Earlier today I was driving up a fairly steep driveway in my 2000 Outback (83k miles). As I was trying to manuever into a parking space at the top of the hill the car started loosing power in 1st gear. I braked, tried to regain momentum by gradually letting the clutch out while giving it some gas but it was very difficult to get the car moving uphill again. I was forced to rev the engine pretty high to finally get to the top. In the process a foul smelling white smoke started emitting from the engine compartment.

 

Initially after seeing all the smoke I was worried that I'd blown out the clutch. However, I was able to drive the car home (over 100 miles) afterwards without any more problems. Even so, I'm concerned about having this problem again in a situation where I'm driving up a steep grade.

 

Any advice or insight is greatly appreciated

yes you have done some that may not show up for a while. Does your car have low range ?

 

camo

No low range in US market EJ-powered cars.

 

You lucky Aussie b******s! j/k:-p

You may have shortened the service life, but it's not enough to lose sleep over.

 

If it doesn't slip in the shift from 2nd to 3rd your clutch lining is still OK.

we may have taken 100 miles off the clutch. This is why a freind of mine retrofitted a hill holder to his car.

 

 

nipper

You may have shortened the service life, but it's not enough to lose sleep over.

 

If it doesn't slip in the shift from 2nd to 3rd your clutch lining is still OK.

 

thanks for the responses. Is it unusual to start having clutch problems like this at 83k miles? My '89 Acura Integra didn't need a new clutch till it had 150k miles on it.

Do you use the handbrake when you start the car going uphill?

a clutch can last from 60K to 200K, it just really depends upon the drivers, terrane, and how the car is used.

 

 

 

nipper

I did the same thing on our steep driveway 3 years ago on our 2001 MT Outback, and got the same smoke and smell. This spring at around 75K miles the clutch started to slip in normal acceleration on the flat, so I replaced it. They said the clutch facing was almost gone.

 

Just 2 weeks ago I got the same smell, no smoke, when backing up on the flat.

 

I have owned stick shift cars for the last 40 years (VW ford volvo honda peugeot jeep), and never had to replace a worn out clutch facing before, even over 100k miles. Maybe the self adjusting feature on the hydraulic system makes this system trickier to drive than most.

 

I guess I have to learn the subaru way.

 

Outdoor

I don't know why, but we've changed the clutch twice already on our 97 OBW, at 135K. Of course, using the clutch to hold on hills shortens the life.

It's my father-in-law's car, so he drives it, and my wife drives it mostly, but I don't think they're especially rough on a clutch. One thing, since I usually drive an old Saab, I find myself slipping the clutch when I drive the Soob. It's just a different (softer?) feel than I'm used to...

One thing I will do next time is machine (or replace) the flywheel.

Is there a tougher (longer lasting) clutch available?

WHy not use the handbarke like your supposed to to start off from hills?

 

 

 

nipper

nm

WHy not use the handbarke like your supposed to to start off from hills?

 

 

 

nipper

 

Let me explain the conditions of the "event" a little more clearly. I'm driving up a fairly steep slope- not paved, loose gravel and dirt, about 30 yards long with a few cars parked in a small level spot at the top. On one side of this driveway is a dropoff to a canyon- no room to manuever until you get to the top.

 

Everything's going fine until I actually get to the top and can't decide which spot to park in. So I stop, put it in nuetral and edge down the hill a few feet so that I can get a better angle on the spot I want to park in.

 

This is where things go wrong. I put the car in 1st, rev a little, drop the clutch- fully expecting the wheels to start turning and get the car moving uphill. To my surprise though the wheels are not turning at all and I'm putting the car in a bad position having drifted a few more feet downhill and on the wrong (canyon) side! So this is where I put on the handbreak and assessed the situation. In retrospect I probably should have tried to just back down the hill and start over but I was within 10 feet so I figured I'd try it again. It took very high revs to get the car moving at that point- that's when I noticed the smoke.

 

This situation really surprised me because I've had the car out on some "jeep" roads in the desert in steep and slippery situations and it's come out like a champ, never any problems. Since then I've driven the car and it hasn't slipped at all, just a bit of the lingering burnt clutch smell to remind me.

Maybe you just overheated the clutch so it had no ability to grab. This will happen on occasion, but never had it on a soobu. I had it happen on civic in heavy traffic, and it didnt seem to have any ill effect.

 

Maybe you shuld look into installing hill holder from an earlier sooby

 

 

 

nipper

occasionally, i get the smell in heavy traffic going uphill (providence has some killer hills). i've also noticed it backing out of my mother's driveway in CT (it's a hill, but not too steep, but backing is tougher i think). i'm not too worried about it though, it's only on occasion when i get a nice driver stopped right on my rump roast on one of those hills in providence... since then, i usually allow myself to roll back about an inch whenever i come to a stop on a hill just to give the driver behind me a little warning.