I have noticed that through out the years of talking with people who have
had their manual transmissions for years, that I observed that the older the
driver, the longer the original clutch has lasted for them. No pun intended,
but could it be that slower deliberate movement of the clutch pedal leads to
longer clutch life?

--
marx404

Probably has more to do with the fact that they're not in as much of a rush
and don't rev up to 3K RPM taking off in 1st from a light while taking 4-5
seconds to fully engage the clutch like I see, or beat the sh#t out of their
car because they're not in a rush like the younger people. If this was a
definite known fact, I would speculate that the conservative driving they do
could be the reason for longer lasting clutches. I don't think it can ever
be proven a fact though....I was 35 and got 200K miles out of my clutch on
my old '94 SL2. I now have 51K on my '06 Vue 5-speed with no problems (with
the clutch anyway - Got a funny whine that starts when the car starts
moving. You hear it over 20mph and the pitch gets progressively higher the
faster you go, like I have snow tires on...Speculate it's my front
bearings...sigh...Going to change them soon myself)

IYM

"marx404" <404 (AT) 404 (DOT) com> wrote

It's the highway driving for the snowbirds that only use the car to drive
between NY and Fla...
Not much shifting there. <G>
Beside that, I agee with IYM

"marx404" <404 (AT) 404 (DOT) com> wrote

Thanx, I'm trying to keep the RPM's low, but that's not as much fun :-)

--
marx404
"Oppie" <boppie (AT) nospam (DOT) com> wrote

On Jan 23, 10:26*pm, "marx404" <4... (AT) 404 (DOT) com> wrote:
Us older folks sift at about 2k rpm and we also get better gas mileage

<p_vouers (AT) goochs (DOT) com> wrote

On Jan 23, 10:26 pm, "marx404" <4... (AT) 404 (DOT) com> wrote:
Huh? I'm too old to shift THAT fast! In first gear I get to 2k rpm almost immediately upon light pressure on the
accelerator!

On Jan 24, 1:25*pm, "Steve"
<steven_dot_turetzky_at_unisys_... (AT) deletethis (DOT) com> wrote:
HaHa!! Youngwhipper snapper.. old is starting in SECOND gear :-)

On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 04:43:46 -0800 (PST), "p_vouers (AT) goochs (DOT) com"
<p_vouers (AT) goochs (DOT) com> wrote:

that's not a sound of new parts due,it's only got 65K.How can anyone
get exicited revving up one of these newer cars?,I do short peel outs
fron a red light,but thats about it.

"teem" <stooges2757 (AT) windstream (DOT) net> wrote


If it squeals when you put in the clutch, it may be a throw-out bearing
about to go. Does it chatter as you come up to friction point or slip when
engaged? Slipping is most easily seen by either popping the clutch with no
accelerator and stalling the engine or in top gear, flooring it and seeing
an immediate rise in RPM before the car starts to speed up.

p_vouers (AT) goochs (DOT) com wrote:
No. Old is starting in 1st gear on a 3 speed and NEVER use 2nd. On a 5 speed it means starting in 3rd.

I was teaching my son to drive his "new" 98 SL2 for the last few weeks. I was showing him how if you're not in a hurry you can go 135 or 24 or 124 or whatever makes sense. It took him a while to get over that the gears don't have to go in order. Especially when slowing down.

Bonus. Why did old folks (most likely all dead now) never use 2nd?