i went to make a U-turn and noticed a car coming real fast towards me a little too late. So i hit the clutch, popped the car into 1st gear and when i hit the gas the cluth pedal stayed engaged, my foot wasnt on it anymore but the clutch pedal was ALL the way inside. With the gas i was giving it the car was just idling real fast but not moving anywhere. i didnt know what was going on and just pulled the shifter into Neutral. A fwe seconds later, i felt the clutch pedal come back down on its own, and i regained control of the car. When i pulled off to the side, i can smell like a burning odor coming from the car.??

Ive kept driving the car, and from first gear just seems to engage funny now, the car shakes as if im not giving it enough gas when i drive it the way i normally do. and if i gun it, my shifts make this strange 'clunk' noise right when the gear engages???

any help would be appreciated,im planning to drop the car off later today at the dealer.

good thing is i guess, the guy slowed down and went around me. so the no crash.

 

Were you driving the car hard previously? Check the Clutch fluid and drive the car again after everything cools down and give us an update on how it feels then.

 

ive barely driven the car hard, especially not today when this happened.

where to check clutch fluid?

 

It happened to me twice, but only after driving hard.. I mean launching and power shifting about 3 different times running a camaro SS.. Nothing is wrong with your car, but if you want to drive it hard, you might want to invest in a stainless steel clutch line and HIGH TEMP RACE FLUID.. After that, it won't happen.. Guarantee...

 

The clutch master cylinder should be right next to the brake master cylinder (Under the right side cover). Pop the cap and ensure the fluid is filled to the line.

If its low, open a NEW bottle of brake fluid and fill it accordingly. Have someone SLOWLY push in your clutch and look to see if the level drops at all, or fluctuates too much.

I would let the car cool, and try driving again to feel for the clutch. Too often someone makes a mistake, then they get paranoid that they messed the car up bad, when in actuality you just need to let it "relax" for a bit.

 

i didnt mean to hit the clutch hard and give it lots of gas, i just kinda panicked and didnt want anyone smashing into my Z so i wanted to move the car quick.

Ill go that, im at work now till 6pm ish, that gives about 3 1/2 hours to cool down. I'll drive the car home slowly and check the fluids there.

So i can use brake fluid as clutch fluid? thanks for the help

 

^^^
Same thing


YOu'll want to change the lines and fluid eventually though if you plan on driving it hard.. If not, I guess you'll be okay

 

thanks again everyone. now I can relax.

 

I'll bet that you were in either 3rd or 5th and not 1st.

 

^^.. yeah maybe, its kinda hard to get into first gear while youre moving

 

So i let the car cool off all night and the next morning it felt OK. but after a few miles of driving normal/slow the 'clunk' sounds between gears started coming back. its most noticeable when starting into first gear, i can feel the car wanting to stall(shaking) even though im working the gas/clutch the same way i have been since i bought it with no probs. I guess its almost like a slipping feel.

anyways, i dropped the car off for service, should get it back this afternoon so ill post back with what the dealer techs said.

 

interested to see whats wrong... my car jerks sometimes too when getting off in 1st, then sometimes it just immediately grabs going from 1st to 2nd even though im easing off the clutch... i thought this was just my driving

 

Mine "clunks" when the transmission is cold but it usually goes away after a few minutes. If the dealer has determined there is nothing damaged, and you haven't already done so, you may want to replace your transmission fluid. I've been wanting to do this for MONTHS...and now that I finally have a garage, this will be my next priority

 

Usually shuttering when taking off is due to having a lighter flywheel.. Not sure about the clunking.. Whenever I heat up my clutch during hard driving, it will shudder for a while till I start driving normally again..


I'm betting that they'll tell you it's NORMAL or they won't be able to replicate the problem..

 

the same **** happened to me today bro in my brand new 07 350z. I took a high banking turn at a red light and it was raining today so the roads were very slippery. I guess I gave it too much gas when i shifted from 1st to 2nd cuz I could see cars coming towards me. I ended up doing the same thing that happened to you with the clutch pedal going all the way down and redlining the car on accident,after that happened I had that same horrible smell like plastic burning or some ****. All freaking day its been bugging me sooooo much that I just blew my clutch and have to get a new one already. Once I got it to work I let it rest, and when I did drive it to get lunch it was driving like normal and not smelling horrible thank god. I hope you're car is all well please keep us updated to your situation.

 

I don't comprehend how you can burn a clutch out in one instance. I have 317K miles on original clutch in my Pathfinder and it will start slipping when I pull a boat out. Yes, I used to get the smell but probably not much left to burn now. With normal driving the slippage has always gone away. I know one day it won't so I baby it now. In the Z, I leave the TC on so there's not many situations I would wear the clutch. BTW I down shift all the time and always have in all my previous cars.

Let us know what happened at the shop.