OK to hold clutch in at red lights?

[mcveigh]

I always wondered this. At red lights I usually have my car in 1st gear and am holding the clutch in. Is this bad? would it be better to just wait there with it in neutral and foot off the clutch?

thanks!

 

[thedarkwolf]

Wearing out the throwout bearing but it will still probably out last the clutch. I usually go to neutral but more for my knee then the bearing. Just depends on how long I think the light is going to be.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Don't worry about it. You're not going to kill anything, but for long waits just pop it into neutral and put the handbrake on.

 

[dug777]

If it's all the way in, you should be fine.

I drop to neutral out of habit, easier on the knee, and if i have to stop for more than a very brief period, as DBZ suggests, I'll put the handbrake on lightly.

 

[mcveigh]

thanks!

 

[dawp]

It also puts stress on the pressure plate so that would decrease the life of that.

 

[j00fek]

i never have my foot on the clutch unless im on a hill

 

[fbrdphreak]

++ to all said here

You are wearing parts, but they should last longer than the clutch and are replaced when the clutch is replaced.

Still, I generally don't have the clutch in unless I know I need to move.

 

[nakedfrog]

I think this question and answer should be added to the AT Wiki.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: dawp
It also puts stress on the pressure plate so that would decrease the life of that.

You might as well mention that running the engine puts stress on the rod bearings and decreases their life. And that driving the car puts stress on the wheel bearings and suspension and decreases their lives. Oh yeah, and using the headlights puts stress on the bulbs and decreases their lives too.

The wear on the pressure plate from holding the clutch in at a stop light is insignificant. It's simply not even worth considering. The same goes for wear on the throw-out bearing. In the real world, it's not worth thinking about.

To The OP: You are not hurting anything by having the clutch pedal depressed and the transmission in gear at a stop light. I never take the transmission out of gear at a light, the only time I'll take it out of gear is if I'm waiting on a train or something similar. If you need to take it out of gear for your own comfort, then that's fine too.

ZV

 

[amdhunter]

lol, because of this forum, I made it a habit to keep my foot off the clutch at stop lights. I feel weird keeping the clutch in when the car is motionless. Yeah, it still takes a second for me to get back in and rolling again, but meh...I hear its a good practice.

lol, thanks ATOT.

 

[JulesMaximus]

You aren't going to harm anything as long as you push the clutch pedal all the way in when you do this. Depending on how long the light is sometimes I will hold the clutch in and leave it in 1st and other times I will put it in neutral with my foot off the clutch.

 

[clipperfixer]

I believe that in Oklahoma it is illegal to be on the road with your car out of gear, like coasting down a hill in neutral. But really, it is a safety thing too. I don't want to sit in traffic and not be able to move my car quickly because it is in neutral. Wear on the clutch is not something that I would worry about. With one exception, if you happen to have an old MG they did not have a roller bearing type throw out bearing, they had a carbon faced bearing that just rode on a flat disc on the pressure plate. You did not want to ride that thing too much or your throw out bearing would go bad before the rest of the clutch. Showing my age

 

[ayabe]

I would be more worried about wearing out the clutch master and/or slave cylinder than anything else.

Kind of like holding your foot on the brake for no reason.

Then again these usually last a very long time so I wouldn't be concerned.

That being said, I always go to neutral and take my foot off the clutch when at a red light.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: ayabe
I would be more worried about wearing out the clutch master and/or slave cylinder than anything else.

Kind of like holding your foot on the brake for no reason.

Then again these usually last a very long time so I wouldn't be concerned.

That being said, I always go to neutral and take my foot off the clutch when at a red light.

Those only wear when they move. You would actually wear the slave and master cylinder more by putting the car in neutral since for every stop you would be cycling the clutch twice instead of once. You are not wearing the master and slave cylinders by holding the pedal down, wear only occurs as they move.

At absolute worst, if you have a cable-clutch you are contributing infinitesimally to cable stretch, but that's an easy adjustment and not really worth considering.

ZV

 

[Marinski]

put into neutral and foot on the brake or just put the parking brake on and keep foot on the brake. It should only take a few seconds to get in gear and go.

 

[Tarrant64]

For those who kept mentioning using the hard/parking brake, why would you need to do that if you can just use the foot brake? Maybe it's because I drive an automatic 90% of the time I'm missing something. whenever I drove a manual I only used the parking brake, well when parking. Otherwise the clutch stays in at a red light and put on the brake. if I know it's going to be any more than a minute or two, sure, neutral. I've never had to worry about hurting the clutch at all though. I mean, what the heck is going to happen to it while stopped that isn't going to be worse while moving?

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: dawp
It also puts stress on the pressure plate so that would decrease the life of that.

You might as well mention that running the engine puts stress on the rod bearings and decreases their life. And that driving the car puts stress on the wheel bearings and suspension and decreases their lives. Oh yeah, and using the headlights puts stress on the bulbs and decreases their lives too.

The wear on the pressure plate from holding the clutch in at a stop light is insignificant. It's simply not even worth considering. The same goes for wear on the throw-out bearing. In the real world, it's not worth thinking about.

To The OP: You are not hurting anything by having the clutch pedal depressed and the transmission in gear at a stop light. I never take the transmission out of gear at a light, the only time I'll take it out of gear is if I'm waiting on a train or something similar. If you need to take it out of gear for your own comfort, then that's fine too.

ZV

Well, there's wearing out your throwout bearing, and then there's tiring out your leg.

OP, don't you feel the burn on those longer lights? Or do you drive a Japanese car with a "noodle clutch"? I know that on German cars with a nice stiff pedal, it's pretty taxing to hold the clutch in for that long. I probably wouldn't notice much on my Toyota, but I got out of the habit pretty quickly because of that.

Originally posted by: Tarrant64
For those who kept mentioning using the hand/parking brake, why would you need to do that if you can just use the foot brake? Maybe it's because I drive an automatic 90% of the time I'm missing something. whenever I drove a manual I only used the parking brake, well when parking. Otherwise the clutch stays in at a red light and put on the brake. if I know it's going to be any more than a minute or two, sure, neutral. I've never had to worry about hurting the clutch at all though. I mean, what the heck is going to happen to it while stopped that isn't going to be worse while moving?

Some people don't have fast enough feet/enough coordination to go straight from brakes to gas while letting out the clutch quickly enough to keep the car from rolling backwards on a hill. Or they're driving an unfamiliar car, or with an unfamiliar load, and want the extra level of of rollback protection.

I certainly don't use the handbrake trick any more, but I did it fairly often while I was gaining experience.