Ok,i am just making an observation here.Any time i really get on the gas i get that whiff of burnt clutch smell.To me,that's what it smells like.Yes,i know how to drive a 5 speed,lol.I noticed that even on my dyno pull that smell just hits me in the nose.Is that just how it is or do i have some other issue?About 5k miles on the car.

 

never noticed a smell with mine and I have over 20k

 

maybe when you get on it it scares the **** out of you...literally?

 

I am only scared of the popo and higher insurance rates.:p This smell does deter me from getting on it much.It kinda reminds me a tad of being able to smell the transmission(slightly) on my mustang after a bit of pushing it.

 

I'd say get a second opinion, see if it's a mental thing you've got going on? A friend of mine blew his transmission in his ion redline, and now he thinks he hears grinding in his SS/TC all the time.. not to say you are crazy or anything!

 

lol,i'd rather be mental than have some mechanical problem.I think i'm going to take it to WickedSS(tuner in ohio) and have him evaluate it.Thanks.

 

I see you are tuned. There have been reports of clutches slipping in tuned vehicles. If you got a really hot tune, you may be exceeding the limits of the stock clutch. What RPM are you at when you floor it or hit higher then stock boost levels? You floor it at low RPM with a hot tune and you're asking for slippag, so yes, you may actually be smelling burnt clutch. Try rolling on the gas slower, smoother, and only at mid to high RPM's

 

Thanks.Sounds like good advice.Most time i am already at 2500+ and ease into it.IMO,i have read about this sort of thing here and if it's truly the case that one has to roll into throttle and rather than wheel spin get clutch slip,this clutch is'nt really that strong.

 

well...

i have a stock tc and i just now started noticing that clutch smell!!! i have been driving and racing manual trans cars for over 20 years. so i believe i have the "driving" thing down, so i know it is not me!! i do not understand it! my dad was with me and noticed it too! the only thing i can think of is, if it is not the clutch, maybe it is the brakes. poss the rears - since they seem to "hang up" on our cars. but you do have a tune so, maybe that is putting undo stress on the clutch...good luck...

 

Interesting thought about the rear brakes in particular.It's pretty everyday stuff in the morning when i go to back out i hear them unstick themselves.One time,they stuck so hard it scared me and i actually stalled the car coming into reverse parked from the previous day.

 

I'm thinking it's clutch... esp if you're getting on it starting at 2500. Try it at 4k+ and see if you smell it.

If it was the rear brakes, I'm not thinking you'd smell it going down the road or anything, being that they are behind you and the wind would blow any smell the behind you. It's possible, but not likely in my mind. Maybe you could take it for a leisurely cruise and then stop/pull over and feel/smell the rear brake area. If you're feeling something superheated and the smell is strong then it may be them. Usually you can sense it when brakes are overly heated.

 

Lol-especially if its damp outside.

Regarding the clutch: I'd be curious to see what the tach is doing when this happens; if its surging/fluctuating then something's probably slipping.

 

Ok,so boosting at 2500 is too low then at lets say 2nd gear?Well,why did i get tuned then?To get an near instant 20 psi so i would have to wait and baby it all the time and wait till 4k to go wot it?I'm sorry,but i have had a boosted car before and i never had to worry about that sort of thing,so i dunno what to say.The clutch either holds or it does'nt in my mind.Don't take it personal,but all the talk about what the stock clutch can take is deceptive if it's like that.I see upgrading the clutch in my future so i don't have to pussyfoot around,lol.

 

"Ok,so boosting at 2500 is too low then at lets say 2nd gear?"

n my opinion 20lbs at 2500rpm is kinda on the brink of being too much. You need to keep in mind these clutches were not designed with the kind of torque numbers a good tune is able to put out.

"Well,why did i get tuned then?"
I am not sure why you got tuned without researching what the stock clutch can hold up to.

"To get an near instant 20 psi so i would have to wait and baby it all the time and wait till 4k to go wot it?"
Again, I don't know what you thought a stock GM clutch was designed to hold up to, but when I got tuned, I talked to Vince at Trifecta and he had some of his hotter tunes start making some clutches slip. I believe he tuned them down a bit to keep it safe, but I would double check with him on that.

"I'm sorry,but i have had a boosted car before and i never had to worry about that sort of thing,so i dunno what to say."
I don't know what to say... I mean, just because I fly planes doesn't mean I can jump into a jet and expect the same results from things I have done in a small airplane. Not saying the Cobalt is a jet, but certainly going from 260hp/ft lbs to whatever you're at, safe to say over 300 and 300, is not the same in every other car. I hope you really don't think this way, and just are mis-typing what you are really trying to say.

"The clutch either holds or it does'nt in my mind.Don't take it personal,but all the talk about what the stock clutch can take is deceptive if it's like that."
That's not true. The clutch doesn't just lose all it's friction because you exceed it's threshold. Every clutch is not the same, even if you take 20 cars that came off the same production line at GM, they are all going to be different. That's been proven by taking different cars, putting the same canned tune on them, and each one of them will give different results. So while my clutch may be handling my tune just fine, yours may not be able to handle the exact same power level. But when you exceed that level, it will start slipping, not just throw it's hands up in the air and say, "screw it I'm not holding at all anymore."

"I see upgrading the clutch in my future so i don't have to pussyfoot around,lol."
That's the most accurate statement you made in your whole last post...

 

I wasn't saying that you had to wait until 4k all the time, I was using that roundabout RPM as a pretty safe bet on checking if it would slip or not. I've heard some people with the big tunes slipping at 3k and below. Before you get all up in arms, go and check it out to make sure. There's still a chance it's not the clutch.

On that note though... If you're tuned though then there's a big chance that you're probably just going to need a stronger clutch to hold the additional power you're putting through the tranny. As Sponge14 said, every clutch is different. Some people get tuned and don't slip for quite a while. Others slip immediately or at a lower RPM too. They didn't design the clutch to hold what some people are tuning up to, so I guess just keep in mind.

 

I appreciate the rebuke,and all the replies.I don't think i am wrong in my thinking then,but that says it all better.Thanks.My tune is 262/319 according to a dynojet dyno.I'm having Wicked help me look things over,since he is local.

 

My Exedy stinks from time to time.

Clutches, like brakes, make noise...smell...they are friction materials that slam into things to work right.

Every now and then you are gonna get some smell.

 

Torque looks normal Hp is mega weak for a normal dynojet reading. 245 whp 255 wtrq is about what stock TCs make on a dyno jet.