UhOh
Top Post Dawg
Have experienced a bad smell from the wife's car (about 209k miles) that is almost certainly coming from the clutch. The smell has occurred only a couple times and seems related to extensive clutch action. Wife doesn't slip/ride the clutch. Car tends to not see a lot of shifting as it runs mostly on the highway/freeway. The smell is repugnant, which is about all I can really say about it.
I'd replaced the clutch (new Luk 17-50) about 8k miles ago. No signs of problems other than this smell (and only a couple of times): I cannot force it to slip. There's a shudder under heavy throttle around 2k rpm in 5th, but I suspect it's a CV joint that's stressing.
When I did the clutch job I'd noticed that the clutch slave showed signs of fluid at the end of the rubber boot. I did what I probably shouldn't have done and shrugged it off as just stress from removal (though I didn't tweak anything that I'm aware of). In hindsight I am suspecting that the slave might have been in the early stages of leaking and that what is happening now is that a very small amount of fluid (I cannot readily tell that there's much in the way of fluid loss) leaking on to the clutch. So...
Does it sound like I should be looking to replace the clutch slave? The new ones are all plastic and I've read of some having problems with them. Thoughts here? And, do I need to order seals with new units?
I am thinking about taking some brake fluid and heating it up and having both myself and my wife take a whiff to see if this matches what we've been smelling. In the car the smell remains for a little while after "the event," but eventually, under her more normal driving conditions, the smell is not longer there.
I'd replaced the clutch (new Luk 17-50) about 8k miles ago. No signs of problems other than this smell (and only a couple of times): I cannot force it to slip. There's a shudder under heavy throttle around 2k rpm in 5th, but I suspect it's a CV joint that's stressing.
When I did the clutch job I'd noticed that the clutch slave showed signs of fluid at the end of the rubber boot. I did what I probably shouldn't have done and shrugged it off as just stress from removal (though I didn't tweak anything that I'm aware of). In hindsight I am suspecting that the slave might have been in the early stages of leaking and that what is happening now is that a very small amount of fluid (I cannot readily tell that there's much in the way of fluid loss) leaking on to the clutch. So...
Does it sound like I should be looking to replace the clutch slave? The new ones are all plastic and I've read of some having problems with them. Thoughts here? And, do I need to order seals with new units?
I am thinking about taking some brake fluid and heating it up and having both myself and my wife take a whiff to see if this matches what we've been smelling. In the car the smell remains for a little while after "the event," but eventually, under her more normal driving conditions, the smell is not longer there.