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View Full Version : Friends Don't Let Friends Drive



Brooklyn
08-14-2011, 08:10 AM
Or, how a buddy may have screwed up my clutch/flywheel. Road trip to CT from NoVA. Buddy takes the wheel for the last hour of the drive. Stops to use the bathroom at a gas station on the side of CT-15. Merging back on the road is a cat and mouse game with oncoming traffic. Sees a small break in the traffic and floors it, but must have been riding the clutch. Tach jumps to redline and he shifts into second. Car still sounds like it's revving but not going nearly as fast as the tach sweeps towards redline again. Another shift to third and same thing. Doesn't really grab until he gets to 5th. By then the cabin smells like clutch and I wake up. Get off the highway and the car does a slight shudder starting off in first gear. I'm no clutch expert, but I'm thinking hot spots on the flywheel. Anyone know if this is an issue that will go away given it's a one-time deal, or am I looking at a new flywheel to eliminate the shudder?

Other than that, car handled the circa 360 miles (7 hours drive with traffic - NJ TPKE still sucks ass I see) perfectly. Filled the car up on Thursday night, went to work Friday and then left Tysons Corner for Hartford Friday afternoon. Gas light came on with about 20 miles to go to our destination. No fatigue getting out of the car. Haven't driven the car since we got in Friday evening, so no idea what first gear will feel like when I drive back to VA tomorrow.

Antekaudi
08-14-2011, 08:25 AM
I never let anyone drive my car. The truth people are not used to driving your car and they probably suck at driving anyways.

You might have just overheated the clutch, go take it for a ride and see if it went away.

Brooklyn
08-14-2011, 08:33 AM
That's what I'm hoping. Dude is a teammate of mine. I've watched him work the clutch on a Lada navigating traffic in Islamabad. Figured if he could drive that POS, he could work the clutch on the S4.

Okan509
08-14-2011, 11:31 AM
ewww. sounds like user fault to me.

EHesh14
08-15-2011, 04:42 PM
I just let my friend drive mine and barely knows how to drive stick. I don't know why I agreed, but he was starting at 3000rpms haha. Never letting him near it again. Lesson learned: don't let your friend drive your car unless you've witnessed him driving good.

UmIsThisThingOn
08-15-2011, 06:33 PM
My wife sucks at going up driveways that are a steep incline in my car and she did a little like this on Saturday.
It goes away after a little bit of normal driving/shifting.