A problem already?

[Matty H]

Well the car has got a whole 5k on it. Not bad for a Vx...

Anyway, was doing a turn in the road earlier and when I changed from reverse to first and tried to pull away it was as if the clutch didn't engage properly. I had no forward motion whatsoever, only revs. I knocked it out of gear and then back in and it worked ok, but their was a stink (and still is) in the car, which I'm assuming was the clutch? It's kind of like a smell of wet soil if that makes sense? You can also smell it under the bonnet when you lift it up.

One other thing I've also noticed of late, not sure if it's related, but if you accelerate away and then lift your foot abruptly off the acelerator you can hear like a 'clacking' sound underneath the car. It only does it the once everytime you do what I just described. It sort of sounds like gear box is clacking underneath. It's a similar sound I get if I put the window down and listen to me change gear. To me the box sounds too loud when you change through the gears, but i might be imagining it.

Any ideas anyone?

[Matty H]

Anyone?

[kpf1grandprix]

mm strange one,,,,i have had the "not engaged properly" part of your prob,,but the other ,,not yet,,,doesnt sound clever though

[Caterman]

....mmmmm.......sounds very "clutch" related to me m8 Trip to the stealers

[Matty H]

....mmmmm.......sounds very "clutch" related to me m8 Trip to the stealers

Tempted to let it get a lot worse. The car's well under warrenty. Would that make me a bad person?

I've just drove back this evening again and it was fine. No smell and I did give the clutch a thrashing to see what happened, ie - dropping down a gear, booting it and dropping the clutch. No adverse reaction, but it absolutely stunk earlier and there was no engage whatsoever

[Matty H]

No problems since and the smell has gone. Strange. You just know that's not the end of it though

[cbee101]

sounds like a release bearing problem...go get it sorted before it leaves you stuck roadside.

[Gsi3.2]

i think it's more likely to be the pressure plate/clutch plate binding on the gearbox input shaft.. that would account for the occasional slip/judder..

[Matty H]

i think it's more likely to be the pressure plate/clutch plate binding on the gearbox input shaft.. that would account for the occasional slip/judder..

I might not have been clear before. It's never slipped while driving or juddered. I can hear a noise when I shift gears that sounds louder than I would expect from underneath. It's the noise of the gears being shifted, but to me it sounds louder than it should. Maybe I'm being paranoid on that. I can hear the same noise if I accelerate away then lift my foot abruptly off the accelerator.

In response to cbee's post, I did wonder release bearing at the time. Got an 8 hour round trip tomorrow, so assuming that is problem free I will book it in for next week