My Car Messed Up, HELP!

[yhelothar]

I just drove stick for the second time today, on a 94' corolla
Well I made a stupid mistake, I accidently forgot to put the handbrake down, and I drove for like 100ft, not too fast, like 15mph because it wouldn't speed up. Then I hit a trafficlight, and when it turned green, I tried to go, and I accidently revved it up a bit high, and I smelled a bit of smoke, and that's when I notice that my handbrakes are still up. Well I quickly pushed it down, and the car drove fine for 20 minutes. I went home, and an hour later, my bro took the car out. He drove for about an hour, and when he got back, he was yelling at me saying the car was messed up. Well there was smoke comming out of the front, by the engine, and he drove it a bit to show me, and the car had was very weak. He had his friend that knows cars over, and he explained it as the clutch isn't getting a grip of the gears. Is that the case? How much would it cost me to get the clutch replaced? I don't think this car is worth much in the first place, and I just talked to people on IRC, and they said it's going to cost around $400-500.
Is the clutch most likely out? Or could it have been something else? The car was running smoothly for the 20 minutes I drove it after I first smelled the smoke.

 

[StageLeft]

A clutch replacement will cost around what they said.

However I really can't see how you can be held responsible for a NEW clutch on this car. Even if you put the nail in the coffin, so to speak, that car had an old clutch anyway. Unless you were riding the clutch and it was already slipping there is no way what you did could have harmed it.

My guess is the handbrake being on meant the engine had to try harder. How does that hurt the clutch? It doesn't unless the clutch was already so weak that the increased continual torque you were applying against it was just slipping it along and as a result the clutch finally decided to die. That was a weak clutch to begin with in that case.

 

[isekii]

wouldn't the brakes wear out ?
I don't understand how the clutch would go like that

 

[Monel Funkawitz]

Make sure the brakes are off and not dragging. Put the car in high gear (5 or 6th) and stomp on it (Hit the gas). If the RPMs jump up not = to the speed you are going, the clutch is slipping. Front wheel drives are usually $500 or so. Rears are cheaper.

 

[Lifer]

what skoorb said.

did it smell like smoke??
or maybe burning metal parts caused by friction?

 

[HappyPuppy]

Wow, good and helpful explanation, Skoorb.

Wait until tomorrow to give everything time to cool down. Start the engine, engage the clutch, put the transmission in gear and slowly let the clutch out without giving it any gas. If it kills the engine the clutch is probably still good.

Good luck.

 

[StageLeft]

A more aggressive test for the clutch is this:
Rev it up high in first and let the clutch out instantly. All but the absolutely weakest cars on the planet will at this point spin the tires to a degree. 94 corolla has enough power for it. If instead the RPMs stay high and the car doesn't spin at all but somewhat lazily accelerates as the RPMS somewhat lazily go down then the clutch is surely slipping.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
A clutch replacement will cost around what they said.

However I really can't see how you can be held responsible for a NEW clutch on this car. Even if you put the nail in the coffin, so to speak, that car had an old clutch anyway. Unless you were riding the clutch and it was already slipping there is no way what you did could have harmed it.

My guess is the handbrake being on meant the engine had to try harder. How does that hurt the clutch? It doesn't unless the clutch was already so weak that the increased continual torque you were applying against it was just slipping it along and as a result the clutch finally decided to die. That was a weak clutch to begin with in that case.

Well my bro's friend explained it as it grinding away the clutch when I revved the engine up, so that it doesn't have a grip anymore.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
A more aggressive test for the clutch is this:
Rev it up high in first and let the clutch out instantly. All but the absolutely weakest cars on the planet will at this point spin the tires to a degree. 94 corolla has enough power for it. If instead the RPMs stay high and the car doesn't spin at all but somewhat lazily accelerates as the RPMS somewhat lazily go down then the clutch is surely slipping.

Well I'm afraid to try anything now, afterall I'm still new to stick shift. I doubt my bro will let me try anything since he's already so pissed off about it.
Well anyways, when he showed me how the car was, he was revving it up really high at 1st gear, and the car was hardly accelerating, then he shifted it to second gear, and it was still hardly accelerating, it felt like it was on N gear.

 

[StageLeft]

from a single start at the traffic light?! Your bro's friend is a crack head. Clutches are made to take a lot of abuse. They can last well over 100k even if you drive all day in traffic if you take care of it. That could easily be a million engagements of the clutch when you include starting from a stop and changing gears. To destroy a clutch in 15 minutes I think you'd have to pretty well sit there with the car up against a wall and hit 5000 rpm and half engage the clutch and laugh yourself silly as it smokes and melts apart!

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0

Originally posted by: Skoorb
A more aggressive test for the clutch is this:
Rev it up high in first and let the clutch out instantly. All but the absolutely weakest cars on the planet will at this point spin the tires to a degree. 94 corolla has enough power for it. If instead the RPMs stay high and the car doesn't spin at all but somewhat lazily accelerates as the RPMS somewhat lazily go down then the clutch is surely slipping.

Well I'm afraid to try anything now, afterall I'm still new to stick shift. I doubt my bro will let me try anything since he's already so pissed off about it.
Well anyways, when he showed me how the car was, he was revving it up really high at 1st gear, and the car was hardly accelerating, then he shifted it to second gear, and it was still hardly accelerating, it felt like it was on N gear.

That does indeed sound exactly like a bad clutch if you're in gear and giving it gas and although the engine is revving the car isn't moving. That's clutch, but I still don't see how you doing a short trip could have destroyed an otherwise healthy clutch. Thing was probably on its last legs and they want to try and get a free clutch out of you for it.

 

[yhelothar]

the car does have like 150,000+ miles on it
needless to say, what I did at that traffic light triggered the smoke.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
the car does have like 150,000+ miles on it
needless to say, what I did at that traffic light triggered the smoke.

You should probably bear some responsibility but if that clutch was going to die in 10-20k miles anyway I don't see why you should be paying the entire price for a replacement.

 

[stickshift]

yeah, i think they're using you as a scapegoat...

i'd say pay him $100 for your "mistake" (though even that's too much, imho)...

 

[yhelothar]

grrr.. time to downgrade my new geforcefx 5900 ultra i bought used to a 9700 non pro... anyone like to trade? 😛
yeah they didn't ask me to replace it, I just felt kinda guilty about it

 

[PCMarine]

Take it to a mechanic?

 

[Ly2n]

Since you might have overworked the clutch (not used to driving a stick) check and see if the clutch can be manually adjusted. Many can be, I don't know about this car, and some require manual adjustment. Adjusting the clutch may solve the problem. Just check a repair manual and it will tell you how.

 

[V00DOO]

Leaving the hand brake up while driving has nothing to do with you smoking engine although you may wore out your brakes. That's about it. It sounds like you clutch is running low and by you praticing driving stick with the car facilitated the clutch wear a little faster. When did the car change clutch? Good luck. BTW I still interested in you PC.

V00doo

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Originally posted by: V00DOO
Leaving the hand brake up while driving has nothing to do with you smoking engine although you may wore out your brakes. That's about it. It sounds like you clutch is running low and by you praticing driving stick with the car facilitated the clutch wear a little faster. When did the car change clutch? Good luck. BTW I still interested in you PC.

V00doo

Umm, it has a lot to do with overheating and smoking the clutch.

 

[FoBoT]

you blew the clutch because you didn't release the brake?

bummer

 

[thomsbrain]

sounds like you put the nail in the coffin of a dead clutch. i'd offer to pay for 1/2 of it just to be nice.

 

[yhelothar]

hmmm what gets me is that the clutch didn't get messed up until after the car was driven for around an hour

 

[AEB]

just for redundancy clutches do go. i just recently bought a 92 accord with 104k miles on it. and i had the clutch replaced cause it felt soft. and for more redundancy a few mistakes wont mess it, when i was learning stick in my dad's jeep i didnt push teh clutch in all the way and teh gears ground but it still runs fine. and my clutch was around 400 to replace, and just to add my opinion get a toyota dealership to do the work