How long will a stick shift last if someone isn't changing gears right?

Question

I've been driving a stick for 3 yrs. now It's going on the second time it's gonna need to be repaired. If you don't balance out the gas pedal and the clutch is it possible to hear a noise if I'm doing it wrong. I know how to change gears that's no prob but can't figure out why in 3 yrs. I'm gonna have to have the clutch fixed again.

Answer 1

About 1.5 years based on your driving style. Impossible to guess otherwise. Drove my Honda 100,000 miles over 5 years. Still had the original clutch when I sold it.



You will hear the noise of the engine speeding up or slowing down too rapidly if you don't release the clutch under the correct conditions.

Answer 2

Stock factory clutches cannot handle much more that granny driving, period. I could blow a Ford 3 speed from clutch abuse in about 10 days. I can be done a lot quicker, but any hard shifting on a factory manual will shorten the life considerably. Even the Mustang T-5 isn't rated for it - and can only hold 350 hp ( and 3rd gear is the weak one.) Smart hot rod builders won't even use them because they will only last a few months at best behind a stout V-8.



The good old days of a stout factory manual never happened - even a Borg Warner T10 can't handle a 450 hp car, and frequently showed their internals on street and strip when abused. These days it takes a Richmond 5 or 6 speed rated at 600 hp ($3500) to withstand vigorous driving - compared to most automatics, which by design put up with the shock loads pretty well.



I burned up my share of clutches, and don't own any right now, but if I did, I would rate the transmission to the workout it would get and use a dual disc clutch to operate it. And that's not cheap or factory.

Answer 3

NEVER ever use the clutch to hold a car at a light or on a hill! That means, don't keep the clutch partially depressed to keep it slipping but holding the car. That's the FASTEST way to wear out a cluch plate.



The best way to drive a stick, and I've been driving them for 34 years, is to:



Clutch to FLOOR. ALWAYS to the floor. Put car in 1st gear.

Start to release the clutch while starting to depress the gas pedal. Don't over-rev the engine, and as you release the clutch, give it gas.



Watch your RPMS and listen tot he engine. Once you get up in RPMS, and you are moving, start to RELEASE the gas pedal while starting to depress the clutch. You should NOT be giving any gas pedal as you push the clutch ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR. THEN, SHIFT to 2nd GEAR, and repeat the steps to release clutch while applying gas. DO this procedure for the remaining gears.



Clutch pressure plates should last thousands of miles - provided you do not 'wear' out the pressure plate.



"Grinding gears" is the noise you hear when you don't engage the clutch properly, and a highly revving engine with the clutch released or partially released might indicate the clutch is slipping and needs repair.



There are several components, if your clutch is hydraulic.



The master cylinder. It's job is to allow you to impart pressure in the oil to move the clutch fork to pull the clutch away from the flywheel.



The clutch fork is moved by the slave cylinder when you push the clutch pedal.



Then you have the clutch pressure plate itself. When the clutch is released, the spring in the clutch allows the pressure plate to mate up to the flywheel on the back of the engine. FRICTION and spring pressure holds the two together, so the motion of the flywheel is imparted to the clutch and tranny shaft.



The clutch fork sits and pushes on the 'throw out bearing' which in turn allows the entire assembly to 'spin' in neutral. If you hear a 'grinding' or metallic' sound when the transmission is in neutral, and the clutch is released, you have a bad throwout bearing.



That's about all there is to a clutch mechanism. If you are wearing out the pressure plates, you are not releasing the clutch properly or allowing it to slip in some manner, so that instead of engaging and 'locking up' on the face of the flywheel, it is spinning and causing wear and tear on the plate and flywheel. If you do this enough, HEAT will build up and eventually crack the material of the plate itself and it will wear or slip more.



If you get down to the rivets and they grind into the flywheel metal, you are looking at a major cost.



You should examine your clutching methodology and modify it to stop the wear and tear on the clutch.



Remember this rule:



ANYTIME you have to put your foot on the clutch, it should ALWAYS go to the floor. NEVER partial. My dad taught me that and it's never failed me. Always to the floor or not. No in-between or you will wear it out.

Answer 4

Most answers here are pretty good. The only thing I can add is that neutral is your friend. Never down shift just use your brakes. Brakes are a lot cheaper and easier to fix then problems with your transmission. Also if your in heavy traffic just keep it in second gear. You can usually go from 0 to 30 on most cars without having to shift to other gears. The same goes for light traffic. Keep it in your high gear even if the traffic slows down a little. You won't accelerate back up to speed as fast but it will save your gears some wear and tear. Bottom line is save it when you can and go easy on the shifting and it should last you a lot longer.

Answer 5

The clutch is different from the Gearbox........it is normal to have the Clutch Adjusted from time to time......it all depends how much you Ride it.......you may think that you are doing it correctly and maybe you are, but, I Drive Semi and I have my Clutch Adjusted 1 - 2 times every 50,000 miles...........or like the last time, I thought it didn't sound right and it would only go into gear when it wanted to....mostly for Reverse.....I had it checked and the Clutch Brake was in 2 pieces, they replaced it and now it works like new again.......

Answer 6

You are probably riding the clutch. When you don't come off the clutch and the transmission kinda revs as you shift, it can cause problems when you do it over and over. A way you can tell is to look at the tachometer and if it jumps as you shift, you might not be shifting as cleanly as you should. Something I do a lot (I don't think this will ruin your tranny though) is I'll look down and sometimes be running higher RPMs cause I never shifted into 5th...and I have been driving a standard 10 years! I hope that helped a little bit.

Answer 7

If you replacing the clutch so often then you must be dragging it.

Hold the car on the clutch on an incline will fry it pretty fast.

The only other reason for clutch failure that fast is bad installation leaving to much play between the flywheel and pressure plate causing the drive plate to constantly slip.

Clutch should last 70K miles with no issues if you don't drag it all the time.

Answer 8

An oil change can make a great difference on how shifting works. Also, go to the dealer, or online for your filter. The engine is claose, but may not be exactly the same. You need to change at least once a year or 3000 miles. 10W40 is fine, 20W50 will work too, although harder to crank in cold weather.

Answer 9

If it's your gearbox then it shouldn't go in three years even if you are abusing it, it will go eventually but will take longer than that.



If it's the clutch then three years isn't really a big deal depending on your mileage.

If you are holding the clutch then it will burn out pretty quick, in theory you can burn one out in one hit if you make a go at it.

One of our vehicles got a stuck handbrake a couple of months back and my husband managed to burn the clutch out trying to force the vehicle to move.



You can normally smell them when they start to get hot.

Answer 10

like someone said about 1.5 years because the clutch will get grinded down till its nothing