tbennett017

Does anyone else smell their clutch intermittently? I don't know if its my clutch material, condition, or my driving skill, but I smell clutch more in this car than in any other. Is it due to the location or the car's layout? air intakes or anything?

91 C4, with a clutch about 15K mi old... I smell a garlicky smell(really....) immediately after I have a clutch use... like when having to launch uphill at a stop light or when in crabby traffic. I have never experienced so much of it before...


Anyone else? Or am I just hungry all the time and I smell home cookin?

rotorheadcase

I only notice it on hard use. ie. during fast launches from a standing start, otherwise never had any problem with it. When you do smell it though it is quite strong.

Neil

kos11-12

Hi, I do smell the clutch sometimes as well,but I also know that I have a little problem with the master cylinder or slave cylinder that make action hawkward time to time (I will change both very soon),also up hill and traffic does it as well.
Konstantin C4

Rocket Rob

I recently changed my clutch. At times, I smell my clutch too. I suspect its because I chose to install the Sachs performance disk instead of the OEM disk. For those who do smell their clutch too, what disk are you using?

springer3

I had a couple of smelly-clutch events when I first got the car and did not have a good feel for the clutch action. I recall it smelled very expensive, and I have learned to drive without overheating the clutch.

elbeee964

(I'm just spit balling here, so if anyone sees a flaw, call me on it...)

Could it be a partial/incomplete disengagement caused by some clutch hydraulic component giving up the ghost?
From a bum Slave or Master cylinder, or ?

-- Have you felt signs of transmission reluctance during shifts? (Especially slow speed/parking lot shifts?)

Perhaps your clutch isn't allowing you to fully disengage?

Or perhaps the opposite -- a worn clutch -- with it's on-power slippage might smell, as well.

--Have you noticed any signs of clutch slipping under power? (tachometer advancing faster than speedometer)

Other than those two, I haven't noted clutch smell other than under extraordinary use (ie, uphill stop-and-go traffic, or other 'feathering') which sounds a lot like your discription of crabby traffic! If not toooo bad, it's understandable.
Besides, those episodes always smelled Porsche-appropriate to me at the time... lol
(car: "Hey! Why are we going SO SLOW?!!! I wasn't Meant for this ox-cart pace!!")

Sorry, and good luck tracking this down.
-Lonnie

joey bagadonuts

Mine smells like some rodent died in the car somewhere (I wish I was exaggerating). Very funky. I only noticed it recently--and it's much colder than when I normally run the car (sub freezing)--so I'm wondering if it's weather related. It's a Sachs with LWF and only a few thousand miles old. Smell is most noticeable when I take off from a standing start.

MisterRisky

to elbee's speculation, while I can't rule out the incomplete disengagement of the clutch, I would imagine you would feel that in the stick pretty clearly. It would be hard to get in/out of gear, I would think. The second possibility of slippage under torque is much more likely. The third possibility, which is when I have experienced the smell, is when I have dropped the clutch overly aggressively or have feathered it for some reason. I agree with Springer... it smelled expensive to me.

tbennett017

It sounds, based on your responses that we are all having a similar issue.. That's the reassurance I was looking for...

I am not having any slipping, nor any shifter issues.. so I think it's just the $$$ being worn off as I use the clutch...

Garlic smell = $$$...

I think we're all in the same boat.. but I am still curious as to why I smell it in this car versus anything else I've ever driven... Is it where a fresh air vent is or something?

I have come to associate it with the Porsche experience.. leather, slight fuel smell and the clutch garlic.. all kinda make me happy.

elbeee964

+1!

dougn

yup mine smells after install of LWF and new clutch disk. it happens when i slip it on start from a dead stop but it doesn't seem to take really excessive clutch heat or slippage. i think it may be due to the clutch material that looked almost like a graphite composite material

N51

Joey,

Could it be that is what you are smelling? Frankly, I'd rather have a pending clutch repair than mice under my bonnet. Okay, I left myself wide open. Seriously though, mice can cause expensive and exasperating problems. If even suspected, I'd recommend immediate action. Something like a "one bite" poison placed in the garage will bring quick relief. They may not die where you'd chose, but they will die.

TR6

For a while after I had my LWF and RS clutch installed, I also smelled the friction surface quite a bit. Its not so much a problem now that's its had some wear on it. And it probably also helps that I learned to release the clutch with less rpm while still not stalling the engine. On a level surface, I usually don't even need to feed it any throttle as I let the clutch pedal out. I start to release the clutch while at idle and the car starts to move forward and then I feed it some throttle. Even when I have to feed it throttle while releasing, I make sure I limit the rpms to 1500 when releasing the clutch. I hoping this will lead to a long clutch life.

joey bagadonuts

Yes, Noah, it certainly might be a rotting rodent and that was my first thought. But the smell coincided with clutch use and didn't linger in the cockpit, so I'm hoping it's a man made stench.

Stewart H

My new clutch smells after pulling away - especially when I give it some. Other than that, no problems. BTW it is on a 32,000 mile LWF