Clutch slipping at only 4k miles?

[Ltdanish07]

i say move to a different house lol.

Can we get pics of this said driveway....im kinda curious

[kanun]

+1 on that one^^^^
can we see pics off the driveway

[xkaupx]

Originally Posted by blk-majik

kcandiloro: you're probably right. my driveway is defiantly more steep than the road you linked appears to be, but i doubt it's twice as steep. It's very difficult to walk up and many a UPS trucks and pizza delivery men who dared to come down needed towed out, if that's any indication

the rest of you: lol jerks again... miami and vegas trolling, yet there's no hills there. E-brake is obviously let go before the clutch grips, and modulated manually while engaging. Minimal brake force just to overcome gravity making the car drift backwards.

Man, that sounds like one crazy driveway. I have performed the e-brake maneuver you've described before, but not on as steep of grade. It sounds as if you are doing the best thing you can do in that situation, but due to the circumstances the Evo clutch is taking a beating.

I too came from an 04 RalliArt to a GSR and the 2.4 IMO is easier to get moving when on a grade. It's got more torque down low and with the lower weight and less complicated drive train taking off from low RPM is much easier. That would also mean less wear on its clutch.

Long story short, it sounds like you're going to need a stronger clutch to compensate for your situation.

[toro10]

I'm actually sympathetic to the OP. There are a few very steep inclines on my daily drive that I do not want to get stuck in traffic on with the EVO that would not have bothered me in any other car. I've daily driven manuals for hundreds of thousands of miles without burning a clutch (one failed on a former salvage title Supra but I took it on at 90K and it had been severely abused previously). I've never had trouble starting on a hill until the EVO. I think it's partially due to the stupid rev hang which on the stock map makes modulating the throttle to start on a hill without "launching" a real pain in the ass (half throttle rev hangs make it feel like it's a zombie totally out of your control IMO). I even reverted the the E Brake once myself when a car was inches from my rear and starting on a steep hill which I had never done even in first day of driving a manual. While it's not slipping or anything (and in fact I've only smelled clutch on a few occasions) and can see this clutch not lasting 30K miles which for a daily driven car that is never launched is pretty weak. I suppose they want that to be the first point of failure rather than the tranny which I understand.

[murlo26]

All i have to say is the stock clutch is fine. There is nothing wrong with it and people that are replacing it, aside from factory defects are either beating the **** out of it or i guess just ride it like no other.

I am still on the stock clutch with a decent amount of dyno time and 400wtq at 31ish psi. No clutch problems here.

[si_to_evo]

Originally Posted by Deception

It sounds like one, I was in the same situation but in my case it was my fault, (went from a Jeep Wrangler to an Evo)... Your best bet is taking it to a dealership and have them swap it out, you're covered until 12,000 miles

wrong info, clutch is wear and tear item and not covered.

[►EvolutionX◄]

Originally Posted by murlo26

All i have to say is the stock clutch is fine. There is nothing wrong with it and people that are replacing it, aside from factory defects are either beating the **** out of it or i guess just ride it like no other.

I am still on the stock clutch with a decent amount of dyno time and 400wtq at 31ish psi. No clutch problems here.

Agreed, I learned on this car, drive it like its stolen every day, and it still grabs like it was driven by chain.

[kijima]

It's not rocket Science. The Evo is a perfect candidate to eat a clutch quickly, it ticks all the boxes. In fact this is the formula it uses.

Add 1 AWD car with ridiculous amounts of Mechanical Grip. (No wheel spin to speak off)
Add 1 pressure plate that is made for daily driving for the 'General Population'. (Low clamping force)
Add 1 driver that thinks he/she is half a steerer and drives the car hard or perhaps can't drive the car properly. (Everyone 'thinks' they can steer from what I've been exposed to)

Launch the thing a few times, or be hard on the clutch and the result?

You'll have a clutch that smells like burnt monkeys, (that familiar smell to some, sometimes comes into the cabin and punches you in the nose if you've really given the thing a hard time) and the flywheel will have heat spots on it. To my mind, that would be driver abuse regardless you like it or not.

You may not like the maths above, but it's all true and correct.

[DirtyCookieX]

Originally Posted by ►EvolutionX◄

Agreed, I learned on this car, drive it like its stolen every day, and it still grabs like it was driven by chain.

and how many miles you got on it, just curious?

[MuLo_MS]

I know where you can get a better clutch for a good deal....PM me if you want one. I run the ACT HDSS since about 6K and its holding great. I'd have it checked out and see if they can warranty it out for it only having 4k on it.....but IDK it is mitsu we are talking about...LOL

[►EvolutionX◄]

Originally Posted by DirtyCookieX

and how many miles you got on it, just curious?

my bad, thats some useful information huh, about 7500 , just upgraded to a turboback exhaust and new fmic/piping, getting tuned on friday, then we will see how much longer it lasts.

[blk-majik]

An update!

Got the clutch replaced at the dealership. A few things to note:

No leaks or defects, not a warranty issue. My driveway shouldn't be an issue, as it's not ideal but not too uncommon. Flywheel was toast and was likely that way before I ever bought the car.

With the new clutch installed, its a totally different car. The day I took ownership of the car, the clutch didn't engage anywhere near the way it does now after a fresh clutch. It's night and day and I feel like I'm learning to drive it all over again. It's so different that I actually stalled it the first try! That tells me with 100% certainty that I had a cooked clutch when I bought the car When purchased, it was the only GSR left, so I really didn't have anything to compare it to. The service manager let me keep the old flywheel/disc and pretty much said that there's no way I knowingly did the damage to this car knowing I'd have to live with it. Someone abused it knowing they weren't going to buy it. Basically, this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjwUp_y2Src

There's enough pad on the OEM clutch that it can take abuse for some time, but once the flywheel develops hot spots, it hardens and wears whats left down until it starts sliping. Hot spot it once, and the disc is dead soon.... and every disc you put on later is also dead early until you replace the hot spotted flywheel. That's what happened here, and MAN was it ever hot spotted bad! Spot isn't the right term.. more like baked... COVERED in blue burns! A good example of why hot spots do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeqzZniVmrM

The dealership who did the work for me (not the one I bought it from) was awesome! Given a summary of the situation, it'd be easy for me to say I'd never buy a Mitsubishi again. Between my wife and I, this is our 4th new Mitsu in 4 years (yes, you heard that right) and it could be our last if this goes south. I treated them respectfully and they returned the favor and the service manager personally went the extra mile to help take care of a loyal customer to the brand, although I never dealt with his dealership before. They easily could have been a corp pig and told me to screw off, but they didn't. A+ on their part and I'm going to write a letter to corp to let them know about this. Depending on how corp deals with the remaining bill, I may not end up blacklisting the brand due to this.

The initial labor quote was $1450 (14.5 hrs) just to look at it, assuming no warranty issues were found. After talking to the manger and basically showing that I'm not an idiot and not trying to pull a fast one over on him (and after some competitive quotes from other non-OEM shops), I was able to get the labor quote for a full install down to $500. The parts quote was originally over $600, but given the situation and my frustration level, my service manager was able to twist corp's arm to cover everything except the clutch plate, bringing the total parts potential liability for me to just he clutch disc ($90), and they'd cover the flywheel, cover, baring, fluids, etc. He didn't have to do this and went out on a limb for me before taking the clutch out. So I went from a $2050 gamble to a $590 gamble. Not bad, and the dealership REALLY earned my respect!

I'll take a pic of the flywheel later, but its totally covered in hotspots. I've googled around and can't find anything that compares to this. When I got the car, it had +90 miles on it. According to the service manger, that alone is a red flag for an Evo, and after reading lots of 'they wont even let me test drive one!' posts here, I can understand why. My guess is that the dealership I got it from used it as the dedicated test drive / showoff car and beat the living snot out of it and sold the rest. I got a good deal on it, but thats still unacceptable. I'm going to deal with them (and corp) now to see if they'll cover the $600 I had to pay to fix this.

So what I've learned:
My driveway and driving habits are not the problem
When buying a new car, take nothing for granted and assume the car is abused if it has any miles at all or any signs of wear
If you treat them respectfully, not all service departments are jerks regardless of what others say
People who troll on evom are clueless

cheers and thanks for all the helpful (and lolful) comments

[EvoG8r]

Its too bad someone else fried your clutch. Mine slipped at 400 miles on the ODO due to a leak behind the throw out bearing that was covered under warranty after fighting with the rep and eventually elevating it to Mitsu corporate.