miles to South Wales and back without a clutch. A fiesta with the clutch pedal on the floor.
Procedure.
Starts
Engine off -into first, turn key and accelerate away as engine starts.
driving - up and down the box without the clutch letting the synchromesh cones `take it`.
Stopping
Coast to a halt in neutral - engine off - then start again in gear.
City driving too as well as the motorway, being very careful to allow a suitable gap to the car in front - and that it was moving off before starting in gear.
Yeah, I know - safety and all that and I was selling the car not long afterwords.
No gear grinding at all though on the trip.
Worth knowing though , if only to put a car into first and haul it off the road in first gear - on the battery. I believe people have been hit in dangerous road positions - rail crossings and so on not knowing this.
All this should be taught and tested in the driving test - people being able to get themselves out of trouble - limited only by the machinery.
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One of the most awesome driving skills I have ever witnessed belonged to a schoolfriend's father who could accelerate from walking pace to motorway speed, through the gears to 5th, and back again to walking pace in 1st, without touching the clutch pedal, and without so much as a jolt or a crunch from the transmission. Absolutely *perfect* heel and toe rev matching on downshifts, time after time. Apart from starting and stopping, I reckoned he'd use the clutch on every tenth gearchange on average.
The car was a humble mk3 Cavalier 1.6L which, as a testament to the skill with which he did this, was still on its original transmission (and unsurprisingly, clutch) when written off by a napping HGV driver with nearly 200,000 miles on the clock.
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I rarely use the clutch on my banger changing up the box in the belief that it might prolong its life (a new clutch would probably be uneconomical to fit). Occasionally, I'll get it slightly wrong and crash the gears. Am I heading for a gearbox failure instead?
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Yes.
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New clutch will cost £250 on average to replace at indie rates.
New gearbox is a grand plus. I know which I'd rather replace. Clutch will only need replacing every 75K if not abused, and that is a very conservative estimate in most cases.
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Cliff Pope and Oldsock allude to it, but no-one has mentioned it: double de-clutching. Comes from another era in gearbox manufacture I think, and certainly before my time, but I was taught it and find it difficult going down the box without doing it. Besides, taking a lower gear for a bend or hazard would be rough without it. As Cliff and oldsocks said, it matches the revs/road speed and so eliminates the clutch slipping taking up the difference. Well, y'know what I mean, I'm no engineer!
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Double declutching is only necessary with modern gearboxes when the synchromesh is shot on one or more gears. Even then, if it is only worn, properly timed gearchanges should be OK.
Double-declutching must cause accelerated wear to the clutch release linkage, so I never do it unless the gearbox tells me to.
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About.....oh....a couple of lifetimes ago I had an MG Midget with a poorly clutch. I siimply couldn't afford to have it fixed and needed my car. It sort of behaved in a clutch like manner when cold but soon started to slip if it was required to continue working for any length of time. On the advice of someone who "knew about cars", or so he claimed, I taught myself to change gear, once underway, without further use of the leftmost pedal. I have no idea whether this served to preserve its life but it hung on in there for a further year or so until the car was stolen.
This became a sort of habit and I still do it to this day unless I'm in heavy stop start traffic. Of course it is necessary to use the clutch to start off and when parking and so on but when bowling along in Mr Toad mode it is quite pleasing in a pointless sort of way to while away the miles practising this almost certainly useless technique.
Having said all that I have perhaps been coincidentally fortunate enough never to have a clutch or gearbox let me down despite having driven far too far, far too often and for far too long.
Perhaps I should take up Golf. I notice those who do that do pointless things too like stand swinging imaginary golf bats and peering into the faux distance as if they really have hit a ball.....
Idiosyncratic nonsense is, I think, to be celebrated.
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About this time last year I tried to remove a huge conifer from my front garden but no matter how much digging and shaking of the tree I did, it just wouldn't budge.
Next door neighbour had an Octavia Taxi. He hooked a rope round the tree trunk, hooked onto car and slowly pulled away and gradually pulled the whole tree out in one complete piece!
Up till that point I had never smelt a burning clutch. Days later I could still smell it!
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Bobby, you have just reminded me of something. A friend of mine had a Cortina estate as his company car ( quite a while ago ) He tried the same technique you describe. Unfortunately, the car had to be positioned about three feet from and facing his lean-to conservatory thing. I suspect you are all ahead of me here.....the tree gave up the fight kind of suddenly and the car ended up in the conservatory. His wife was furious, his boss was furious and he was fairly upset too......
;-)
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On many of the older lorries, double-declutching was a necessity, but you very quickly learn how to go up and down the box without using the clutch at all; in fact with an Eaton Twin-Split it's the oficially preferred method.
I learned in the REME on an old Scammell with a 5-speed "crash" box; in the words of my old instructor, a seasoned veteran who joined up when Centurion was a rank not a tank, "if tha can get up 'n' down yon box without usin' t'clutch or graunchin' a gear, I might... and I MEAN might... make a driver of yer!"
Like many of the old skills it's now virtually redundant; my next lorry will have an electronically-controlled automatic box. But it's nice to know that I can still do it at need! :-)
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If any of you think a trucker's job is all yorkie bars and transport caffs, check out this Youtube clip of a B-61 Mack with the notorious "Quad" box.
tinyurl.com/6h9hbv
What was that about keeping both hands on the wheel? No chance of using the mobile whilst driving here!
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I guess I haven't thought about clutch wear for a while, the Mondeo's gear box and clutch have a sort of "hewn from granite" feel about them IMO so it encourages you not to worry about it. Certainly when compared with my gran's Focus they do anyway (that's the only other car I've driven in 6 months!)
When changing gear you sometimes get a gentle and subdued "thunk" as the cogs line themselves up (guessing that's what it is!) and then that lovely wave of power as drive is engaged again and you're dragged forwards with just a hint of wheelspin in second. Lovin' it. ;-)
Sorry I am definitely not the person to ask about minimising clutch wear!
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I am getting paranoid about this, a couple of times my car has been a little slow to take off (it is normallt very torquey and fast to about 30mph!) so the clutch my be slipping but it is a £150 job if it does need doing. A flipping annoying problem on a banger but not the end of the world.
I have tried not leaving in gear at lights, but I find it easier and safer to leave it in gear so at the expense of bearing wear I am leaving in 1st unless I am stopped for a long time.
However in general driving I am now leaving in 4th until I really have to change down, rather than using the gears to slow down all the time.
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Rattle - I hope you don't mind me saying that you remind me of me when I was first starting out driving in 2001, paranoid that every little noise was an expensive fault! :-)
There's most likely nothing wrong with your clutch in all honesty and your practice of not using the gears to slow down is recommended best practice anyway and is what I taught my pupils.
You will know about it if the clutch is slipping as the revs will rise noticeably with no increase in road speed. That doesn't sound like the case with your car based on your description. The problem that you describe is either just one of those little foibles (sometimes even my V6 feels a little sluggish to pull away whilst other times it seems to take off like an Exocet) or is indicative of a problem with the engine.
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It is probably nothing more than me not putting enough gass on ;). Doubt it is a problem with an engine as it it very very smooth, I know these engines well and mine is one of the best I have driven. Sometimes I over rev but it always seems to be at tricky junctions where I know I cannot stall, so it is me putting too much gas on.
However I have only stalled my car once, when parking and accidently driving up a curb without realising.
My mechanic has told me I am paranoid but I have still insisted he changes all my brake pipes and pads (they are making a noise and the pipes are rusty).
I suppose every old car has it quirks, I always find getting into 3rd hard on my dads, yet my dad has no problem and isnsits it is not a problem.
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