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Originally Posted by JoeFromPA
Hi Dirk,
People have gotten years out of a slipping clutch, and people have lost it completely in one day. Here's a guide to lengthening the time before it becomes undrivable:
1. DO NOT SLIP THE CLUTCH - What kills off a clutch quickly is when the surface "melts" and glazes over. This reduces it's ability to hold the flywheel through friction. If you see your clutch slipping, stop. Downshift, or remove your foot from the gas pedal, or whatever is needed.
2. Rev-match your downshifts
3. This one not everyone argees on - I think it's important to engage first/second gears very quickly, even to the point of having some jerkiness. The point is to avoid the usual slight clutch slippage each time. Furthermore, if part of your clutch is glazed, a bit of jerkiness might help it restore it's friction.
4. Avoid "high load" situations. Your clutch experiences the highest load when it's asked to do the most work with the least potential to accomplish that work. The best example is trying to accelerate up a steep hill in 5th gear from 35mph....that's a very high load situation. Stay in lower gears and perform moderate or slow acceleration.
Slipping in 4th and 5th gear is a sign that your friction material is no longer sufficient. But as long as you keep the clutch from slipping more, you should be able to drive the car regularly until it starts to slip in 2nd gear (that's when it's REALLY time to get it replaced).
Joe
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Before my clutch and flywheel went, I was able to drive about a month and a half with it starting to slip to it slipping in EVERY GEAR. I didn't follow any of the steps listed by Joe, so it should last a month and a half (maybe 500-1000 miles). HOWEVER, I highly recommend getting it repaired ASAP! Before you know it you'll be stranded with a paperweight and then it's just a bigger pain in the butt than before.