Thread: How do you "burn out" a clutch?

I would recommend he swap to an auto. Don't make it sound like he is incompetent just explain that automatics have their clutch plates immersed in oil so they don't wear out. He might buy it as it is true.

My father drives an auto so the clutch & gearbox is safe. His only problem is he drives into things. I often wonder with all the repairs, fuel & registration fees would it be cheaper for him to use taxis.

Should he even be on the road ??????????????????????????????????

My Dad is having some trouble. He has "burned out" his clutch on several occasions. Actually, he has broken his transmission and he has broken his clutch several times. He has memory trouble so he doesn't have any idea what he is doing or not doing.

And he's still driving ????

I'm not joking about this, don't find it funny at all. How is his reaction time? How is his ability to evaluate road situations?

Back to the question you asked:

If you can, sit with him for a while while he drives -- you'll be able to see what he's doing. "Burning out the clutch" is always coupled with "slipping the clutch" and/or "riding the clutch" (although that destroys the throwout bearing, not the clutch lining). It could be (as everyone has said already) at traffic lights, during starts, during shifts (if they're really slow and sloppy).

I second the suggestion for an automatic transmission -- it saves a lot of mental work for the driver. But that would mean a new car, and it might require an adjustment he can't make.

Charles

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

My Dad is having some trouble. He has "burned out" his clutch on several occasions. Actually, he has broken his transmission and he has broken his clutch several times.
...snip...

What type of car is it and what type of car did he learn on.

These new light cars have small terrible clutches. The fly wheel
is small and the engine needs a RPMs to have any power. There is
little or no room for both break and clutch peddles anymore. These
new small cars are also expensive and a PITA to work on unless
you are in used Toyota or used Ford country... where parts are
easy to get.

The best solution is an automatic (I read that he rejects that).
My next car will be an automatic or electric. Automakers are
just not investing in manual clutches and transmissions. They
are investing in automatics.... Tell him that.

Go for a ride to the market with him and watch how he drives.
Do not tell him you are watching -- you are just buying the pizza.
Do it a couple of times and at different times of the day.

The next best solution is to replace the car with a used car
that a local shop can drop a new clutch or transmission into in
an afternoon after the parts arrive.

If he is getting forgetful a broken clutch is going to be small
potatoes. Advise him to test and use some of the elder care solutions
in the area. One carrot is that he can help others, not that
he needs help but by riding he can make the service better
for those that really need it.

everyone is saying get him an automatic. Get a better clutch. Mine will hold 1000hp and is virtually unslippable. If i were guessing id say hes riding the clutch or its out of adjustment.

I know this will sound funny, but does he always have his hand resting on the shifter knob as he's driving? The weight of his arm, coumpounded by the leverage (due primarily to the length of the shifter) of the entire linkage system, can create a lot of undue pressure and cause a myriad of problems. Whether or not this can directly lead to a burnt out clutch or not, I don't know for certain, but it surely wouldn't help the situation any.

Sounds like he is riding the clutch.
I don't agree with the comment about getting a better clutch.
The problem is not the clutch, it's the way he's using it. No matter how good it is, if you ride the clutch or don't use the right gear for the speed, acceleration, then you'll wear it out pronto.

Try to get him an auto with the explanation that the clutch won't wear out, as someone else already mentioned. that might be a way to sell him on an automatic.

The bigger issue is this imo: you mention several times that he doesn't remember what he is doing. Should he be driving at all? From your description, that sounds like an accident waiting to happen. Literally.

I manage a car repair shop. I have watched many customers grow old.
Once the hearing starts to deteriorate and we loose the fine muscle control necessary to co-ordinate clutch and throttle pedals, all the explanation in the world won't help.
Obviously, some older drivers never lose it, but more do. Some had little finesse when they were young. "Rev happy pappy" is a term one of my mechanics used to use.
I remember one guy, a farmer, who said my car 'just stopped'. He had got the flywheel so hot, that apart from the overpowering smell of burnt friction material, it had cracked through and the starter ring gear had fallen off.
I don't recommend automatics to older drivers who have driven manual cars all their life. They tend to have 'run-away' accidents, often resulting in death or injury. I once had to recover a Jaguar that had been buried up to the boot (trunk) in the side of a hotel, it hit four other cars on the way in and that was just a parking accident.

Ho hum, that'll probably be me in few years.

Typically, this disease only occurs with women.











I kid I kid.

One sure way to burn the clutch is not press it all the way down but just half of it.
Having said that, everyone of use will sooner or later reach the age where handling everyday things, such as cars, isn't simple any more. Then the time has come to stop driving. It is your sad duty to tell him somehow. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes. Sad it is.

My grandfather worked with cars for all his life. After the war he was the one of those though ones who drove the Barents Sea route, keeping campfires under the engines at night not to let them freeze. Later he had a repair shop for cars, trucks, agricultural engines and whatever. There was no mechanical thing he wasn't interested of. He didn't overlook any engine. I remember him having few tractors, Ariel '49 Mark 1 square four, '62 Bel Air and after that '64 Simca and '67 Moscovitch. He was a talent who didn't call any mechanical thing as 'it' but rather he or she. I was a little kid and interested of everything that kept bad noise and hard speed, and he had patience to teach me. I remember him him telling us kids about valves, pistons, hydraulic or pneumatic systems. It was wonderful. Just like undiscovered world i'd have to find more about.
Every time my grandmother was as bad mood (and she was quite often), old man escaped into his workshop. Once we got there he asked if there's still power pikes. If we said no he went back to house but if we said yes he kept on working with his engines.
As a kid he gave us unlicensed 'garden cars' until i destroyed his well with old Mini at the age of 8 or 9.
I have to thank him for being the one i am now.

Once he got old police took off his license for driving too slow. I bought his ´84 Escort because he wasn't allowed to drive it any more. Few years later he called and asked me to help with moving his stuff into old peoples home. I was surprised as he had almost brand new Fiesta on his yard. All corners scratched and mirrors all gone. It is the young people that has kicked his car he said but it was obvious that he wasn't on this planet any more. How much i felt sorry for the old man who had lived, enjoyed and suffered with engines for all his life.
For the rest of my life life i will remember his look as i asked him to give me the keys to his Ford and forget it. He died few moths later.