- 3,915
- California
- gdwest1
Recently took the Camry to Sonoma for the SCCA San Francisco region Rationals races (I, once again, volunteered as a scrutineer). Since the races ended around 5, my mate and I had plenty of time to kill in the evening. "Let's go to San Francisco!" we said.
In the back of my mind, I had a cloudy memory of what my father had told me when he gave me the car "Take it easy on the clutch. We replaced it at 90,000 miles, and it's currently on 198,000" If you know anything about San Francisco, you should be able to use the context and figure out what happened. Skip the next few bits.
Nonetheless, we were undaunted, and decided to journey to the city of, errr... Massive sales tax.
I knew the clutch was a bit ragged, but was pretty sure that between my friend and I, we could avoid all the hills, thus preserving the clutch.
We were almost right, until we decided to leave and I was faced with going up Bay Street. The light went yellow, and I shouted at the car ahead "GO! JUST ****ing GO!" Of course, he stops, and I'm now sitting on a ~10% grade. Inevitably, the light went Green, I got off the brake, and on to the throttle at about 2000 RPM. Still rolling backwards, and the engine starting to bog down, I gave it 3000 RPM and released the clutch a bit further. It caught, and slowly moved forward. Satisfied, I released the clutch fully and gave it a bit more. The revs hit 4600 and my speed had not increased; I let off a bit more and got on with my drive.
At this point, I couldnt use more that 30% throttle in any gear, else it would slip again.
We got back to the track (Very slowly) and I called my father. He said I ought to be fine as long as I took it easy while I stayed for the next 2 days.
"But don't go back to San Francisco. At least not in the car"
The next day we had arranged to meet a friend in Castro Valley(Her home) and then take the BART into the city. On the way there, it was much better, I could now use most of the throttle if I was in the correct gear.
Returning from Castro Valley that evening, I became very tired. I told my friend Ben that he ought to drive the remaining 40 miles so I didnt fall asleep. We pulled into San Mateo and switched seats. Initially, he gave it way too much gas (A horrible habit he has when driving manuals. "I'm trying to make ti more comfortable" he says. "Yeah, thats fine, but be prepared to buy a new clutch every 40,000 miles") and stalled it anyways. At this point, I was worried. He got it going again, barely, and trundled toward the next light. It went yellow.
"No" I said. "Keep going, run it. If you try to start this again we'll be stuck here". It was 1 AM, and there was zero traffic ANYWHERE. He rocketed through the light at an astounding 14 MPH. Of course, it went red, and the flash bulbs went off, and charged my vehicle $480 for a red light violation.
I've since agreed to pay the ticket for him, but now have an issue. This clutch thing... It runs perfectly fine now that I'm home. Should I replace it anyway?
In the back of my mind, I had a cloudy memory of what my father had told me when he gave me the car "Take it easy on the clutch. We replaced it at 90,000 miles, and it's currently on 198,000" If you know anything about San Francisco, you should be able to use the context and figure out what happened. Skip the next few bits.
Nonetheless, we were undaunted, and decided to journey to the city of, errr... Massive sales tax.
I knew the clutch was a bit ragged, but was pretty sure that between my friend and I, we could avoid all the hills, thus preserving the clutch.
We were almost right, until we decided to leave and I was faced with going up Bay Street. The light went yellow, and I shouted at the car ahead "GO! JUST ****ing GO!" Of course, he stops, and I'm now sitting on a ~10% grade. Inevitably, the light went Green, I got off the brake, and on to the throttle at about 2000 RPM. Still rolling backwards, and the engine starting to bog down, I gave it 3000 RPM and released the clutch a bit further. It caught, and slowly moved forward. Satisfied, I released the clutch fully and gave it a bit more. The revs hit 4600 and my speed had not increased; I let off a bit more and got on with my drive.
At this point, I couldnt use more that 30% throttle in any gear, else it would slip again.
We got back to the track (Very slowly) and I called my father. He said I ought to be fine as long as I took it easy while I stayed for the next 2 days.
"But don't go back to San Francisco. At least not in the car"
The next day we had arranged to meet a friend in Castro Valley(Her home) and then take the BART into the city. On the way there, it was much better, I could now use most of the throttle if I was in the correct gear.
Returning from Castro Valley that evening, I became very tired. I told my friend Ben that he ought to drive the remaining 40 miles so I didnt fall asleep. We pulled into San Mateo and switched seats. Initially, he gave it way too much gas (A horrible habit he has when driving manuals. "I'm trying to make ti more comfortable" he says. "Yeah, thats fine, but be prepared to buy a new clutch every 40,000 miles") and stalled it anyways. At this point, I was worried. He got it going again, barely, and trundled toward the next light. It went yellow.
"No" I said. "Keep going, run it. If you try to start this again we'll be stuck here". It was 1 AM, and there was zero traffic ANYWHERE. He rocketed through the light at an astounding 14 MPH. Of course, it went red, and the flash bulbs went off, and charged my vehicle $480 for a red light violation.
I've since agreed to pay the ticket for him, but now have an issue. This clutch thing... It runs perfectly fine now that I'm home. Should I replace it anyway?
