Burning clutch smell

[Detailpro116]

Recently bought a 20 Si. Known mods are Mishimoto intercooler and AEM short ram intake. Unknown if it is tuned, but after 3500rpm revs pull super hard and fast. Factory boost gauge easily tops out 20psi under full throttle. Boost loads up easily under minimal throttle and I’m curious if this is clutch slipping or just the way the car behaves.

It just rolled 72,000km (44k mi). I’ve put 2500km on the car in a month, mostly long weekend road trips. Haven’t had any issues until this evening, just took it for a 10 minute trip to Walmart. Mostly highway drive at about 90-100kmh (55-60mph). Took the exit off the highway and got a huge whiff of burnt clutch. Got to the parking lot, walked around the car, smelling all the wheels. Popped the hood and the engine bay just reeks of burnt clutch right above the transmission.

strange, as the car drives totally fine. Can take off from a stop in first, second or third gear with no issue. Pedal feels fine.

I have it booked in at the dealer on the 19th to have it flash updated for my adaptive cruise control not working and for them to verify if it is tuned or not, and if it is have it flashed back to stock.

just find it really weird out of nowhere smelling burnt clutch. On the drive home I couldn’t smell it in the car, but when I parked you could smell it outside the car without popping the hood.

Really hoping I’m not having to put a clutch in a $30k car I’ve made one payment on so far.

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[17si_zach]

Recently bought a 20 Si. Known mods are Mishimoto intercooler and AEM short ram intake. Unknown if it is tuned, but after 3500rpm revs pull super hard and fast. Factory boost gauge easily tops out 20psi under full throttle. Boost loads up easily under minimal throttle and I’m curious if this is clutch slipping or just the way the car behaves.

It just rolled 72,000km (44k mi). I’ve put 2500km on the car in a month, mostly long weekend road trips. Haven’t had any issues until this evening, just took it for a 10 minute trip to Walmart. Mostly highway drive at about 90-100kmh (55-60mph). Took the exit off the highway and got a huge whiff of burnt clutch. Got to the parking lot, walked around the car, smelling all the wheels. Popped the hood and the engine bay just reeks of burnt clutch right above the transmission.

strange, as the car drives totally fine. Can take off from a stop in first, second or third gear with no issue. Pedal feels fine.

I have it booked in at the dealer on the 19th to have it flash updated for my adaptive cruise control not working and for them to verify if it is tuned or not, and if it is have it flashed back to stock.

just find it really weird out of nowhere smelling burnt clutch. On the drive home I couldn’t smell it in the car, but when I parked you could smell it outside the car without popping the hood.

Really hoping I’m not having to put a clutch in a $30k car I’ve made one payment on so far.

It needs a clutch and you’re not the only person there’s probably a million forum posts on the stock clutch burning up even from just the stock factory tune and if it’s tuned it’s just a matter of time of when it will happen

 

[Detailpro116]

Great. I’ll bet it won’t be covered under warranty either.

 

[17si_zach]

Great. Guess it’s parked for the winter now. Just dropped $800 on new tires too.

It should be driveable for a while just be easy on it

 

[Detailpro116]

It’s not our daily and won’t be driven much in the winter anyways. I only have a 10 minute drive to work. Suppose i should maybe look into warranty coverage. I bought it from the Ford dealer I work at and they have a 30 day buy back/exchange plan and we’re at 32 days now. They lost their ass selling me this car, but I also lost my ass on the mint BRZ I traded in and they’ve already sold.

 

[17si_zach]

It’s not our daily and won’t be driven much in the winter anyways. I only have a 10 minute drive to work. Suppose i should maybe look into warranty coverage. I bought it from the Ford dealer I work at and they have a 30 day buy back/exchange plan and we’re at 32 days now. They lost their ass selling me this car, but I also lost my ass on the mint BRZ I traded in and they’ve already sold.

If you do fix it do not put an oem clutch and pressure plate back on go with upgraded aftermarket hope all goes well

 

[Detailpro116]

Priced out an M-Pact on rock auto for $700 shipped. Seeing how clutch components aren’t covered under warranty, I’ll be stuck paying.

Guess I have to have a chat with the sales manager on Tuesday and see what can be done. Either help cover a portion of the bill or something. But I’ve had my suspicions something was up with the way the car was revving. Knowing it had some mods I was under the impression it was just very rev happy. Never driven a stock Si or 1.5T to compare it against. Clearly this car was modded and ridden hard.

thank you for your input.

 

[17si_zach]

Priced out an M-Pact on rock auto for $700 shipped. Seeing how clutch components aren’t covered under warranty, I’ll be stuck paying.

Guess I have to have a chat with the sales manager on Tuesday and see what can be done. Either help cover a portion of the bill or something. But I’ve had my suspicions something was up with the way the car was revving. Knowing it had some mods I was under the impression it was just very rev happy. Never driven a stock Si or 1.5T to compare it against. Clearly this car was modded and ridden hard.

thank you for your input.

If it’s tuned it’ll spin tires in a second gear roll

 

[Detailpro116]

Pretty sure it does. It is pretty quick for a car that is supposed to be 205hp. It literally feels like it’s got twice the power my BRZ did.

 

[17si_zach]

Pretty sure it does. It is pretty quick for a car that is supposed to be 205hp. It literally feels like it’s got twice the power my BRZ did.

If it makes 20psi constant it’s definitely tuned and I would bring that up to the dealer first thing before they try and fuck you over on voiding drivetrain warranty and yea these things are zippy stock when going around corners but in straight line are super lack luster

 

[Old F@rt]

Great. I’ll bet it won’t be covered under warranty either.

Clutch is a wear item so not covered. You say you do a lot of highway driving? Do you downshift if needing to pass cars ( i.e block shift from 6 to 4)? If not & you just punch the throttle when in overdrive gears, you are literally ripping your clutch apart. These engines make so much torque in higher gears, you have to downshift & build revs.

Sounds like car is tuned, so put a clutch/ flywheel kit in that can handle the extra power. I'd look into the RV6 combo ( it's basically a Type R retrofit & can handle a bunch of power, but feels just like OEM). It's a bit more cost upfront, but clutch swap on this platform is a huge job & you don't want to be doing it/ paying for it often. I have a Type R retro clutch/ flywheel in my Si & love it. I started slipping clutch when I tuned/ upgraded parts. When I then started to run ethanol clutch would slip at anything over 50% throttle.
You'll get a bit more life from original clutch if you keep downshifting & building revs vs flooring it in higher gears ( I got a good extra year out of my OEM clutch like that, even when running ethanol).

 

[17si_zach]

I forgot to mention a quick way to find out if it’s tuned at least with a Ktuner base map hold down the cancel button on your steering wheel for at least 3-5 seconds and release the button and watch the rpm gauge if it jumps to a certain rpm press the cruise control buttons to acel or decel and see if you can choose what map it’s on the rpm’s should jump accordingly with the buttons

 

[Detailpro116]

Oh straight line this thing absolutely rips. I’ve tried the cancel button with no luck so either it’s not tuned or has some other tune on it.

as for driving style, I am generally always downshifting to pass, especially if I’m in 6th, since I don’t like to lug the engine.

even just putting around town like a granny at 1/4 throttle, as soon as it hits 3k it just revs like crazy and then the boost hits and pulls hard. I’m believing this would be the clutch slipping. I feel like I’m always having to feather the throttle to keep it from revving erratically. The only way it ever drives and revs smoothly is at full throttle. But on the highway I’ll be doing 60-80mph in 6th and always downshift to 5th to pass.

its unfortunate, this car defiantly had a bad clutch before we bought it, and it’s only taken a month to find out it really was a trashed. However, I’d rather this be happening now than say 6 months down the road. Let’s get the bugs out of it right away and make it reliable for the rest of our ownership.

Does anyone know what the book labour time should be for a clutch replacement? My best bet is getting my employee discount on parts and labour where I work.

i appreciate all your input, everyone has been so helpful on here.

 

[SDAlexander8]

It’s not our daily and won’t be driven much in the winter anyways. I only have a 10 minute drive to work. Suppose i should maybe look into warranty coverage. I bought it from the Ford dealer I work at and they have a 30 day buy back/exchange plan and we’re at 32 days now. They lost their ass selling me this car, but I also lost my ass on the mint BRZ I traded in and they’ve already sold.

They did not lose their ass, trust me. They got steak dinners with the money they made on your trade-in. The only person that lost their ass was you.

 

[Detailpro116]

Yep ok, thanks for your useful insight. I have no idea how the car business I’ve worked in for 15 years works. Thanks for clearing that up. We’re a volume dealer, they don’t care about gross per unit.

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