Clutch Slipping?

[MaxClass]

This may seem off base but what are the condition of you plugs? You could also be running into blowout if the gaps are too wide. Just a thought.

[bluespire]

So I tried what was suggested on my way to work. I started at about 40mph, dropped the gear into 6th, and opened the hammered the gas. SAFC showed 90+% throttle open, and although it was kinda slow, I did get from 40 to 60 steadily, and I did not feel any kind of stuttering. At the same time, I was showing around 5 PSI of boost, which I suspect is normal, since my boost usually kicks in better around 2k-3k RPMs. So correct me if I'm wrong, it looks like it is NOT a clutch slipping.

[stealthee]

Yeah, if clutch was slipping it would have done it at that point.

[bluespire]

Wideband O2 sensor. What's your setup injector wise?

I have 550 injectors.

Clutch slippage usually only happens in higher gears. One thing to check is the pedal engagement. On a TT I beleive its .5-.8 inches. I would need to verify that though.

I believe the pedal engagement is fine. I once thought I had a problem, but I did some testing a while ago and the clutch does disengage not too far from the top. From disengagement, there is a long travel in the pedal. I assume that is normal.

IIRC, you're right Brian. My money is still on a boost leak though.

I have no idea if my boost is leaking. I am set to a max boost of 22 or 23 PSI. I can easily still get up to around 12 with normal driving, and if I punch it, I get into the high RPMs where that problem occurs. But again, this is happening with high RPMs with me not allowing boost over 0 PSI. If a boost leak can still cause this with no boost in the picture, then it could be the problem. How would I test for that?

This may seem off base but what are the condition of you plugs? You could also be running into blowout if the gaps are too wide. Just a thought.

To be honest, I am a bad owner in this respect. While I had VR440 go over the condition of my car when I bought in OCT 2008, I have done very little other maintenance and have no idea what the condition of the plugs are. I had thought this might be a problem, but wasn't sure.

[bluespire]

Another quick question: what is the average life of a clutch? I've always wondered. I have ever only had one clutch go out on me, and that was my Mazda Protege with 181k miles on it.

[stealthee]

It depends on the clutch and how you drive. I was told when I bought my car at 104k miles, that the clutch was replaced at 100k. At around 142k miles it started slipping and I had to replace it. Mind you that clutch had a ton of clutch dumps, burn outs, and drag races on it too and it was just an OEM style. I replaced it with an ACT clutch set up. I had to replace the disk after 20k miles because the center was pushed out, but the disk still had plenty of meat on it.

[bluespire]

It depends on the clutch and how you drive. I was told when I bought my car at 104k miles, that the clutch was replaced at 100k. At around 142k miles it started slipping and I had to replace it. Mind you that clutch had a ton of clutch dumps, burn outs, and drag races on it too and it was just an OEM style. I replaced it with an ACT clutch set up. I had to replace the disk after 20k miles because the center was pushed out, but the disk still had plenty of meat on it.

OK. So tell me what components I should check and test to help diagnose my problem, please. So far:

• Plugs
• Boost Leaks (not sure how to test)

[stealthee]

Someone already posted about a homemade pressure tester using a 3" pipe cover and a tire stem. If you do a quick search I am sure you will find it.

[bluespire]

Someone already posted about a homemade pressure tester using a 3" pipe cover and a tire stem. If you do a quick search I am sure you will find it.

I could not find that post when searched. Can you point out which thread it was?
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Update!
Not sure how much this proves or disproves a boost leak.
I got a long stretch of back road today, and did a pull from 2nd into 3rd. I got my boost up to over 20 PSI, so it was near max, but not max @ 23 PSI. I will not do crazy speeds on civilian roads, so I couldn't get up to full boost, or even accelerate enough to maintain that boost for any longer than a couple of seconds. It did feel a little bit like the car was starting to stutter at the max boost. I'm not sure if that is my imagination, the road at that speed, of it was my car not able to boost higher than very low 20's.

So, can a boost leak still allow ataining very high boost levels? Or, should it have reared its ugly face first?

It is still possible the stuttering I'm sensing has to do with high RPMs and not the boost levels, hence a spark of fuel problem, correct?

[DocWalt]

Boost leak or spark blowout. I'm pretty damn sure anyway I don't run boost levels nearly that high, but I've had blowout and boost leaks, and it sounds exactly like one of those.

I can't find the thread, but I'm also too lazy to really try, lol