I have an '05 Z that I got in March and jsut rolled over 7,000 miles. I learned to drive stick on this car but all have told me they learned to drive on new cars and the clutch lasted 70,000+ miles.

When I first got the car, after 1,000 mile break in, I would(with traction control on) take first to JUST before redline and chirp second easily. Now, no matter how hard I try, I can't do it and some times it will kinda "bog" before full engagement. I am not sure exactly how to explain it. Liek I will be around 6400 rpm, shift, and left out the clutch and give it gas at basically the same time and it will like hold at 6,000 for a split second before it falls to in the 5,000 range and goes. Kinda like it is slipping, like I have the engine faster than the tranny. Is it possible I gave it gas a split second before fully releasing the clutch and I temperarily overpowered the clutch before they fully engaged?

I thought I was getting better at driving but now I am worried. I tried the test where you let first gear out while sitting still and if it coast forward it is a bad clutch and if it stalls it isn't bad. It stalled. So I know it isn't COMPLETELY worn out but have aI done significant damage to it already? Andy insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

VDC/TCS on or Off when you are doing this?

 

VDC "learns" how you drive and will prevent you from chirping by cutting power for a short amount of time, just enough for the clutch to engage. Turn VDC off (not on public streets of course) and you will be able to do it.

 

I had TCS on when I first got the car. Since I have been TRYING to chirp it I have been taking TCS off ands still couldn't do it. And I don't have VDC, got Enthusiast.

Will it effect anything if I unhook the battery for an hour to let the ECU relearn? I heard and read on here that if you do that it will learn a different way you drive considering it first learned how I drive while I was driving like an old lady before the initial 1,000 miles AND my horrible driving while I was learning. Would it be smoother and possibly more responsive if I let the ECU reset and learn my new driving habits? I drive a lot more "spirited" now

 

+1

 

Sounds like you might have damaged the clutch since you are slipping..

 

Is that what it is doing, slipping? I don't have VDC. Is it even possible to ruin a clutch in 7,000 miles?

And if it is shot, I may end up going APS ST down the road...what would be the best clutch to replace the stock with so that it will do me fine now, hold up and last on a stock setup but be able to handle the extra power later.

 

Do you have the A/C on? When you first got the car, weather was cooler and you weren't using A/C, right? Now its been hot in our area ... so....

when i have A/C on, I can't chirp 2nd. Turn it off and turn VDC off and I'm good to go.

 

Mine was ruined in 1,700 miles.

 

This is not the best car to learn to drive a stick on.

 

The Zzz is fine to learn how to drive MT on but if someone is trying to become the next Barney Oldfield that's a different story.

 

It's still way more forgiving than a Porsche 911 clutch, which I think is not
hydraulic...

I'm not going to teach my girlfriend to drive stick on this car, that's for sure...
I think an old Jetta or Civic would probably be good cars to learn MT.

 

i learned to drive stick in my z, 22k miles and no problems with the clutch. I can still chirp second and third without a problem.

 

fooch---

you can reset the ecu...goto the technosquare site and follow the directions. I don't think your ECU is cutting power. I can still chirp 2nd and 3rd...

 

I've always heard to check if your clutch is slipping (never done this before personally), go to someplace empty, get your car to about 25 mph, put it in 6th, and give it gas. If the rpms go up, your clutch is slipping. If you accelerate sloooooowly, your clutch is fine.

If your clutch is slipping, you should be able to smell it...

Maybe your clutch is glazed? (Is that what it's called? I forget...) Did you do something bad like keep yourself stopped on a hill by being on the clutch and gas at the same time? You could have just glazed your clutch. As it wears it should grab better.

7k is too little mileage to wear out a clutch unless something was defective with it... or you do something fundamentally wrong like rest your foot on the clutch pedal... the M3 I learned how to drive stick on had 75k miles on the clutch and it was still gripping well when I sold it...

 

I can still chirp going into 3rd after 22k miles....

 

I'd be interested to see ONE piece of documentation that says the VDC system has any learning intelligence. The fact that it reduces throttle when it senses wheel spin doesn't mean that it's learned your driving habits, it's just acting on input from its' sensors.

 

Thanks for the infor guys.

I don't ever use the AC. To me it is like stale air. Even in 105 degree weather the only cooling I have is the windows down. I hate having them up.

The reason I was thinking about the ECU reset isn't because I think it is pulling power, but I heard that once you become familiar with the car and set in your driving style that resetting it will improve because it has to relearn everything and now it is learning on a more agressive driver and will adjust itself as such. There was a poll on motoring about people who reset it and it seemed to help.

"OMG i cant believe you guys havent heard about this. The ECU has a self learning function that remembers your driving style and adjusts the way it drives to your liking. So if you drive on the highway a lot, like me, after a while the car doesnt have as much umph when you jump on it. By resetting the ECU you erase its memory and it begins to relearn, so if you drive the shat out of it, it should be faster."

http://www.350zmotoring.com/forums/s...light=reseting

 

Yep, you're referring to the ECU, not VDC which is a relatively independent system. And my understanding of this "learning" ability is simply that it will select one of the of available A/F/T maps depending on long term fuel trim calculation. The VDC still doesn't have this intelligence to manipulate throttle based on some learned parameter.