hello all...i'm still not too smooth with a manual tranny, and i feel like i'm burning the clutch too much.

i have about 700 miles now and oftentimes, when i park my car and get out, i smell a slight burning smell that leads me to believe either i'm burning my clutch or it's just a normal break-in smell. what do you guys think? did you guys smell a little rubbery/oily smell when you were breaking the car in?

 

you could be smelling the cat, tho that should be subsiding by 700miles, and it should smell like rotten eggs.

I cant describe clutch smell as I haven smelt it, but I hear its like burning organic matter, whatever the hell that smells like...

riding the clutch, it goes in for the shift, it comes out. key is that the clutch is up or it down, dont ever sit it in the middle. only time it should ever be in the middle is for starts, and even then, the clutch should be fully out no later than 2000rpms. for shifts, you should not be accelerating unless the clutch is fully out, end of story, if its not fully out, then dont hit the gas.

with that in mind you shouldnt be riding the clutch at all.

 

You may want to look under the car to see if anything is caught on the underbody. I ran over a plastic shopping bag, which wrapped itself around the exhaust and melted itself to it. It has a similar faint burning smell.

 

haha...a plastic bag...mine doesn't smell that strong.

thanks for your tips guys. i think it's just normal break-in smell...doesn't smell that strong anymore.