I drive a 2008 Toyota Aygo (might be called Yaris in the USA) - yet small car.
So this morning I needed to get to a Notary Public (in the UK they are incredibly hard to find - and the useless USA Embassy is booked for Notary Services well into July) in Bournemouth, about 35 miles away and yesterday Google Maps said it was about 55 minutes, after setting depart at to 9AM for a 10:30 appointment.
It was raining a bit and this morning at 9AM my on my phone it was upgraded it to arrival at 10:25. This being the slightly further, yet flatter way with two construction zones that you may as well turn off your car and barbecue lunch. I mainly wanted that route as here I should say my clutch has definitely felt like it was slipping lately. In hindsight, that along ought to have brought me to a garage last week or so.
The other, more direct route down south brings you to Zig Zag Hill. On Google maps it’s even marked as a tourist attraction. There’s really nothing to see other than trees on the way up, and any attraction it has would be riding a bicycle up it and pretending you’re winning the final kilometers of Mont Ventoux in the Tour de France. It’s rated a 10% grade with five switchbacks; that even going up you must be careful not to swing into the opposing lane.
There is a nice view once you reach the top and there is only a slight perhaps 5% grade yet right there I was like “whew!” and then the clutch gave out. No gears worked. Vroom! (roll backwards). Rinse and repeat.
Hazard lights. I call the AA (not that AA - the roadside assistance one here). Half an hour estimate. I’d always heard it’d be two hours if you’re lucky. Not even 20 minutes later, there he is.
I suppose my only bad habit might be RPM matching and swinging (no clutch) from 2nd to 4th. Like butter. My bigger mistake was not taking it to a garage in the last couple weeks. Damage: Blown clutch and estimate £615 (dunno like $750) yet at least I didn’t shatter the gearbox.
Up or down, you really have to be careful to stay in your lane and there really isn’t room to get out of the way if opposing vehicles are not, esp. as two of the switchbacks are rather steep and completely blind.
I bought it used a little over a year ago. The clutch seemed fine yet I probably should have asked the MOT (inspection guy) to check it out last November. Yet at the time there were no issues. Then it seemed like it was not quite engaging, then (a couple weeks ago) even at speed sometimes it felt like it had slipped often accompanied by the odor of what is that asbestos? Yesterday even at the shop the car reeked of that smell, thus my worry that I’d smashed the gearbox.
I’ll ask the next MOT guy to have a look at it, yet when I’ve gone from 2nd to 4th the car was never lurching.
In my experience, it’s not easy to inspect a clutch for wear. They are usually hidden in the bell housing, and there may not be an inspection plate. The burning smell is a pretty good indication that it’s worn, though.
Huh. So I guess it may have failed - or at least posted a warning - a couple weeks ago - if I’d done a MOT.
Odd that it’s hard to inspect, as having swapped an auto-tranny in my 1973 Monte Carlo there were certainly some visible evidence besides performance (forget what exactly besides at least leaking fluid) that it was “shot”.
That is remarkably sound advice. Even with a brand new clutch, or a worn clutch, the car should not (really can not) move forward so any collision detection (air bags) would not be triggered.
Should I have the need to buy another used car, I will first locate a stout tree in the area. I presume a year ago the car would have passed the “tree test” yet in the past 2-4 weeks would have failed. It certainly beats the “drive up a steep hill” and hope the car remains in motion “test”.
Man, it is is gripping so much that even on the short ride home I stalled it a couple times. It’s like the car wants to take off. Maybe it was nearly shot when I got it, yet only my Mustang Cobra had a clutch this grippy and with all that HP really did want to take off.
I doubt I’ll be conducting the “tree test” as right now I’d have to push the car up to the tree otherwise I’d ram it.